I have already rambled on about the footie training we are doing so I will try not to go on too much. We are also providing netball training for the girls and volleyball, which has been dominated by the boys. Today was day 4 of 5, and we made a little breakthrough cos' we got the girls to play volleyball. They have been watching and obviously wanted a go, so we made a special girls volleyball session today which was very successful.
On the way back today we came back via the ferry. This is much quicker as it goes across the lagoon instead of driving all the way round.
Every evening, because it is so hot there is a spectacular light display in the sky. There is a huge electrical storm takes place in the clouds. None of the lightning goes to ground, just great flashes behind the clouds lighting up the sky.
I sat on the edge of the lagoon, in the silence, a warm breeze blowing around me, my toes dipped in the water looking at the display, like two gods fighting in the sky, thinking about the kids faces and the joy we had brought them today.
Think I will sleep well tonight.
Monday, April 11, 2005
Sunday, April 10, 2005
So Mr. PQ what is it you do???
This evening I thought I would bring you all up to date on my activities for this week.
As I have said before my rigorous training at the PRDU has prepared me for a demanding role in post Tsunami Sri Lanka. here I am in Batticaloa, or border town between Sri lanka and Tamil Eelam, ravaged by 20 years of war and hit by one of the worlds worst natural disasters only 3 months ago.
Well the obvious thing to do is run a footie coaching scheme. So that is what I am doing. I spent the early part of the week, racking my brains, trying to think of the dim & distant past to remember what coaching I had when I was a lad. I know it is a while ago, and they don't have laces in the balls, and the boots don't have wooden studs nailed in etc, etc.. (heard it all before).
Anyaway I have just got back from our 3rd day coaching. You see, it is quiter simple really, I am english therefore it is reasonable to assume I am the best footballer on the island.
I was supposed to be doing this with Adrian (from Switzerland) but he has got stuck in Colombo, so there is just me and Nelson (a fit young man, who is very good at football, but speaks as much english as I speak Tamil).
Now, the school where we are doing this training happens to be in a place called Kokoddachilai, which is a town in Tiger held country. So every day we travel there in the back of the pickup, loaded with 8 footballs, 3 volleyballs, and 3 netballs. They have local coaches for these two sports, but no balls. This is a very poor area of Sri Lanka. No aid has gone in here for the duration of the war, and very few agencies are working here at the moment, so the TRO is about the only lifeline they have.
To get here we have to cross the border, which is wuite strange. On the SL side it is heavily armed htere are 4 gun emplacement at various points across the bridge, Tiger country is on the far side of the lagoon, and a checkpoint. This is where we have the fun every day. As soon as the army see the TRO truck they pull us over. I then have to jump out from the back and ask if there is a problem, just to establish we have a European on board (this always helps).
Unfortunately we seem to get different soldiers every day, so we go through the same ritual of being asked who we are, where are we going, why are we going, then they look in the back, see the balls and usually they decide they would like one, so they ask for a ball. I say no they are for children in the school and they wouldn't take it from them, they sort of agree, and then decide to go through the whole truck, under the bonnet, behind the seats etc.
Finally we all shake hands, they wave us through and we carry on out to the village.
The odd thing is that on the Tamil side you never see a Tiger. We are told tehy are thre, and they have seen us and are watching us, but they never break cover.
This area is very poor. 20 years of war, no aid and only a little coming through now, has taken its toll.Most of the people we pass on the way seem to live a very simple life in a one room house, no running water or electricity living off the land. We rarely see another vehicle except for a few small motorbikes, tractors and bicycles. The main street of the village is just a dirt track between 2 rows of small buildings. A lot of the houses are mud biult.
We get to the school and all these children appear out of nowhere to greet us and play, footie, netball and volleyball.
They are widly enthusiastic and eager to learn everything you show them. Most are in their normal t-shirts, trousers and barefoot. Of around 80 children for fooite, I counted 3 with football boots, all the rest are barefoot.
We do some routines teaching them to trap, head, pass the ball etc, and then we play some racing games wwhere they have to dribble the ball up and down a row of kids against the other team, and finish with a game of 7-a-sise. At the end we all sit round on the floor and a large bucket of tea is brought out. We dip our cups in, and all share a drink before we go home and throught eh checkpoinmt ritual again. Hopefully the same soldiers will be still there from when we came and they won't hassle us.
