Two Leaves and a Bud

After a beautiful train journey from Colombo into the hill country of Sri Lanka and then a hair raising, bumpy bus ride further up into the countryside, we arrived in the small town of Rikillagaskada and finally, securely off the tourist trail.

Sully's friend, Beth, had previously lived in Sri Lanka working for an NGO and we had arranged to visit the team at one of the projects that Beth had been working on. We were nervous and excited to be going somewhere where there was not much English to be spoken and that was not in Soph's trusty guide book. But then that's what travelling is all about!

We were not even sure where to get off the bus but had some directions from Beth and so after an hour, we saw a petrol station and jumped off where there were two lovely girls waiting to meet us with big smiles and nervous giggles.

We walked a few minutes to their office where we were warmly welcomed with sweet, milky tea, a pile of cake and fresh bananas ready to pick! Already the long journey was feeling worthwhile!

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A while later we were welcomed by the manager, Anula, who had returned from a meeting. She was very happy to welcome us as friends of 'Miss Beth'. We learned that Anula had worked in social organisations all her life and here, at the Women and Children's Centre, she has ten staff working for her.

We also met Bandula, a man that lives locally and who does translation work for the organisation. He came along to help us communicate with the team and to explain about the work going on there.

During our two days there, where we were invited to sleep over in a room above the office building, we saw some of the great projects they were working on.

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One afternoon we attended a women's tailoring class where ladies from nearby communities can get a chance to learn some basic skills for their own use or to make things which they can then sell. Sophia was invited to join in and hand stitch some decorative patterns. The result gave all of the ladies a good giggle!

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We also saw some dance classes taking place for school girls. They were learning traditional Kandyan dancing and without the organisation they wouldn't have had this opportunity. The dance was accompanied by loud drumming and looked like lots of fun. We decided that it looked like a cross between classic Indian dance and a rugby haka!

We also visited a small Bhuddist school where the children had been provided with life-skills coaching and that day were putting on a small performance on stage. Even the local priest attended in his orange robes and the kids were very cute!

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One evening, we were invited by Anula to attend the temple with her. We thought it might be a small temple, as they are everywhere in Sri Lanka, but had a fantastic surprise! The temple complex was beautiful with a large courtyard and garden. The sun was soon to set and there were young monks in their orange robes walking around everywhere! We found out that this is a monastry where monks are trained, starting from the age of 8. They live here and have lessons and prayers all day.

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We were very lucky to be invited into the main building where they live and to meet the head priest. He sat calmly and spoke to us in very good English. We were given tea, sweets and bananas! We asked for a photo and he moved to a large red sofa (very regal looking) and invited us to sit at his feet! He then took us around the temple and showed us the ancient Buddha statue made from gold and shrined inside a cave. Inside the main building was beautifully decorated from floor to ceiling. As we were leaving, over 100 of the young monks filed in for their sunset prayers and we could hear their chants echoing in the hills around us.

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One of the other highlights of our trip was a visit to the Hope Tea estate, which was high up in the hills. After a scary journey where our old minivan trundled up ear-poppingly steep, rocky tracks and we wondered if we were made a little too close to the edge, our driver delivered us at an amazing tea estate where we could see for miles and miles. The were tea plucker ladies dotted all over the landscape and we had the opportunity to meet some of them and ask about their lives and take some photos with them. We learned about the best teas and how they do the plucking. The pick the newer leaves from the top of the plant, best when there are two leaves and one bud. Sully picked some good'ns. The families living and working in the tea estates are known as Plantation Tamils. They were brought over from India by the British and have always been culturally and geographically separated from Sri Lankan society. As a result, they are extremely poor and a lot of work is being done with them by Anula's organisation.

Tea plucker, 58 years old

It doesn't smell of tea just yet

Hope tea estate plucker

Tea plucker

We visited their hindu school on the estate where all the village children were in attendance for extra classes. They were so excited to have visitors! After the confusion over Soph's freckles was explained away and they had all have a touch of her arms, we were then invited to shake each of their hands. Before we knew it, we had a hundred little hands shaking in our direction with giggles galore! We took some photos and they got even more excited and were jumping around to get into the pictures. A couple of them sang us some songs and had a tug of Sully's (getting even bushier now) beard! Lots of fun for all! As we tried to leave their village they surrounded us and followed us. Soph was given a pink flower by a little girl and as we drove off they were shouting BYEBYE at the top of their voices!

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byeeee

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With Anula we also visited the line-rooms where these Tamil families live. They are long houses with lots of rooms and each family has their own room. There is a shared cooking area and they all live together as one community. They are very poor as they rely on jobs on the state-owned tea estate and there are not enough jobs to go around.

Communal kitchen in line rooms

We also passed through a village called Eastlands where we called through past the tiny houses, through a field of more tea and to a sheer drop in the cliffs. We were told that the drop is 1000m and that they call it Worlds End. Vertigo set in pretty quickly! It was amazing to see that there were no warning signs, no fencing and that all the local village kids were running around playing and sitting at the edge to look down! Apart from feeling glued to the spot and scared to move, the views were BREATHTAKING and we felt so very lucky to be there. Lunch appeared from nowhere (as it always does here!), a steaming parcel of curry, rice and vegetables each, and we sat and had a picnic on the edge of this cliff, hoping that the wind doesn't pick up! The kids from the village arrived with ten little hands carrying a bucket of water for us and after we had eaten some of the old ladies ventured over to inspect the visitors and asked for photos with us. By the time we got to Eastlands after visiting the school, we had no camera battery charge left and so Anula has the photos from this afternoon - we are hoping to get copies some how!

Anula took us to so many more places that were wonderful to see, we could write forever about all of the amazing experiences we had whilst staying with her including various schools, night time walks, visiting waterfalls, 3 hot meals a day - all so delicious. When it came for us to leave, we were quite sad and left Anula and her team with some gifts to say Thank You. They also presented Sophia with a locally made handbag and an elephant made from a coconut shell and then waved us off from the bus stop!