LankaLife

Doi Tung

A few weeks ago, Jennifer and I visited Northern Thailand for a research visit to the successful Doi Tung Development Project. The project was initiated by the Princess Mother (affectionately known as a Mae Fah Luang, or Royal Mother from the Sky) in 1987 as a way to give villagers in the region an alternative to opium farming and address rural poverty. It is an example of how social enterprise can work at its best.

The drive to Doi Tung from the airport winds through lush farmland then into a mountainous area covered with thick green forest. It's hard to believe that the area was once almost devoid of trees - a landscape dotted mainly with opium crops. But it was. In the heart of the "Golden Triangle" formed by Thailand, Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Laos, the region was infamous for opium, slash and burn agriculture, drug addiction, trafficking, and poverty.

Doi Tung has certainly changed the image of the region. Today, villagers have options other than opium growing. Alternative livelihood opportunities have evolved from reforestry (tree planting) to operating coffee and macadamia nut plantations or working in one of the project's factories (ceramics, paper, textiles, coffee, macadamia nuts), museums, stores, gardens, or hospitality businesses. By the time the 30-year project concludes in 2017, all of the business units will have been turned over to the community.

As they say, seeing is believing. Whether it's shopping for Doi Tung's high quality products in their exclusive Mae Fah Luang stores in Bangkok, tasting their coffee at the Starbucks-like shops around the country, visting one of their educational museums, or talking to villagers, it is very clear that this project has had a dramatic effect on the quality of life of the over 10,000 people in the region.  Villagers say they have learned how to run businesses, manage and take control of their own destinies and are now able to take over the businesses successfully.

My organization, the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA), is studying the Doi Tung model for applicability in Sri Lanka. Jennifer's organization, the Rural Enterprise Network (REN), supported the trip as a way to study Doi Tung's highly successful production centres and marketing approach. We're already making some progress in transferring some Doi Tung knowledge and are sharing the story in Sri Lanka to show others what's possible with long-term planning.

Kraving Kos

Part of the fun of living in another country is immersing yourself in its food. In Sri Lanka, rice and curry is the staple diet, featured at lunch with some variation for breakfast and dinner. It's a spicy dish with more rice than anything else and after six months, it's beginning to lose its appeal.

But I fell in love with another Sri Lankan food this week, proving that professional preparation can make all the difference to your tastebuds.

My organization, the Rural Enterprise Network, markets a form of dehydrated jackfruit, or "kos" in Sinhalese. It was the feature at our trade show booth this week as a chef prepared different dishes using it as the main ingredient (an amazingly aromatic way to draw people to your display). Soaking the dehydrated product for about 20 minutes rehydrated it for cooking. Devilled jack, coconut milk jack (kiri kos) and a few other dishes with tasty - and sometimes spicy - ingredients convinced me that this veggie can be more than a mushy sidekick in my rice and curry.

Of course, it would help if the chef could cook for me as I haven't mastered the art of cooking Sri Lankan food yet (and probably never will) but it invigorated my taste buds and I'm ready to get a little more adventurous in the kitchen.

News from Home

News from home flows through the computer almost daily - the power of the Internet to stay connected is amazing. But, of course, nothing replaces face-to-face contact. Two nights ago we had a visit from someone from home. It was a bit surreal frankly, meeting up in a place half way around the world, but so nice to learn about what's going on in our community, hear about mutual friends and acquaintances, and discover how our paths connect in Sri Lanka on different development-related missions. And, of course, a care package from home was the icing on the cake! 

Time to Stop Passing the Buck

A recently released five-country report on the 2004 tsunami, authored by several international aid agencies, says that governments have frequently ignored human rights principles and failed to protect survivors. The study of more than 50,000 people is critical of a number of issues, including forced relocation, poor housing construction and neglecting the needs of those that are most vulnerable, namely women, children and ethnic minorities.

Some have argued that the study is not thorough enough and generalizes isolated problems. To some degree, perhaps. But when you look around in the field and talk to the people working directly with tsunami- affected people, you can see that the problems highlighted in the report are indeed present in parts of Sri Lanka.

Rather than pointing fingers or discarding the report, government, INGOs and NGOs and civil society organizations should take a hard - and honest - look at the findings and the bigger picture. There's still a long way to go in the recovery and rebuilding effort in Sri Lanka. If we can identify past problems and take action to improve our efforts, we can help the people we're here to serve in a more equitable way.

