BORDERS

Not far from our place there is a canal. It is part of a canal system that was constructed by the Dutch during their 'stay', stretching for over 120km. The canal system was originally used to transport goods from one place to another, between Puttalam and Colombo. However, disuse has seen it come to be overgrown with weeds to the point that it looks as though you could walk right over the top of it (I wouldn't recommend trying).

Of late, efforts have been made to clear the weeds from the canal. An excavator has been parked on the canal bank. Although I've yet to see it in action, it clearly has been used at some stage because as we pass over the bridge we can see the results of its work. We were driving over the bridge recently and it came to our attention that the weeds had been cleared from one side of the bridge, while the other side was just as choked as ever. It looks as though water flows under the bridge and emerges out the other side as greenery. We pondered this phenomenon for some minutes, trying to figure out why they would worry about one side of the bridge and not the other. Finally, Prince came up with a suggestion that seemed quite feasible. One side of the bridge, he suggested, probably falls under the responsibility of the Negombo municipality while the other is the responsibility of the Kochchikade municipality. We wondered at the logic of this, assuming that the Kochchikade weeds will eventually spread and reclaim the Negombo water.

It was, of course, just a theory. It is just as possible that it was decided that, for some reason, this bridge was just a good place to start and that they will return and do the other side later. Those of us who like to see the glass as half-full can undoubtedly give the municipalities the benefit of the doubt. Still, it does get me pondering this strange notion of 'borders' that we humans have.

Throughout history we have managed to carve this planet into patches and allocate patches to people (or, perhaps, people to patches). We have claimed patches as our own, tried to drive people from their patches and allocate them to different ones. We have fought, and even killed, over patches. We have covete what other people find on their patch. We have made people pay, and continue paying, for the right to have a patch. We clear our patches, build on them, landscape them and develop them. And, of course, we compare them. Oh, the prestige when my patch is better than your patch. And heaven help those who don't have a patch. All of this stemming from these borders that you will see marked so clearly on your map but may not even notice as you cross a bridge.

But when we look at it we might have to wonder if borders are really mind-games that we play with ourselves. Oh, for sure, they can be extremely beneficial when it comes to good administration and good government and we've probably all heard the saying, "Good fences make good neighbours". I definitely believe that order is a good thing. Still, there are times when you might have to question if borders belong on a list with Santa Claus and the tooth fairy, something that shapes human behaviour without actually existing (it's always dangerous saying things like that about Santa - hope I haven't shattered anyone!). Our borders do not keep smoke from fires in Indonesia from polluting the air in Malaysia. We are all quite aware that in the case of a nuclear mishap - attack or accident - our borders will not protect us. Rubbish thrown in the ocean will not stop at maritime borders and we are gradually learning that, even if we don't have a heart, we still need to care about the economic well-being of people in other 'patches' because if we don't we may well find ourselves suffering economically as well. And, of course, water weeds are not a respecter of municipal boundaries.

At some point, it must be worth considering whether we ever really own the patch we find ourselves inhabiting or should we merely consider ourselves to be caretakers. I'll be interested to see what happens in the canal.

BUYING BREAD

Today I would like to introduce you to some friends of mine. To me, they go by the communal title of 'The Bread Ladies' - though to be fair, as you can see, they are not all ladies. The ladies give me the bread and the gentleman works the cash register, so perhaps 'The Bread Ladies' is still an apt title if I also add 'and Tillman' to the introduction.

Anyway, we need to buy our bread fresh each day and this is the shop that we visit to do this errand. We stop here each morning on the way home from dropping the kids at school. This means, because we take turns at taking the kids to school, that every second day I get to see the Bread Team. This is truly the highlight of my morning routine. The Bread Team are so friendly and always greet me with huge smiles. They know exactly what I'm after - a large loaf of bread - but they love to help me practise my Sinhala. The bread will be on the counter as soon as I enter the store (and I've caught them out at checking the loaves to try and find me the best one) but they will still wait for me to ask for it in Sinhala (Mata loku parn denda) before I'm allowed to have it. I will ask them all "Kohomada?" (How are you?) and they will respond in various ways that I can only assume mean "Yeah, I'm well". Then they will ask how I am and I will respond with the easiest response in my repertoire (Hondai). By then I will have paid for the bread and will give a "Gihin enang" (Goodbye, which I am told literally translates to 'I will go and I will come") and then I am on my way, buoyed by their smiles and encouragement and the thought that I have successfully used Sinhala in public.