We have two days of footie left, then I shall leave Batti, head back to Colombo for a couple of days, renew my visa and head north to Kilinochchi.
Oh yes, almost forgot. We went for a swim today in the Indian Ocean. Had a very nice swim, but you can't help glancing at the flattened trees and houses just up from teh beach and be reminded of the enormous power & devastastion. We did check and people are not offended by us swimming there, but no-one else goes down to the sea these days.
Must go home now.
Cheers, hope I didn't ramble too much.
As I have said before my rigorous training at the PRDU has prepared me for a demanding role in post Tsunami Sri Lanka. here I am in Batticaloa, or border town between Sri lanka and Tamil Eelam, ravaged by 20 years of war and hit by one of the worlds worst natural disasters only 3 months ago.
Well the obvious thing to do is run a footie coaching scheme. So that is what I am doing. I spent the early part of the week, racking my brains, trying to think of the dim & distant past to remember what coaching I had when I was a lad. I know it is a while ago, and they don't have laces in the balls, and the boots don't have wooden studs nailed in etc, etc.. (heard it all before).
Anyaway I have just got back from our 3rd day coaching. You see, it is quiter simple really, I am english therefore it is reasonable to assume I am the best footballer on the island.
I was supposed to be doing this with Adrian (from Switzerland) but he has got stuck in Colombo, so there is just me and Nelson (a fit young man, who is very good at football, but speaks as much english as I speak Tamil).
Now, the school where we are doing this training happens to be in a place called Kokoddachilai, which is a town in Tiger held country. So every day we travel there in the back of the pickup, loaded with 8 footballs, 3 volleyballs, and 3 netballs. They have local coaches for these two sports, but no balls. This is a very poor area of Sri Lanka. No aid has gone in here for the duration of the war, and very few agencies are working here at the moment, so the TRO is about the only lifeline they have.
To get here we have to cross the border, which is wuite strange. On the SL side it is heavily armed htere are 4 gun emplacement at various points across the bridge, Tiger country is on the far side of the lagoon, and a checkpoint. This is where we have the fun every day. As soon as the army see the TRO truck they pull us over. I then have to jump out from the back and ask if there is a problem, just to establish we have a European on board (this always helps).
Unfortunately we seem to get different soldiers every day, so we go through the same ritual of being asked who we are, where are we going, why are we going, then they look in the back, see the balls and usually they decide they would like one, so they ask for a ball. I say no they are for children in the school and they wouldn't take it from them, they sort of agree, and then decide to go through the whole truck, under the bonnet, behind the seats etc.
Finally we all shake hands, they wave us through and we carry on out to the village.
The odd thing is that on the Tamil side you never see a Tiger. We are told tehy are thre, and they have seen us and are watching us, but they never break cover.
This area is very poor. 20 years of war, no aid and only a little coming through now, has taken its toll.Most of the people we pass on the way seem to live a very simple life in a one room house, no running water or electricity living off the land. We rarely see another vehicle except for a few small motorbikes, tractors and bicycles. The main street of the village is just a dirt track between 2 rows of small buildings. A lot of the houses are mud biult.
We get to the school and all these children appear out of nowhere to greet us and play, footie, netball and volleyball.
They are widly enthusiastic and eager to learn everything you show them. Most are in their normal t-shirts, trousers and barefoot. Of around 80 children for fooite, I counted 3 with football boots, all the rest are barefoot.
We do some routines teaching them to trap, head, pass the ball etc, and then we play some racing games wwhere they have to dribble the ball up and down a row of kids against the other team, and finish with a game of 7-a-sise. At the end we all sit round on the floor and a large bucket of tea is brought out. We dip our cups in, and all share a drink before we go home and throught eh checkpoinmt ritual again. Hopefully the same soldiers will be still there from when we came and they won't hassle us.
We have two days of footie left, then I shall leave Batti, head back to Colombo for a couple of days, renew my visa and head north to Kilinochchi.
Oh yes, almost forgot. We went for a swim today in the Indian Ocean. Had a very nice swim, but you can't help glancing at the flattened trees and houses just up from teh beach and be reminded of the enormous power & devastastion. We did check and people are not offended by us swimming there, but no-one else goes down to the sea these days.
Must go home now.
