Amazon Heart Odyssey

Final Photos from Sri Lanka

2005-12-11T02:38:00.000-08:00

Click here to see photos of our elephant encounters

Final Participant Comments

2005-12-11T02:34:00.000-08:00

We are on the bus enroute to Colombo from Bentota. I am the first to fly out today which is bittersweet for me. I miss my family, friends and home and can’t wait to see them, yet I will miss this Amazon circle I have come to love over the past week.

I will also miss the energy of Sri Lanka and the spirit of its people, although a little piece of my heart will always be here.

I am also scared to get my ultrasound on Tuesday and to see how my pregnancy (with all its complications) is progressing, yet I need to know what I’m dealing with.

Cancer has reinforced many lessons for me especially knowing that whatever life brings, in the words of Gloria Gaynor, “I will survive.” I feel blessed, full of love and very touched!

Thank you Amazon Heart Odyssey for the adventure of my life, finished off perfectly this morning by riding our elephant, Monica, on the beach.

Life is Good!

Debbie

Wow! I rode an elephant – what a rush. I was terrified, and then excited and so happy to be roaming down a beach – free of my crutches, my wonderful room-mate Debbie – sits behind me – as always to take care of me.

The elephant knelt down and several men lifted me up onto the elephant’s back. It was rough and hairy and wrinkly. The elephant, Monica, starts to stand – we go up and up. It’s scary – but exhilarating. She walks up the beach and even strikes a pose with Debbie and me on her back. Again – I am in heaven. What a way to end this wonderful adventure.

Tuk tuk ride, 200 rupees, 3 hour massage, 6600 rupees, riding an elephant on the beach, 1000 rupees, Amazon Heart Odyssey Adventure – priceless!

Thanks M and M,

Courtney

The end of my journey…but really I know it’s just the beginning. This is what I want to be doing at least once every year now. But will I ever have a chance to do this kind of international community development work again with such an amazing group of women?

That is what has been so special for me about this trip…the sharing of this adventure with my sister breast cancer survivors. Always the immediate bonding, the knowing, the accepting, the cooperating, the caring about one another, the support. Thanks to all of you from the bottom of my AMAZON HEART!! M & M please keep creating these wonderful helping adventures for us.

Namaste,

Lou

The Journey Comes to an End

2005-12-11T02:33:00.000-08:00

Today was the last morning of our incredible adventure and it finished spectacularly. Courtney and Deb went for swim in the ocean and looked back to the beach and saw an elephant wandering down the sand (as you do!).

They raced up to the hotel and rounded us up, and we all took turns riding the elephant up and down the beach in ones and twos. A truly amazing end to an incredible adventure!

Three of our group, Marie, Lisa and Jill headed off down south towards Galle for further adventures, while the rest of us returned to Colombo to begin making our way home. After a fantastic final lunch at the Mt Lavinia Hotel, we arrived back in Colombo and farewelled our terrific driver, Prasad, who has taken such good care of us all week.

This adventure has been so much more than Megan and I could possibly have imagined a year ago when we first visited Sri Lanka. We can only thank the 10 extraordinary women who made this journey with us, and who made it possible, and we look forward to sharing it again with more Amazons next year!

Meredith

Day Seven - Participant Comments

2005-12-11T02:32:00.000-08:00

M & M laid the foundation.

All of us cemented the friendships

And we built bridges with the community in Henamulla.

-Marie

Last day of what has been an amazing experience. Saying goodbye to my Amazon sisters is hard, true friendships have been forged and a sisterhood created.

Sri Lanka will stay in my memory forever: the people; the shanty town of Henamulla; Brother Emmanuel; the sunset; Galle Face Hotel; our waiters and the Amazons.

I have made a pact to return and I urge any young woman contemplating doing the Odyssey to just do it. It is transforming. Thank you to Megan and Meredith for this wonderful opportunity – I love you guys. I’ve been inspired by each of the Amazons.

Thank you,

Triple M.

Day Six

2005-12-11T02:31:00.000-08:00

Today we journeyed south to Bentota, one of the beach resort areas close to Colombo that was impacted by last year’s Tsunami.