Anyway, I enjoy my visits with the Bread Team so much that I wanted to get a photo of them to share with you all. So, one morning, in I go with my camera to get a shot of the team. It was funny that they were so obliging considering that if I went down to Baker's Delight and asked if I could take a photo of them, they would probably just get totally weirded out. However, I will share that this photo does come to you with a price. In return, the team asked me if they could each have a photo of me with the family. I asked why they wanted a photo of me because I was worried they might put it up in the shop. Prince said they were going to get it enlarged and put it on the shop wall. After I had been sufficiently horrified (can you imagine going to get your bread each day with your photo on the wall like the patron saint of bread?!) Prince let me know he was just joking - they just wanted the photo to take home. I figured it was a fair swap.

THE ANTS CAME MARCHING TWO BY TWO

One of the small but significant things about living here in Sri Lanka is sharing our house with the ants. I don't think we ever had ants in our house in Australia and if we did, it was never in the numbers that we have here. There are ants in both of my kitchens; ants in the loungeroom; ants coming up the drain in the downstairs bathroom and, of late, ants walking all over my desk. I don't know what has suddenly attracted them to my desk and I would chase them away if it didn't seem so futile. When we first moved in we tried to combat the ants with ant powder and spray but we've come to see that it is a losing battle. Now we live peaceably with them, keeping as much food as we can in the fridge and making sure that you clean up really quickly after preparing any food. Oh, and of course there's the golden rule: always make sure you look at anything before you put it in your mouth.

Still, you learn a few things about ants. You learn that the only places they don't get into are the fridge and the oven (well, for now anyway!). You learn that they can move really quickly and they are determined. At the same time, you learn that they aren't that clever. They can work together to move a gigantic (well, in comparison anyway) crumb across the kitchen bench and then will work for hours, to get it through the flywire even though it's too big. And yet, they can still figure out how to work their way along the thread of a screw-lid container. You might think that things like sugar and honey would be their favourite but, surprisingly, this is not so. In fact, the honey is one of the few things that is safe in the cupboard - they have not tried for it at all. They would much rather peanut butter. However, this can not compare with their all-time favourite: cheese. Get some cheese out of the fridge and every ant everywhere will be running to your kitchen within seconds. Oh well, at least they're not charging me rent yet.

THE INCIDENTALS

We have just returned from two days in Colombo. Although it wasn't a particularly eventful trip, I feel the urge to tell you about the incidental things that happened over those couple of days. These little things aren't particularly spectacular - in fact, some of them are downright mundane - but they give a little glimpse into our world.

Sunday morning started as the sun was rising because we had a couple of hours drive ahead of us. Before we were to leave I was to find myself at the kitchen sink, scrubbing my thongs (footwear, people, I am Australian - and therefore refuse to call them flip-flops, slippers or any other silly name). I have a blue pair which I wore to the fish market recently. It was not my usual fish market so I was not expecting to have to walk across such a wet floor. I wouldn't normally consider myself to be a princess but I did have to draw the line at washing my thongs, which I figured were covered in something that must have been in contact with fish guts, before I would wear them again. My other pair is a pretty pink pair of Kustoms thongs that used to be my mum's. She commented that they probably weren't a sensible colour for a place like Sri Lanka but I thought I could just keep them to be my 'good thongs' - you know, for those times when I have to dress up. Anyway, I had to go into town the other day and, because I hadn't got around to washing the blue fish-water thongs yet I wore the pretty pink ones. I must admit I was feeling quite proud of actually owning a pair of 'brand-name' thongs in such an attractive colour and really enjoying how comfortable the writing felt on my feet - so much more comfortable than the cheap thongs that I would buy - and I really did feel pretty cool. Of course, you know how pride comes before a fall, and the next thing I know one of my thongs had disappeared from my foot. You see, some men were re-tarring the road and the not-quite-dry-yet tar had stuck my shoe to the road and I had walked on without it. After that first instance of confusion, I had to go back and peel my shoe off the road and put it back on my now-sticky foot. The black dots have only just washed off my foot. Anyways, so that is why I would find myself at the kitchen sink on Sunday morning (I don't have a laundry sink, but I do have two kitchens), scrubbing furiously at my thongs and thinking that perhaps I should have done this before I put on my gleaming white new t-shirt.

Sunday morning is a good time to drive to Colombo because the traffic is a lot quieter. We made it in reasonable time and I headed off to a class that I needed to run for a group of children. There were about 30 children in the group, ranging in age from about 4 to 14. We get the honour of being involved with several out-of-school classes and most of the groups tend to be made up the same way. I find that my Sinhala is getting better because I can occasionally throw in sentences without needing them translated. This always goes down a treat, especially if I'm telling a story and I take them - and my translator - by surprise by throwing in some unexpected Sinhala. It's usually bound to get some laughs! Actually, I find teaching English is a great way for me to improve my Sinhala at the same time.