Cheers, hope I didn't ramble too much.
Stranger than fiction!!!!
Well hi everyone, sorry I have been away for a while, but I have been busy. Hard to believe, I know, but absolutely true.
Before I tell you what I have been up to, I must tell you my stranger than fiction story. I am not sure what I have told you about Batticaloa, but it is a fairly provincial town. Lots of goats, cows, dogs, some people a couple of bars in foreigner hotels etc. You probably get the picture, oh and we are on the border of Sri lankan and Tamil Tiger held territory (I will come to that later) so after about 9pm there is no-one on the streets except the police and the army. They are everywhere, all day, fully armed with the ubiquietous Kalashnikov. In fact, 2 are always posted at the end of our TRO street, just to keep an eye on us!!
Anyway, where was I, oh yes. I was wandering home around 8.30 when I passed the only TV shop in Batti. NOw I have not seen a TV picture for 3 weeks, so I idled away a couple of minutes watching the adverts on a station called eye, when a trailer came on for a programme later that evening (this is where it gets spooky) It is one of those studio discussion programmes and there sat in the chair is a absolute double for a certain Irish gentleman we all know as Roger. Up comes caption "Dr. Roger MacGinty, University of York". I am standing in the street in Batticaloa watching our very own Roger on the telly!!!!! Roger, if you are reading this, I hope you didn't say anything to compromise me as I am going to Kilinochchi next week. I would hate for them to have a grudge against the University of York.
Well I will sign off now and send another entry later with my busy life details.
Cheers for now.
Before I tell you what I have been up to, I must tell you my stranger than fiction story. I am not sure what I have told you about Batticaloa, but it is a fairly provincial town. Lots of goats, cows, dogs, some people a couple of bars in foreigner hotels etc. You probably get the picture, oh and we are on the border of Sri lankan and Tamil Tiger held territory (I will come to that later) so after about 9pm there is no-one on the streets except the police and the army. They are everywhere, all day, fully armed with the ubiquietous Kalashnikov. In fact, 2 are always posted at the end of our TRO street, just to keep an eye on us!!
Anyway, where was I, oh yes. I was wandering home around 8.30 when I passed the only TV shop in Batti. NOw I have not seen a TV picture for 3 weeks, so I idled away a couple of minutes watching the adverts on a station called eye, when a trailer came on for a programme later that evening (this is where it gets spooky) It is one of those studio discussion programmes and there sat in the chair is a absolute double for a certain Irish gentleman we all know as Roger. Up comes caption "Dr. Roger MacGinty, University of York". I am standing in the street in Batticaloa watching our very own Roger on the telly!!!!! Roger, if you are reading this, I hope you didn't say anything to compromise me as I am going to Kilinochchi next week. I would hate for them to have a grudge against the University of York.
Well I will sign off now and send another entry later with my busy life details.
Cheers for now.
Monday, April 04, 2005
Is it only the Brits who talk about the weather?
Think I got my times and dates all confused yesterday. Hope you can sort through what I meant to say.
You may have noticed that the Brits are obsessed with talking about the weather, and our favourite complaint is that the sun shines all week and then the clouds come over at the weekend.
Well, not wishing to sound like a typical Brit but………..the sun shone all week in Batticaloa and then came Sunday. Our one & only day off and, well you have already guessed. The clouds came over; it rained most of the day and was a bit cool.
I don’t like to complain, Sri Lanka is a great place, great people, but surely we can do without this British aberration!!!!
Anyway we trotted off to the beach in the afternoon and had a dip in the sea. It was very rough and impossible to swim, just a case of playing in the breakers and getting knocked over by them.
After that we went to the stadium and had a game of 5-a-side in very slippery, muddy conditions. We were absolutely drenched and looked like a group of bedraggled tramps, but we were happy. Must have been tired as we elected to leave the bar and go home at 9 and fell straight off to sleep.
Today is a sad day, as our resident Aussie volunteers, Marty & Kathy headed out of town, I first met them in Colombo when they walked into the TRO office there and asked if they could do anything for 2 weeks to help out as they had come to SL for a holiday, but wanted to do something more. Marty is a Surveyor and Kathy a nurse. They were sent to Batti on the same day I came here and we met up again.