As we traveled along the road our whole group had the opportunity to see the different pockets of devastation. Whole communities destroyed in one place, and then miraculously spared in another. And at the same time the signs of community life returning, with the locals returning to the sea to fish as they have always done, and rebuilding their homes.

As we neared Bentota I saw what I thought was the largest cow I had ever seen in my life on the road ahead, and a split second later realized it was an elephant!!

We pulled over and all had the opportunity to have our photo taken with her, and to pat her amazing trunk. This was the closest and longest I have ever been to an elephant and the intelligence in her eyes and her gentleness were amazing.

We then arrived at our hotel and split up in search of our favourite activities – the pool, shopping and beach for some, or a relaxing massage. That night we ate at a restaurant across the road with views of the river. There were two wedding parties there, and fireworks went off throughout the evening to celebrate.

Later that evening there was much dancing and a conga line of Amazons around the restaurant led by the bride! This afternoon and tomorrow will be a great way to wind down after the intense experience of the shanty towns and to reflect on our experiences.

Meredith

Photos - Day Five

2005-12-08T17:56:00.000-08:00

Click here to see Jill's view of our last day in the shanty town.

Day Five Participant Comments

2005-12-08T17:47:00.000-08:00

We (Courtney, Lisa and I) spent yesterday morning at a different pre-school. The kids are so adorable. I brought my stuffed monkey puppet named Alex and she was a big hit.

I also hung up pictures at the welcome entrance to the school from the kids in the USA.. The pictures are beautiful representations of the outpouring of love and support from the USA re: the tsunami and not having homes.

I also posted my address where pictures/letters could be sent if anyone in Sri Lanka wants to respond to these pictures which were a part of a remarkable American boys’ Bar Mitzvah project. Hello to Isaac and his family!

One teacher came to me with a stack of pictures from her classroom saying “Thank you for the help” for me to give to Isaac’s project. I was so touched and the pics are amazing! (They were done with tiny crayon stubs that would have been thrown out in the US.)

Br Emmanuel is working with us to collect money from the Amazons to go towards gifts/supplies for the kids for their holiday party. 50 kids will start school next year and need bookbags, lunch boxes, and copy notebooks.

It certainly is a reality check to see the broken and low supplies in the pre-schools. Despite the lack of supplies and the run down conditions the kids are learning and happy which is the point after all.

I am humbled by how much I take for granted in my daily life. As a play therapist it is fascinating to have validated my belief that play is an international language transcending all boundaries of culture, class and religion.

Enjoy playing and being! I sure am!

Debbie

I am filled with pride to be a part of these Amazon women. It was hard to leave the pre-school today knowing it was my last day with them. We made paper airplanes. The kdis had so much fun flying them.

I finally got some doggy love (I have three dogs at home!). One the way out from the shanty town there was a man bathing a puppy. I got to hold the puppy who was shivering and whimpering. The man wanted me to take the puppy home. If only I could.

I am forever changed by Sri Lanka, however, and will take the amazing spirit of Sri Lanka home with me.

Debbie

Final Day – oh boy words fail me and I’m not usually short of words…I think of my father. I feel he’s with me and he would be so proud.

Over the 4 days of building the walls went up and the barriers between us came down – culturally and gender barriers.

What a wonderful opportunity we were given.

Thank you just doesn’t seem enough to say but thank you so much 2 Ms’s.

Amelia

After leaving the shanty town today I know for sure that I can still feel the full range of emotions, which is so good!

Its’ very hard to describe how it felt to farewell our friends and co-workers at Henamulla. A mutual feeling of being touched!

We now have our “sisters” to share and really understand our experience and that knowledge will sustain me.

Thanks M + M and Br Emmanuel.

Marie

PS got my skills fully honed now!

Our final day. What a rush of emotions. I am so happy with my decision to make this strip with my crutches and all. It has been amazing. At the end of the day at the pre-school a group of girls sang for us and then danced. Wow – it was fantastic. Tears were flowing down my face as I videotaped them. I am so sad that this will be my last day at the pre-school. These children have a special place in my heart.

Courtney

Day Five

2005-12-08T17:46:00.000-08:00

Today was our last day working on the Henamulla project in Colombo, before heading south through the tsunami affected regions to Bentota.