After the class finished it was time for lunch, which we decided to have at a nearby hotel. Here we met a lovely gentleman who works for the hotel and who is also vice-president of the Origami Club of Sri Lanka. He made some origami birds for the boys and we got to talking. He showed us a sample from his repertoire of origami creations, the most notable being the set of 9 nesting origami boxes, the smallest of which held an origami crane about the size of a grain of rice, and a naughty frog that seemed to be alive and had quite a mind of its own. He also showed us one of his magic tricks but, although he tried to teach us to do it ourselves, we proved to be rather dense students and could not master it at all. It was quite difficult to believe this spritely, animated man could be all of the 79 years he told us that he was.

After lunch we scouted the area for a place where we could spend the night and finally settled on something adequate. This was no mean task, as the next day was poya - a Buddhist public holiday in honour of the full moon - and the long weekend meant that most places were full. The place where we stayed was adjacent to the beach, which also means that it was adjacent to the train track but so are most of the hotels in that area anyway. Besides, you find that once you know that trains will be passing from time to time you find that the noise doesn't really bother you all that much. Plus, to our delight, we were to find that our room had proper hot water - not just the standard luke-warm.

After a rest we headed down to the beach for some dinner. Being poya, and a long weekend poya at that, the beach was absolutely packed. It is not that unusual to see busy beaches in the evening, particularly at poya, but this was definitely the most crowded beach I've ever seen. We made our way to the same restaurant that we always visit for dinner when we find ourselves in this area. We watched the sun go down while we waited for our meal - it was a blazing red that night, like the Japanese flag, and didn't seem to set so much as suddenly disappear as though it had fallen through a hole in the sky - and let the children run on the sand and visit the park. That night we had the added surprise of finding that another diner at a nearby table was also an Australian. It is incredibly rare for us to come across Australians in Sri Lanka so, after some precursory conversation, we invited her to come and join us at our table. I find that it is incredibly enjoyable meeting other foreigners here in Sri Lanka and finding out about what has brought them to this part of the world. There are always so many different stories to hear.

The next morning we were off to meet with a group of teachers. These teachers are involved with schools that are run for children from tsunami camps and other poverty-stricken children. We have a collection of toys, books, games and puzzles that we lend out to teachers such as these so that they can extend their curriculum and offer lessons and activities that are fun, colourful and stimulating. We were there to collect the items that were previously borrowed and to allow them to choose some items for the upcoming few months. My kids also had fun demonstrating a selection of the toys.

After this, our work in Colombo was done. However, on the way home we did make sure that we stopped off at the shopping centre. There are some things that it is just a little difficult to find in our local stores so when we're in Colombo we're bound to make a trip to one or two of the special places where we know these little treasures might be found. Some of these things are always hard to find and Colombo is our chance to stock up for a while. Cheese is one of those items. Other items can usually be found locally but occasionally they go missing for a period of time (once imported goods are sold out you must wait until more come in before they are re-stocked). Tomato soup is one of those items; it went missing just before Christmas and is yet to return to the shelves of my local store. So, it was as proud owners of cheese and tomato soup we were to finally to return back home.

See, I told you that it wasn't anything spectacular, but now you know why my pink thongs have tar-sealed soles for extra-grip and why you can no longer find tomato soup at my special Colombo shopping centre.

LITTLE KNOWN FACTS

Having spent one year in Sri Lanka we have discovered there are some stories that we hear from locals that are not found in your traditional guidebook. Although some are humorous, I am not intending for this to be an opportunity to poke fun at those that said them. It is just interesting to have an insight into some of the common thoughts found here. Some of these little gems were quite unknown to our Australian minds which is why, in a lot of cases, we are given incredulous looks when we show our ignorance in these areas.

Firstly, balm fixes everything. It doesn't matter if you have sprained your ankle or been bitten by a dog, Sri Lankan balm will ensure a quick recovery. Well, fingers crossed!!

When offering water to visitors it is worth knowing that cold water, although considered more refreshing in many countries, is thought to give you a cold and make you sick here. A bit like those mums you may know of who tell you going out without your jumper can give you a cold, I suppose. Along the same lines is the refusal to eat yogurt on a cold day as it will make you sick. No probs - more yogurt for me!

When you get a burn, butter is still considered the best thing to apply. In vain we protest with horrified expressions that it is the worst thing you could do. We are not believed. However, in a lot of cases the locals use coconut milk, which is probably a better option in the absence of ice. Of course, you could always try some balm!!

There is also the belief that somehow playing in the dirt can cause you to get a bad cough. The conversation went something like this "We took him to the hospital because he has a bad cough because he keeps playing in the dirt".

