As the New Year is upon us, I wanted to take this chance to thank all of our supporters, advocates, sponsors, and donors. You have made my time in Sri Lanka powerful with your words of encouragement and your suggestions for improvement. You have inspired and healed our girls with your interest and care. And you have helped to build Emerge's Sri Lankan operations into an operating, full-time office. Without you, our "From the Field" reports would never have been possible. Thank you for all that you have done, and for all that you continue to do.
Thank you.
-Ellen Read more »
Recent Posts
- Happy Holidays
- Miscellaneous culture
- Emerge Holiday Party
- Anniversary
- Flying Home via Kuwait
- Courtroom Visit
- April and Ellen, the Sri Lankan Dream Team
- What a month!
- April Wachtel Heads to Sri Lanka
- The Month in Review
Archives
Emerge in the Field
Sandals. My new favorite thing about Sri Lanka.
No, I'm not talking about buying them- I'm talking about finding them everywhere, abandoned haphazardly (albeit temporarily) in the streets, in the workshops, in the temples. This is something I remember from my childhood in Vermont... the concept of "no shoes, no shirt, no service" didn't exist. I actually forgot my sandals at home for my high school graduation.
And here again, it's more obvious. The three wheeler drivers have what I think of as a "loose attachment" to their sandals. They rarely wear them driving or walking around... they're kind of there in case of emergency. Likewise the fruit and vegetable vendors are often without, and one can observe when entering many establishments, the shopkeeper in and out of her/his sandals depending on the task they're performing.
It is probably a commentary on their relative value... they're inexpensive, so not a big deal if they're lost. But, it's the larger implication that tickles me pink. The notion of a muted sense of self-awareness so different from that which I've grown accustomed to in Boston... The notion that your personal bubble extends to where you've left your shoes, and that it overlaps and co-mingles with others along the way.
It is probably a commentary on their relative value... they're inexpensive, so not a big deal if they're lost. But, it's the larger implication that tickles me pink. The notion of a muted sense of self-awareness so different from that which I've grown accustomed to in Boston... The notion that your personal bubble extends to where you've left your shoes, and that it overlaps and co-mingles with others along the way.
Personal space certainly has a different meaning here. It's actually been an interesting component of getting to know the girls. Because I speak only a few words of Sinhala, and the girls speak a comparable amount of English, our communications are very basic. We have distilled most of our interactions to physical gestures, facial expressions, sound, and drawings. Although we started off with no physical contact whatsoever, it follows naturally from this new basic language. I have been very aware of maintaining my distance in order to preserve the girls' sense of comfort (you can't know what reservations they might have given their past experiences) but they have made themselves at home with me, and are constantly hugging and patting me, and most recently: doing my hair and feeding me cake!
One of the girls teaching me to write in Sinhala
Me trying to have a serious conversation while the girls give me pigtails
"Every year at the end of August I get very nostalgic thinking of Christmas. For the second consecutive year I was desirous of organizing Holiday party for my girls at Ma Sevena and Vocational Training Centre at Sarvodaya Suwasetha. Last year I was lucky to meet a sponsor who volunteered to support me and this year I was even luckier when I met my nephew Chari who has been living in California through Face book.
Chari and I had loads to catch up when we chatted on FB and one day I mentioned to him that I wanted to celebrate Christmas with the girls, he was very impressed with the work we do and he volunteered to help his “Aunty Baby” and he started fund raising immediately. It didn’t take long for Chari to collect funds for this very worthy cause.
Pavements and side bazaars in the nooks of Pamunuwa in Maharagama was the places you could see me during the past few weeks haggling with the street vendors to get the best bargains, selecting clothes for the tiny ones each different age groups and matching tops with the bottoms was the most daunting task.
Many nights were spent wrapping the gifts and making lists, making calls to the caterer, the orphanages, discussing and planning with them and not forgetting making arrangements with `Trixie’ the wonder girl.
I had to do some last minute shopping on Friday when I was informed that a new inmate had joined the orphanage and I had to make a trip once again to purchase gifts for her, however on Saturday afternoon I went down to the orphanage got the girls involved with decorating the Christmas tree which was fun. The guests, the food and the magician arrived in time and we commenced the party at 5 o’clock.
`Trixie” the wonder girl performed to a fully packed audience of eager little ones and the girls were amazed at the performance and wanted to learn the art of magic. She even produced a pigeon from a balloon and the friendly rabbit appeared from nowhere!!
