Volunteering in Sri Lanka - Weekend and 4th Week

English Readers:

Saturday (8th of August)

- We caught a bus to Kogalla, a small coastal village about 15 km from Galle. The bus left us a few meters behind the gates to the Free Trade Zone, an industrial setting where many foreign companies manufacture. The principle is simple and effective: by providing a tax free zone, the government gathers the ideal conditions for foreign companies to invest, and therefore create more jobs and sustainability. Companies like Puma, Benetton, or Hugo Boss are already working on the free trade zones.

- The village itself is almost inexistent, although there are a fair number of attractions. There is a prestigious museum dedicated to the History of Buddhism; a Spice Garden, with many trees and plants that provide the raw elements from which most of the spices and herbs are made; a big lagoon where, in a small rowing catamaran, one can visit several islands (one of them with a buddhist temple); and stilt fishermen. Apart from this, there are only a couple of hotels and a fairly small stretch of beach.

- To be able to see all this, we called for a tuk-tuk. The driver, named Aja, took us to all these places for almost nothing, and waited patiently while we explored every attraction. I was interested to know about the effects of the Tsunami in this part of the coast, and I was surprised to know that Kogalla was completely flattened out by the raging waters. No buildings or houses remained intact. Aja was driving his tuk-tuk when the Tsunami hit the coast. He was caught by the wave but luckily found a palm tree where he grabbed for his life. The tuk-tuk vanished. After all the gigantic tidal waves were over, Aja went home. There was no one... there was nothing anywhere, apart from destruction, mud, and corpses. In his house lived his family -- wife, daughter, mother, and father. The first three survived miraculously. The father's corpse was found 3 days later several hundred meters away from home.