Blogs from North Western Province, Sri Lanka, Asia

Day 3 - Thursday 7 September Today’s weather in Colombo was heavy rain, influenced by cyclonic patterns from across India. Perera picked us up at 8.30am to drive to and explore Dambadeniya Ancient Region. It took us 1 ½ hours of driving through rural areas with teak, coconut, paper and rice crops. We drove through many villages which were typical Asian, semi-developed housing and small retail outlets. Many had bananas hanging up for sale, as were pineapples, orange coconuts and other citrus fruits. It took us 3 banks before being successful with our Visa card withdrawal. We hadn’t had any problems until then. We found the ancient city easily, after Perera asked several locals. Dambadeniya is a ruined ancient city situated in the North-Western Province (Wayamba), on the Kurunegala - Negombo road. It served as the ... read more

Geo: 7.41694, 79.8308... read more

We had left Jaffna that morning to arrive at the west shores of Sri Lanka. Mannar, is an Island that protrudes towards India on the west shores. It suffered much during the war as its western most point was the point at which the Tigers had all links to India. The clash between the Tigers and the State towards the latter end of the war brought Manar a bloody ending. One evening Kingsley & I decided to take the jeep and discover certain parts of this Island. He casually chose a narrow lane downtown and asked me to drive towards the seaside. Not knowing where we were heading we continued for some time enjoying the scenery of village life and the sand dunes which indicated to us that we were now approaching the sea. It was ... read more

Hey Guys, This is my first blog entry so i thought i would use this as a background info source for those of you who don't know what i am doing. Next September 4th I will be heading out to Sri Lanka for 2 months to teach English in local schools and orphanages. At the moment I am currently trying to fundraise all i can to help pay for the trip, as the project alone is costing me £1099 plus flights, visas, travel in-country, and food costs all to add on. So overall i need to be raising approx £2500. I will be staying in a communtity centre called Sputnik International in Kurunegala with Mr. Eshantha and his family. If anyone wishes to sponsor me, please do get in touch with me either by email: Gemma.Porter@live.co.uk ... read more

Next - well, some replies to the last blog indicated that there is an interest in the work that has been going on - as well as the holidays! So, here goes. Most of the focus for my work here for the Diocese has been in the area of Religious Education , or rather Christian education/Christian nurture. Having travelled alongside the Global Citizenship programmes as well as Church linking programmes up until this year, this new focus has been both narrowing and insightful. Christianity here is a minority faith - Sri Lanka is 70% Buddhist, 17% Hindu, 8% Muslim and 8% Christian - so this is Christianity in a post-colonial,south Asian context of pluralism and multiculturalism - a Christianity which lives in the context of religious plurality, multiscriptures and also in the context of poverty, struggle ... read more