Food and drinks were served in boxes when I had marked each child’s name so that everyone would have a box of goodies for themselves. After having had a very hearty meal the bigger ones had a few games, like passing the cushion, musical chairs and the finale being the `Baila Competition’ many prizes were distributed for the best competitors.
Last of all gifts were distributed to all present including the dedicated staff and a speech was given by a teenage mum thanking Chari, Alia and the EMERGE team and myself whom they refer to as ‘amma’, which made me so happy and proud!
Chari and I had loads to catch up when we chatted on FB and one day I mentioned to him that I wanted to celebrate Christmas with the girls, he was very impressed with the work we do and he volunteered to help his “Aunty Baby” and he started fund raising immediately. It didn’t take long for Chari to collect funds for this very worthy cause.
Pavements and side bazaars in the nooks of Pamunuwa in Maharagama was the places you could see me during the past few weeks haggling with the street vendors to get the best bargains, selecting clothes for the tiny ones each different age groups and matching tops with the bottoms was the most daunting task.
Many nights were spent wrapping the gifts and making lists, making calls to the caterer, the orphanages, discussing and planning with them and not forgetting making arrangements with `Trixie’ the wonder girl.
I had to do some last minute shopping on Friday when I was informed that a new inmate had joined the orphanage and I had to make a trip once again to purchase gifts for her, however on Saturday afternoon I went down to the orphanage got the girls involved with decorating the Christmas tree which was fun. The guests, the food and the magician arrived in time and we commenced the party at 5 o’clock.
`Trixie” the wonder girl performed to a fully packed audience of eager little ones and the girls were amazed at the performance and wanted to learn the art of magic. She even produced a pigeon from a balloon and the friendly rabbit appeared from nowhere!!
Food and drinks were served in boxes when I had marked each child’s name so that everyone would have a box of goodies for themselves. After having had a very hearty meal the bigger ones had a few games, like passing the cushion, musical chairs and the finale being the `Baila Competition’ many prizes were distributed for the best competitors.
Last of all gifts were distributed to all present including the dedicated staff and a speech was given by a teenage mum thanking Chari, Alia and the EMERGE team and myself whom they refer to as ‘amma’, which made me so happy and proud!
To my surprise I was presented a gift by April with the compliments of Alia, Ellen and April which was really touching, and that all the hard work was well appreciated.
For me the 3-month careful planning of this event, which turned out to be a great success, made MY Christmas complete….. "
For me the 3-month careful planning of this event, which turned out to be a great success, made MY Christmas complete….. "
Today officially marks the one month anniversary of my move to Sri Lanka. I'm finding that as with any new venture, one should expect to be buffeted by the wind for this amount of time, and know you'll eventually find your footing. I'm glad that I arrived with this knowledge, as it has made adjusting to my new life that much easier. I'm not sure of the best way to describe culture shock, but in this case it has been a matter of learning everything about Emerge and about Sri Lanka from the inside out- sometimes the best perspective, sometimes the worst.
We spent Thanksgiving here, an oh-so-American holiday and my first away from my family in the States. I realized that I'm thankful for a lot. I'm thankful to have a network of family and friends who love and support me. I'm thankful to have been born into a life of "privilege," in which I have always had food, shelter, and education and can make *some* decisions based on choice and not necessity. I'm incredibly fortunate to have the constant companionship, support, perspective and guidance from Ellen and Nirukshi, my allies here in Sri Lanka. And lastly, I'm so happy to share, teach, and learn from the amazing girls in the Emerge program.
General Emerge development is going great. Although I know that my personal productivity is not 100% yet, we have accomplished much since my arrival. The first couple of weeks were spent identifying big picture goals and direction, the last couple were more detail oriented. Now that Ellen is in the States for a bit (on Emerge business,) the teamwork/brainstorming has taken on a whole new character, and I'm doing more independent work. My focuses this month are on finalizing the Bead Program Protocol and implementation plan (a more structured version of the program we're already running), and on general outreach and jewelry design.
Next week promises a couple of meetings, a fashion event, and information gathering trips to local design schools and boutiques. Now- off to the girls Christmas party that Nirukshi has planned so thoroughly!