We started our day visiting the Hindu temple next door to LCES. We were welcomed by the Head Priest who blessed us with ash on our foreheads and showed us around. Br Emmanuel explained the different statues and rituals that we saw – it was a very spiritual and moving way to start the day.

Then we were off to our work sites – Courtney and Deb to the pre-school, and the rest of us to the shanty town. We hauled bricks and mortared all day, and our houses are nearing completion.

It was hard to leave at the end of the day but Marie found a great way for the aussies to leave their mark – she brought 100 Ricky Ponting face masks (a famous Australian cricket player well known in Sri Lanka) to distribute to the kids. Within minutes we were surrounded by a horde of Ricky Pontings of all shapes and sizes – they were a huge hit!

Leaving the shanty town was very emotional. Deb and Courtney had joined us and as our bus pulled out we were all in tears. We shared a group hug and moment of reflection back at LCES before our final lunch with Br Emmanuel.

After lunch the father of one of Emmanuel’s staff took us to a Buddhist temple where we were welcomed by the second highest ranking monk, who has responsibility for children’s issues across Colombo.

He explained the Buddhist philosophy for us and then we receive a special blessing from the monk. He passed a ball of white thread along the group with all of us holding it and then began to chant a blessing. The blessing travels along the thread giving protection and good health to all who are part of the chain.

Then he broke the thread and twisted it to form bracelets for all of us which were given to us with an individual blessing. It was a perfect way to celebrate the end of our project in Henamulla and this wonderful culture.

Back at the hotel, we shared a final dinner in Colombo at a long table set up on the waterfront by the staff.

-Meredith

Photos - Day Four

2005-12-08T03:51:00.000-08:00

Click here to see the latest photos. I have to give full disclosure - these are my photos, not Jill's!!

- Megan

Day Four Participant Comments

2005-12-08T03:42:00.000-08:00

My first attempt at mortaring was met with lots of “No, no, no,” and animated hand gestures. Yesterday I was promoted to master apprentice. I mortared several rows of bricks and was instrumental in laying bricks. There was a real sense of achievement and satisfaction.

More and more people are helping us. Today there is a young boy, Prasad, who stands by my side, passing bricks, mortar, whatever it is I need.

We are a bit of a sight. I’m sure the locals don’t know what to make of us.

Before arriving at the shanty town this morning we visited the shanty kindergarten. Our money that we raised will go towards providing a much needed roof. They are often flooded, so it will really make a difference.

The people are very embracing and accepting. I feel very privileged to be here and part of this odyssey.

Signing off,

Triple M
Aka Master Apprentice

Day One in Retrospect

I’m home and it feels like home..

Late Starter

Thank you so much Indra our Sri Lanka contact for organizing this meeting of b.c. survivors, the doctor, cancer agency leaders, etc. The instant camaraderie was wonderful – this was history in the making!

Lou

Everywhere I look there’s a mountain of rubbish.

Everywhere I look there’s an ocean of eyes.

Everywhere I look there’s a city of “honkers” in their tuk-tuks.

Everywhere I look there’s beautiful, smiling, happy faces.

Lyn Langer

How satisfying to see our houses growing…brick by brick! Today there are doors and windows. It is really beginning to feel like a home for our families. A home!!!

Yesterday, I forgot to mention that a highlight for me was passing on my dragon boat team t-shirt to the head of the Sri Lanka Cancer Society. I asked that she pass on this team shirt from the first dragon boat team for breast cancer survivors to … the next breast cancer dragon boat team right here in Sri Lanka!

Hopefully I’ll be back in a few years to see that dream fulfilled!

Lou Moreau

I’m getting good at this brick laying and mortaring caper, if I say so myself! This is hugely satisfying work, and not upsetting me. I suppose ‘cause we are participating in making things better (a little like participating in getting well after breast cancer!)

The senses are taken on a joyous ride at 12.30pm every day in the shanty town. At that time you hear the local mosque broadcasting prayers. You smell lunches being cooked across the shanty town (yummy curry on wood fired stoves), and you see the beautiful children coming home from their schools.

Love

Marie XX

Each day becomes more satisfying. Today we (well, Raja) put a door and windows on our little house. Little by little, Raja has let me take on more responsibility with the brick laying and mortaring. Today our house is about 8 rows high.