Author: Chris McIntyre

Uncertain Times

Conflict is breeding uncertainty. Post-tsunami projects in the east and north of Sri Lanka are slowing down as the ethnic tension in the regions rise. December was a particularly violent month in the country’s long-standing conflict – despite the standing 2002 ceasefire – and January isn’t heading in a good direction. It’s all making many people nervous.

Several organizations are taking a wait-and-see approach but proceeding with caution. Some are postponing their travel into areas with increased tensions which obviously affects progress on many projects.

The tragedy of the situation is that people are being victimized again. The tsunami destroyed homes, lives and ways of work and now, one year later, communities are experiencing a new threat. The country’s post-tsunami economic recovery, particularly in areas like tourism, will be affected by increased conflict at a time when the country needs it the most. A Reuters article quotes a researcher as saying that a return to war won’t “cripple the economy…it’s going to hamstring the economy” with 4.5-5.0% growth which would be down at least 2% from current projections.

Office Time

After last week's field visit to the Ampara district, this was a quiet week in the office. Too quiet. It's like coming down from a high. Of course, seeing an endless swath of tsunami destruction and speaking with residents still so affected by the tragedy wasn't a high; it was the opportunity to be in the field, observing, absorbing, listening...starting to feel like some pieces are coming together and seeing where our work can, and does, have an impact.

But, back to the quiet week. I'm spending time laying the framework for the organization's strategic plan, but really ready to get out and do some external interviews with stakeholders, partner organizations, funders, and government bodies that may influence where the Rural Enterprise Network (REN) is heading. I'm also anxious to have more consultative time with REN's founding organization and managing entity, ITDG (Intermediate Technology Development Group), to ensure I'm moving in the right direction. Kind of critical.

The rest of November will likely have more in-office work than past or future months. Sri Lanka's presidential election runs November 17 and though the last election was apparently low on the violence scale, no one can be sure of the outcome of this event. Steering clear of political rallies, events and protests and generally laying low the day of the election has been advised by most NGOs. Though, I do think it would be interesting to volunteer as an election monitor. A friend of mine is volunteering and if I don't pursue it myself, I'll report on her experience. Stay tuned.

Highs and Lows

Volunteering has its ups and downs and in-betweens. New tastes, new sights, new languages, new faces. Jobs that aren't exactly what you thought they were or organizations that just weren't prepared for you.

Drastic ups and downs can happen within a single day, too.

This week, I conducted a site visit to Sri Lanka's eastern area, part of the conflict-zone. Our visit concentrated on a small village called Marathumanai, the hardest hit community in the country during last December's tsunami. The devastation was simply unbelievable. It defies words. It's now 10 months since the tragedy, yet the signs of destruction are everywhere. Psychological scars are obvious too. During one visit with a master weaver, it was evident from our discussion that he was attempting to rebuild his life and business, yet it was also obvious that he will be dealing with the tragedy for a very long time, if not his entire life. A beautiful, water-damaged roll of his textiles leans against a tree in his yard and once soaked and now useless rolls of cotton yarn are piled in one of his shops. The water marks showing the height of the tsunami's powerful waters are clearly visible on the walls of his shop; a constant reminder of the tsunami and the employees he lost that day.

And yet, as you read so often, the people are determined and resilient, and the children's smiles melt your heart.

Driving to and from the village, you're surrounded by paddy fields, rivers and small lakes. This is a part of Sri Lanka that's truly beautiful - a land of wild elephants and roaming peacocks.

After a day of livelihood-related visits, a colleague showed me an ancient temple (and the country's oldest monastery) near Ampara called Buddangala. Our visit was peaceful and spiritual. This picture from the granite cliffs just above the ancient temple site is a good illustration of the day's contrast and reminds me of the opposite degrees of emotions that are often a part of this work.

Image copyright 2005 Jennifer King

Sri Lanka's "Non-Citizens"

Today's Toronto Star profiles the contrasting world of Sri Lanka's lush tea plantations and the estate workers who toil away on them. They are often seen as "non-citizens", living without the national identification cards needed for the most basic government and private-sector services because of a legacy of indentured labour. Some won't venture beyond the confines of the tea estates.

The World University Service of Canada's (WUSC) Plantation Communities Project (PCP)is helping the largely Tamil-speaking labourers, their estate owners, and the unions work together for a better future for the workers and their families. The program is helping to generate identification documentation and improve working conditions.

"They were brought over basically as slaves," explains Bill Duggan in the article, WUSC's manager heading the PCP. "They were born on the estate and never thought they'd leave the estate." But the next generation wants a different future. Read Martin Regg Cohn's story here.