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.