They have been great fun and really good company, so they will be sorely missed. We have shared a few beers, meals and games of footie. Poor Kathy had a queue of victim’s patients last night after the game and dealt with us all with great sensitivity!!!!
Wishing them a safe journey home and few well-earned enjoyable days in Kandy.
I may be staying here a while as Adrian (our Swiss Project Manager) is a teacher and he is starting football coaching classes for teachers in the LTTE controlled areas and needs an assistant. Obviously, with my great skill and prowess I have volunteered to help him, so we may be developing a football-coaching scheme. See if I can get them onto squash next. Make a nice change from project proposals!!!!
Hope all are well; your comments are greatly appreciated. At least I know someone is reading this drivel!
You may have noticed that the Brits are obsessed with talking about the weather, and our favourite complaint is that the sun shines all week and then the clouds come over at the weekend.
Well, not wishing to sound like a typical Brit but………..the sun shone all week in Batticaloa and then came Sunday. Our one & only day off and, well you have already guessed. The clouds came over; it rained most of the day and was a bit cool.
I don’t like to complain, Sri Lanka is a great place, great people, but surely we can do without this British aberration!!!!
Anyway we trotted off to the beach in the afternoon and had a dip in the sea. It was very rough and impossible to swim, just a case of playing in the breakers and getting knocked over by them.
After that we went to the stadium and had a game of 5-a-side in very slippery, muddy conditions. We were absolutely drenched and looked like a group of bedraggled tramps, but we were happy. Must have been tired as we elected to leave the bar and go home at 9 and fell straight off to sleep.
Today is a sad day, as our resident Aussie volunteers, Marty & Kathy headed out of town, I first met them in Colombo when they walked into the TRO office there and asked if they could do anything for 2 weeks to help out as they had come to SL for a holiday, but wanted to do something more. Marty is a Surveyor and Kathy a nurse. They were sent to Batti on the same day I came here and we met up again.
They have been great fun and really good company, so they will be sorely missed. We have shared a few beers, meals and games of footie. Poor Kathy had a queue of victim’s patients last night after the game and dealt with us all with great sensitivity!!!!
Wishing them a safe journey home and few well-earned enjoyable days in Kandy.
I may be staying here a while as Adrian (our Swiss Project Manager) is a teacher and he is starting football coaching classes for teachers in the LTTE controlled areas and needs an assistant. Obviously, with my great skill and prowess I have volunteered to help him, so we may be developing a football-coaching scheme. See if I can get them onto squash next. Make a nice change from project proposals!!!!
Hope all are well; your comments are greatly appreciated. At least I know someone is reading this drivel!
Sunday, April 03, 2005
Lost and found.........in Batticaloa
Hello reader, remember me?
Sorry, but Internet access here is a little sporadic so I am not able to keep you up with all the latest news from Batti as regular as I would like.
Those of you from Uni, who appear to have created a new commune in Kabul, from what my spies tell me!!!!! will be pleased to know I have tracked down Steve. He is alive and well and lording it up, here in Batti. He has the biggest desk and chair I have ever seen complete with his own computer with Internet access , his own car and house and is THE BOSS.
Me, jealous, heck sure I am as we sweat in our office, queue up to use the only computer in the TRO and go back to our dingy room (with no windows) in the back of a pickup truck!!!
So, other than that what has been happening. I went down to Ampara earlier in the week. Unfortunaltey, there was a Hathal (strike) by the Tamils for 2 days, due to a little misunderstanding between the Tigers and the Army, which happened to coincide with our visit. Ampara is pretty tense at the best of times, but with the remains of the burnt out tyres in the roads, the heavy army presence and numerous roadblocks/checkpoints we had an interesting journey. Fortunately for us a smile and a European face helps at the checkpoints and we got no real grief.
The road along the coast is very badly damaged and bridges have had emergency repairs and tend to be very narrow, only for 1 way traffic.
Went to 3 IDP camps and spoke a lot to the people down there.
On a lighter note, the boss at TRO is President of the local "Flying Fish" footie team. anmd we were invited to join the practice last night. The practice was at the Weber Stadium and we had a load of fun. Unfortunately I had no boots so played barefoot, which was OK on the grassy bits, but pretty painful on the gravel and stones. The teams consisted of a number of Army players so, as ever, there was a heavy army presnece complete with Kalashnikovs etc. We were searched on the way in, but the moment of the day was right at the end. Yours truly was playing at lefft back, marking the right winger. Unbeknown to me a couple of soldiers (fully armed) had begun to walk onto the pitch behind me to declare the game over. Now, as you know I am quite heavy and Sri Lankans are quite small, so when my winger made a run down the line I turned and in full flight bowled straight into a fully armed soldier knocking him flat to the floor!!!!