Cheers,
April W
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I left for New York City on Monday via a one day layover in Kuwait. Having been warned multiple times by Alia how tired I was going to be when I got back to the States, I devised a plan for getting over jetlag quickly. It consisted of staying up very late on the Friday and Saturday night before my flight, and then sleeping through most of the day. Essentially, I was attempting to change my sleep schedule to what it would be if I was already in the USA. Then, I would stay up all Sunday night until my 7 AM flight Monday morning, fall asleep on the plane, and continue to sleep for the rest of the trip.
The level of thought I’ve put into mitigating jetlag may seem a bit excessive, but I only have a couple days in New York and a week in Boston to get a lot of Emerge work done, and I really don’t want to be tired during that time.
But enough of my pre-flight scheming, how about the flight itself? The passengers on my plane to Kuwait can be broken up into two groups: Sri Lankan women going to Kuwait as maids, and travelers who are using Kuwait as a connection to some other destination. When I arrived at Bandaranaike Airport two days ago, I was startled by the number of young female Sri Lankans standing in the check-in line with little to no baggage. After closer inspection I realized that several of them were crying, a sobering beginning to my trip home.
As the plane began its descent into Kuwait, all I could see for miles was sand and desert, with huge oil and natural gas suppositories sprinkled throughout. I walked off the plane, past the McDonalds sign written in Arabic, towards the transit desk. It’s a law in Kuwait that airlines must provide accommodations for passengers with layovers over 8 hours. Because my layover was a full day I was whisked away to the Safir Airport Hotel, where my afternoon consisted of catching up on emails, writing part of this blog post, and trying to keep myself awake.
The next morning I went back to the Kuwait airport to board a 6.5 hour flight to London, followed by an 8 hour flight to New York. It would be untrue to describe the emotion I felt as we broke through the clouds yesterday night and I got my first glimpse of the New York skyline as anything but pure happiness. The past three months in Sri Lanka have been eye-opening, challenging, beautiful, and heartbreaking, and the emotional response I felt as I was landing came from the realization that I was about to have the opportunity to share all of that with the people I love, and the people who love and support our cause.
Until next time,
Ellen Read more »
On Wednesday April and I visited a Magistrate Courthouse in Homagama, and met with Additional Magistrate Judge Wimalasena. We arrived before court was in session to talk with Judge Wimalasena about the current legal landscape for women and children in Sri Lanka, and where he thought Emerge could help the most. Then, we observed an hour and a half of court proceedings. Wednesday is "maintenance day," where maintenance is paid from one individual to another, generally for child support or neglect. April and I watched what seemed like 30 different cases go by in less than two hours.
I have a hard time conceptualizing things until I actually see them with my own eyes, so to sit in the courtroom and watch how cases were managed allowed me to better understand what the girls of Ma-Sevana go through. All of the girls are currently involved in the Sri Lankan legal system, in various states of trial, so getting an inside glimpse into how courts here run was both interesting and valuable.
It was also useful to gather information about the Sri Lankan legal system as a whole, and Judge Wimalasena was incredibly helpful in explaining how the courts run and listing specific Acts we should research. A lot of the work I have done in the past month has been very detailed and specific: from changing the way the bead workshops run to developing Emerge Global's 2009 budget. Being able to take a step back and look at the big picture was not only refreshing, but helped me clarify my thinking as to where Emerge should be focusing its time and energy here in Sri Lanka.
On a different note, this will be my last blog post "from the field" for about a month. I head back to the USA on Monday, and look forward to seeing a lot of you there!
Until then,
Ellen Read more »
April and Ellen, the Sri Lankan Dream Team
April arrived in Sri Lanka a little over two weeks ago, and I can't begin to describe how much I've appreciated, enjoyed, and valued her input thus far.
Together, we've been able to run ideas by one another and make decisions about the way that Emerge should operate in the homes we serve. One of the things that was difficult for me to acclimate to was working in Sri Lanka alone. Trying to decide what's best for Emerge and then implement can be overwhelming when you don't have someone working right next to you to bounce ideas off of. In the past three weeks, April and I have together worked to improve our inventory system, brainstorm our next steps for the Bead Program curriculum, and meet with potential partners and resources in Sri Lanka.
I'll let her fill you in on more of the specifics, but I just wanted to post a shout out, and let everyone who is following Emerge know how incredibly excited I am to spend the next year working together with April.
Best,
Ellen Read more »