I used to get cracked heels in Australia but since being here I haven't had too much of an issue with it, which I am quite happy about. Well, I finally found a theory as to why we have these. Apparently, cracks in your feet let out the heat so you don't get too hot. Ironically enough, this is probably the best place to use that balm!!

Finally, although these beliefs may be unfounded, at least they will probably not cause any long term health problems. However, I am concerned about the belief that anything can be burnt and that it is the best way to dispose of rubbish. Just because plastic and rubber can be burned doesn't mean they should be burned. Maybe an "Its OK to drink cold water but it isn't OK to burn your tyres!!" campaign wouldn't go astray.

THE UNCOMFORTABLE THINGS

Recently I have been reading about issues associated with war and I came across the following excerpt:

"In one analysis the comparative cost of civilian (unprotected) casualties is $2 000 per square kilometre with conventional weapons, $800 with nuclear weapons, $600 with nerve gas weapons and $1 with biological weapons."

It got me thinking about how we use our money.

With $2000 I could blow hundreds of people to smithereens; I could buy a gold necklace with diamond pendant; or I could take an old lady off the street and put her in a nursing home where she will have shelter, food and healthcare for almost a year.

With $800 I could incinerate hundreds of people with searing heat, or doom them to suffer from the effects of nuclear radiation; I could hire a yacht overnight; or I could establish a small school for 20 pre-schoolers, pay their teachers for a month and provide them all with one meal a day for a whole month.

With $600 I could destroy the nervous systems of hundreds of people; I could perhaps stay a few nights at a 5-star hotel or could buy 5kg of rice for around 130 people.

With merely $1 I could destroy hundreds of people by purposely inflicting them to horrible, deadly diseases; I could buy myself a chocolate bar (if I'm lucky); or I could provide a day's wage for one of the just under 1 billion people across the world who is living on around $1 a day.

So, because I was pondering these things, I looked for a few more statistics. Now, please forgive me that I have not quoted my references as I am simply pondering and not trying to write an essay. I am hoping that my sources will not begrudge me sharing their statistics with you and I am hoping they have been as accurate as they could be. I'm not too sure how recent these figures are but I'm sure the picture they try to paint is still valid. With that in mind, this is what I found.

Almost half the world lives on less than $2.50 a day. At least 80% of the world lives on less than $10 a day.

Around 30 000 children die each day due to poverty. It is held that every second child lives in poverty.

Less than 1% of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn't happen.

I came across a table of statistics claiming that the world spent $780 billion on military costs and $400 billion on narcotic drugs. Europeans spent $105 billion on alcoholic drinks and $50 billion on cigarettes. In comparison, consider the following additional costs needed to provide access to basic services. $13 billion was quoted as being necessary to provide basic health and nutrition in developing countries. $12 billion could provide reproductive health for all women. $9 billion could provide water and sanitation for all and $6 billion could be used to provide basic education for all.

Maybe we could all use a little change.

PUTTALAM

Recently we visited Puttalam for the weekend. Puttalam is a small town, a couple of hours North of us (depending on what day you travel and what the traffic is like). What I find happens whenever I travel away from home in Sri Lanka is that I find myself thinking, "I like this place. I could really enjoy living here." Of course there have been the occasional exceptions but Puttalam was not one of them and I once again found myself thinking, "Hmmm, I could really enjoy living here."



Our purpose in Puttalam was to meet with some applicants for loans to begin businesses. We have (as regular readers of our blog may recall) visited Puttalam previously but this trip was a little more relaxed and we had more time to enjoy being there. Our first item of business was to find somewhere to spend the night and we were thrilled to find a lovely bungalow that we could hire for the night. After lunch we had time for a drive to the beach. We had considered a swim but beach accesses were via fisherfolks huts and we were a little shy of the attention we might attract. Instead, we headed back to the bungalow for a nap.



We had arranged to meet the loan applicants later in the afternoon, so that they would have time to come in from their various locations. We met with 4 people; one wanting to buy a large fishing net, one wanting to start a business selling vegetables and 2 others, each wanting a loan to help them in a business selling everday goods. We spent the afternoon asking them questions about their businesses and plans, as well as their family situations. It was quite saddening to learn from one woman that she was currently having to work in a factory, packing salt, to earn a little over $2 a day. At this stage we will be able to offer loans for two of these people, with the possibility of returning later on in the year with a loan for the others.



We returned to the bungalow for the evening. The caretaker there had a young dog that the boys enjoyed playing with. The next day we were able to see a little more of Puttalam and were able to meet a few more of the locals. Then it was time to return home. Although it was a fleeting visit, we look forward to more trips there in the future.