Fortunately he saw the funny side of it (as did the rest of the platoon!!) and we alkl escaped with our lives after picking hikm up and dusting him down.
Not much else to report, have heard from Paola and she is stuck down south in a place I can't pronounc, but apparently saying there are 2 dogs and a cat may be overstating the population.
Dear old CAFC have managed to squeeze a last gasp equaliser against Ciy and, for those of you who understand, I am becoming an expert at hovering!!! For those of you who don't, don't ask.
I now have a project to work on, which is also good news, except I was thinking of leaving here this week to go to Kilinochchi, so I will see how it goes, but TRO has signed a deal with the Govt for Communal buildings in 37 coastal villages, and they need some help sorting out the Project.
Nothing else to report, how is Sudan, wee lassie and I haven't heard from lara, is she in Uganda???
BFN
Sorry, but Internet access here is a little sporadic so I am not able to keep you up with all the latest news from Batti as regular as I would like.
Those of you from Uni, who appear to have created a new commune in Kabul, from what my spies tell me!!!!! will be pleased to know I have tracked down Steve. He is alive and well and lording it up, here in Batti. He has the biggest desk and chair I have ever seen complete with his own computer with Internet access , his own car and house and is THE BOSS.
Me, jealous, heck sure I am as we sweat in our office, queue up to use the only computer in the TRO and go back to our dingy room (with no windows) in the back of a pickup truck!!!
So, other than that what has been happening. I went down to Ampara earlier in the week. Unfortunaltey, there was a Hathal (strike) by the Tamils for 2 days, due to a little misunderstanding between the Tigers and the Army, which happened to coincide with our visit. Ampara is pretty tense at the best of times, but with the remains of the burnt out tyres in the roads, the heavy army presence and numerous roadblocks/checkpoints we had an interesting journey. Fortunately for us a smile and a European face helps at the checkpoints and we got no real grief.
The road along the coast is very badly damaged and bridges have had emergency repairs and tend to be very narrow, only for 1 way traffic.
Went to 3 IDP camps and spoke a lot to the people down there.
On a lighter note, the boss at TRO is President of the local "Flying Fish" footie team. anmd we were invited to join the practice last night. The practice was at the Weber Stadium and we had a load of fun. Unfortunately I had no boots so played barefoot, which was OK on the grassy bits, but pretty painful on the gravel and stones. The teams consisted of a number of Army players so, as ever, there was a heavy army presnece complete with Kalashnikovs etc. We were searched on the way in, but the moment of the day was right at the end. Yours truly was playing at lefft back, marking the right winger. Unbeknown to me a couple of soldiers (fully armed) had begun to walk onto the pitch behind me to declare the game over. Now, as you know I am quite heavy and Sri Lankans are quite small, so when my winger made a run down the line I turned and in full flight bowled straight into a fully armed soldier knocking him flat to the floor!!!!
Fortunately he saw the funny side of it (as did the rest of the platoon!!) and we alkl escaped with our lives after picking hikm up and dusting him down.
Not much else to report, have heard from Paola and she is stuck down south in a place I can't pronounc, but apparently saying there are 2 dogs and a cat may be overstating the population.
Dear old CAFC have managed to squeeze a last gasp equaliser against Ciy and, for those of you who understand, I am becoming an expert at hovering!!! For those of you who don't, don't ask.
I now have a project to work on, which is also good news, except I was thinking of leaving here this week to go to Kilinochchi, so I will see how it goes, but TRO has signed a deal with the Govt for Communal buildings in 37 coastal villages, and they need some help sorting out the Project.
Nothing else to report, how is Sudan, wee lassie and I haven't heard from lara, is she in Uganda???
BFN
SWISS!!!!!!
Hello again. I know what you are thinking, two postings in two days and you are right I have found an Internet Café here in Batticaloa.