Seeing the progress day to day is remarkable – knowing that we women carried each and every brick, and mortared them in, layer by layer. We’re slowly getting to know the children who watch us every day.

They’re eagerly awaiting our last day tomorrow, when we’ll donate all of our t-shirts, buffs, pink bracelets and anything else we can come up with.

The afternoons, for me, have been spent relaxing by the ocean up until sunset. It’s a spectacular way to relax after a hard day’s work.

Natalie

Day Four

2005-12-08T03:40:00.000-08:00

Today our schedule started differently with a visit to the pre-school run by LCES in the Henamulla shanty town. The pre-school is in an older part of the shanty town, and an area where work started long ago on building solid brick houses to replace the old shanties.

In this area the little houses are all brick and well cared for with little gardens – a great vision of what the newer area we are currently working in could become.

The pre-school kids were great – we each visited class rooms and shared in reciting nursery rhymes and singing songs in English that we all knew – the Hokey Pokey, the ABC song. One of the children was celebrating their birthday, complete with a cake, and we were all invited to join in.

We then headed off to the work site to begin our day’s construction. Two of the houses have made great progress with window and door frames fitted today. A team of our Amazons worked on our new third house site, laying bricks and mortaring like a well oiled machine.

Our third house is much larger than the others and will provide shelter for two families. At one stage the work slowed down as our tradesmen took their time squaring up the next row of bricks. The aussies started an impromptu cricket match with the kids of the families we are helping on the floor of the new house. The official result of the first Henamulla Test Match between Sri Lanka and Australia was a win to Sri Lanka! We are hoping for a rematch today.

Megan and I headed deep into the shanty town to help build the foundations for another house – again it was fascinating to see the construction methods first hand, laying interlocking granite rocks into the trenches we had dug by hand on the first day, then cementing and mortaring the foundation into place.

All up the funds raised by our group will pay for 7 new houses, four of which we have had a personal hand in building, as well as a new roof for the Henamulla pre-school.

Tomorrow is our last day of construction in Colombo, and we will finish the day with a visit to a local Buddhist temple for a blessing from the local monks.

This has been an amazing adventure so far and we are looking forward to taking our Amazons on the road to the south on Friday.

Meredith

Photos - Day Three

2005-12-06T17:57:00.000-08:00

Click here for Jill's photos

Construction Techniques

2005-12-06T17:55:00.000-08:00

It is fascinating to see how the locals build concrete block houses without all the modern tools we would consider essential.

The “bricks” we are using look more like concrete blocks without the hollow core – more like oversized concrete bricks with a groove at the bottom to help adhere to the mortar. They arrive to the building site without any curing and are sometimes so wet they crumble in our hands. But a day in the hot Sri Lankan sun and they seem strong enough to build, although still very easy to break for those hard to fit corners.
There are no cement mixers – other than the workmen. They empty a bag of Portland cement, then bring a heavy wheelbarrow full of sand down the narrow alley and dump it on top. Then two men – one with a shovel and the other with a large hoe, mix the sand and cement. They form a large pile, create a bowl at the top and fill it with water. Then more mixing with the shovel and hoe. The mortar mixture is put into metal bowls and carried to the area under construction and dumped onto scraps of wood.

The brick layer uses a trowel to lay the mortar, then sets a brick – using string and a wooden plumb bob as his only means of leveling and squaring the house. With a piece of wood, he makes sure his bricks are aligned. The string makes sure they are of even height. Once the bricks are tapped into place, he uses his trowel to fill the gaps between the bricks. There is a real art to it, and some of our Amazons have really begun to master it.

These houses to have a foundation, unlike most which have just a thin layer of dirt over the old dump which is full of centipedes and cockroaches and who knows what else. For the seven houses we are building, a trench was dug around the footprint of the house. It is filled with strong, large rocks, then the gaps are filled with a concrete mixture. There is a concrete floor slab as a base that is then covered in about 4 inches of rubble with another thin layer of concrete as a finish.

All of the bricks and rocks and sand and huge bags of cement are carried through the narrow alleys to each building site. Backbreaking work as we have all learned.

