Tuesday I went to Shilpa. The trustees were having a meeting and I asked if I could come to the end of their meeting as I had a story about Shilpa I wanted to share. I arrived and waited in the foyer to be called into the meeting. While I was waiting a young woman sat beside me on the couch. I think she is a matron at Shilpa. She looked over at my arms and said, “ You are a little fatty, aren’t you”. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry but agreed with her that indeed I was a fat American. How humbling. She had arms about the size of a curtain rod.

I went into the meeting of seven women: the executive director of Shilpa and six trustees. I introduced myself, as I wasn’t sure if all of them knew who I was and what my connection to Shilpa was. I told them the story about Jeri Holt suggesting that our book club sponsor a girl. They were thrilled at that point in the story. I then told them how one of the first donors gave me the $25 I had asked for and another $250 to sponsor a girl. They gasped at that point. When I told them I had $1500 for them, they were almost speechless. Chandini, my friend who is a trustee, said, “I can’t believe this. We were just looking at our financial reports and were quite worried about the status of the home. We were trying to figure out what kind of fund raiser we needed to do.” I gave each person present a list of donors and the amount contributed. So thank you again to all who made this gift possible. I also told them I was willing to ask again in a year but I could not guarantee the same results.

The newspaper had a report on kidney problems in SL. The statistics are horrifying. One in ten Sri Lankans has some form of chronic kidney disease while one in 35 have serious kidney failure. One in every three women and one in every ten men suffer a bladder infection. One in every 15 women has kidney stones. We were astounded by the figures. “The research has failed to determine the direct cause. The suspicion that drinking water contaminated with aluminum and eating freshwater fish with cadmium in the NCP has not been proven.” Keep in mind that nowhere on the island can you drink the tap water without first boiling it. People do but you shouldn’t. We drink bottled water when we are here. Also keep in mind that only in Colombo is sewerage collected. It isn’t treated but rather dumped into the ocean untreated. Oy. The rest of the island has cesspools that will at some point probably poison the ground water here. Also keep in mind that many people do not have water in their homes. They walk to a water source and carry water in vessels, often aluminum or plastic, to their homes.

Denial is a wondrous thing. Yesterday the Export Development and International Trade Minister gave an address to the American Chamber of Commerce in Colombo. He ‘reiterated the government’s stance that the conflict (civil war) has no bearing on the economic progress of the country’. Really? Tell that to all the people here in the service/tourism industry: the hotel staff, the trishaw and taxi drivers, and the retailers. Each of them will tell you that every time there is a bombingh, attack or suicide bomber, their trade is affected.

Today I picked Geetha up after work at the Asia Foundation. We greeted one another with warm hugs and great joy. It was 11:00, too earlier for lunch so I suggested we go shopping. She was shy about the idea but I told her it would be fun and she could buy whatever she wanted: a sari, clothes for her grandkids, household items. We started at House of Fashion where Sri Lankans shop. She picked out two outfits for grandkids, and some items for the new grandbaby that is expected next month. Next we went to several sari shops. She wouldn’t even consider looking in one shop when they told her the price. I have no idea what the price was but know that if you are buying a synthetic material here it isn’t expensive by our standards. She found one she liked in the third shop we visited and it cost $6.75! The stepped next door to get material for the ‘blouse piece’. That cost $2.00 and she thought that was too much but I insisted that we get it. Lunch came next. I took her to a rice and curry restaurant that is near the Asia Foundation. I went there because I know Sri Lankans eat there. We ran into Ron and two staff members so we joined them.

Then we went to another clothing store and found an outfit for the third grandchild and a dress her pregnant daughter could wear. Geetha deliberated over it a long time and was about to put it back when I took it out of her hand and said, ‘let’s get it’. I told her to stop worrying about the prices but she checked the price of every item and was quite concerned that the outfit for one grandchild cost $4.50. We ended the spree by going to a grocery/variety store where she found two backpacks for two of the grandkids, a Tupperware container and I insisted we get a few grocery items. In addition I talked her into some basics like shampoo, talc, and hand cream. Each time she would choose the smallest size container and I would insist she get the largest size. I had never been to her house and knew she was somewhat reluctant to take me there. On two previous occasions I had taken her to lunch and she always got out of the trishaw before we got to her house. Respecting her needs, when we got to her house today, I stayed in the trishaw and handed the bags to Mr.Kularathna who in turn handed the items to Geetha who took them inside. After we unloaded the trishaw, she invited us into her home. Her home was lovely, as she is. It was small and all I saw was the living room. I had not known what to expect but was surprised at how well furnished the home was. She had a couch and two side chairs as well as a china cabinet. On top of the cabinet was the photo I had given her of Ron and me. She was very proud to show it to me. Her grandson was there and her daughter who is expecting next month. We stayed about 30 minutes and her daughter shared the photo album of her wedding two years ago with Mr. Kularathna and me. Her grandson served us a cold glass of juice. All is all it was a fun day for both of us. It was interesting to see that she only bought one item for herself and everything else was for her family. I wasn’t surprised knowing her as I do. Most of all it was fun to be together for some time.

Thursday
Today was ATM day. Shilpa preferred cash so I have used two of my accounts and two of Ron’s accounts to extract $1500 in cash. The largest Sri Lankan bill is 2000 rupee note (about $20) and usually you get 1000 rupee notes from ATMs here so I have a stack of cash!. Many machines here limit your withdrawals to 20,000 rupees, about $183. By tomorrow morning I will have the $1500 and can take it to Shilpa. It got hot today, 91.5 with lots of humidity. Then it rained for the first time since December. We had dinner at friends house tonight. They don’t have air conditioning and we had forgotten how hot it is without it. Oy.

Well somehow it got to be Friday and I haven’t posted this. Ron is on the road today but will return after visiting two cities his program is working with.

That’s the latest from paradise five degrees above the equator.