So, why am I putting pen to paper today. I have to tell you it is for purely selfish and triumphalist reasons. I feel the need to share with you a small, but important victory. Last night I had, for the first time since arriving in Sri Lanka a dry night (No, I have not become incontinent in my old age, I did not sweat all night long). This may not seem much to you, but to me, it is worth shouting from the rooftops.
Let me explain the phenomenon of Semi Wet In Slumber Syndrome (SWISS), but to do that, once again I have to set the scene for you.
The TRO is not an International organisation with air-conditioned Land Cruisers, large offices etc. It is a Sri Lankan organisation run by Sri Lankans for Sri Lankans in a somewhat modest fashion.
We travel on foot, bicycles, buses, the back of motorbikes or if you are very important in the back of an open pick up truck. They also do not waste money on expensive offices, air conditioners or accommodation. Stick with me, I am getting there. Hence my room is modest, but it has a fan which, when there is not a power cut, works admirably.
Now last night we had rain, by rain I mean tropical rain. I have not experienced this before, but it is of biblical proportions. This is the kind of rain that has the ducks cowering in the bus shelter and rivers flowing down streets!!, but more importantly it brought with it a cool breeze and lower temperatures (not low, I hasten to add, just lower than very hot).
So last night when I went to bed it was cooler than usual.
Getting the speed of the fan above the bed just right at nighttime takes a bit of trial and error. You can’t have it too high, as it is not possible to sleep with a gale blowing through your locks! but too low and you get no cooling. I have found set on level 2 with my head at the fan end works really well, and then about 3am when its a bit cooler, swapping round and putting your feet at the fan end is the best system.
Now, my friends we reach the crux of the problem, and the story. The fan makes the top of your body (be this back or front) quite cold, and sweat free, however (and this, dear reader, is SWISS) the side of the body on the sheet underneath is sweating. So you have to perfect a technique of rolling over every 10 minutes or so to dry the sweaty half, and make the dry half sweaty. I think you get the picture, but do not dwell on it too long.
So, finally the point of this epistle is, the rain brought with it cooler air and last night the under side of my body did not sweat, hence my small, but important, victory.
Do you care? – NO, am I happy, YES.
Have a nice day.
So, why am I putting pen to paper today. I have to tell you it is for purely selfish and triumphalist reasons. I feel the need to share with you a small, but important victory. Last night I had, for the first time since arriving in Sri Lanka a dry night (No, I have not become incontinent in my old age, I did not sweat all night long). This may not seem much to you, but to me, it is worth shouting from the rooftops.
Let me explain the phenomenon of Semi Wet In Slumber Syndrome (SWISS), but to do that, once again I have to set the scene for you.
The TRO is not an International organisation with air-conditioned Land Cruisers, large offices etc. It is a Sri Lankan organisation run by Sri Lankans for Sri Lankans in a somewhat modest fashion.
We travel on foot, bicycles, buses, the back of motorbikes or if you are very important in the back of an open pick up truck. They also do not waste money on expensive offices, air conditioners or accommodation. Stick with me, I am getting there. Hence my room is modest, but it has a fan which, when there is not a power cut, works admirably.
Now last night we had rain, by rain I mean tropical rain. I have not experienced this before, but it is of biblical proportions. This is the kind of rain that has the ducks cowering in the bus shelter and rivers flowing down streets!!, but more importantly it brought with it a cool breeze and lower temperatures (not low, I hasten to add, just lower than very hot).
So last night when I went to bed it was cooler than usual.
Getting the speed of the fan above the bed just right at nighttime takes a bit of trial and error. You can’t have it too high, as it is not possible to sleep with a gale blowing through your locks! but too low and you get no cooling. I have found set on level 2 with my head at the fan end works really well, and then about 3am when its a bit cooler, swapping round and putting your feet at the fan end is the best system.
Now, my friends we reach the crux of the problem, and the story. The fan makes the top of your body (be this back or front) quite cold, and sweat free, however (and this, dear reader, is SWISS) the side of the body on the sheet underneath is sweating. So you have to perfect a technique of rolling over every 10 minutes or so to dry the sweaty half, and make the dry half sweaty. I think you get the picture, but do not dwell on it too long.
So, finally the point of this epistle is, the rain brought with it cooler air and last night the under side of my body did not sweat, hence my small, but important, victory.
Do you care? – NO, am I happy, YES.
Have a nice day.
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