-Megan

Day Three Participant Comments

2005-12-06T17:40:00.001-08:00

We are enroute to LCES. Courtney and I will spend another day with the kids at the LCES Preschool. What a privilege and an honor to participate in their school day. The smiles of the kids makes our being the “differently abled” twins worth it.

I am constantly amazed at the beauty (both inside and out), generosity and openness of the Sri Lankans. The children are just so happy and friendly.

Courtney and I showed them pictures of our families (including my 3 funny looking dog/kids) which they loved. I also took pictures of different groups of kids with “flat Harley” (my goddaughter Hayley’s school project) and the kids loved being the one to hold her and seeing their image in the digital camera.

Br Emmanuel told us that although schools are free in Sri Lanka, they are expensive in the sense that teachers are not paid well and kids are not accountable to attend regularly. He believes private school programs like through his LCES agency are critical to providing quality education.

Amazing that for just $25 a month - $300 a year you can sponsor a child to attend LCES school system (and just $60 a year to sponsor a preschool child).

Whoever out there is interested in helping these adorable, remarkable kids please pass this info on or consider sending something to LCES c/- their website.

Love to my family and friends who loved me enough to support my dream to come on this adventure even when it might not have been medically wise to do so. I made the right choice by coming here and I’m doing fine so DON’T WORRY. We are Amazon Women after all!

Debbie

I am in 7th heaven. This is what I am meant to do. Seeing all the smiling facers of these beautiful children enter the school grounds it is something I will remember forever. I can’t thank M & M and the Amazon Heart Odyssey enough for this amazing opportunity. The children began their day with prayers in all four religions).

Courtney

My heart is full and excited today. Just a little while ago we said goodbye to our last High Tea guests. I feel so good to have connected with local women with breast cancer/survivors.

Our long table buzzed with sharing of our journeys with breast cancer. I was pleasantly surprised how quickly and easily the women opened up to us. I could feel a sisterhood connecting us across the world and cultures.

One young woman came all the way from Galle with her mother who had breast cancer seven years ago. I was shocked and moved they’d come this far – a 3 hour bus ride – to meet us.

She was telling of her mother’s perhaps need and desire to be connected with us. They were given pink wrist bands with “believe” on it. One women called it a friendship bracelet and yes I thought – that is what it is all about really.

Lisa

Today we had the pleasure of having high tea with a group of BC survivors from Sri Lanka. Many were united through a new organization, (translated as Circle of Friends) that is just getting itself off the ground. They offer peer support programs for newly diagnosed women and are in the process of training counsellors.

There are many fascinating stories to tell – some traveled 3 hours by bus from Galle just to meet us. Others brought their pathology reports for us to review. One woman was recently diagnosed – she had a small tumour, no lymph nodes but was not given a choice for sentinel node biopsy. Her mother died from breast cancer so the Doctors have insisted she have a mastectomy (how depressing).

Another woman used to swim regularly, but now she’s too concerned how she would look in a swimsuit without breasts so she no longer goes.

The women were extremely open to speak with us. I think the event went better than any of us expected! It’s wonderful to feel all the positive energy that emanates from a spectacular group of women from all over the world.

No matter where we come from, or where we’ve been – we all speak the same language. It was a truly beautiful way to end the day.

Natalie

Day Three Happenings

2005-12-06T17:40:00.000-08:00

Last night a huge thunderstorm deluged Colombo and our hotel, stranding some of our group at the local supermarket up the road. Our van driver had no problem finding them and picked them up with the rest of the group to head off to Barefoot, a fantastic local fabric and furnishings shop, before arriving at the Cricketers Club Café for dinner.

This morning we were anxious to see what impact the torrential rain had on our mortaring efforts from the day before. We could only think on the way there how terrible the storm must have been for the shanty dwellers in houses with holes in their roof and walls.

Amazingly the sun was bright, the ground was damp, and our walls still stood! We organized to buy trowels for all of our team, and two new wheel barrows to help speed along our construction process.

First thing there was yet another load of concrete bricks to be moved into the worksite, before we got stuck into mortaring. The walls on our first two houses are now up to half height, and we pulled in two new tradesman to help us start laying bricks on a third house.

The mortaring skills of our group have increased hugely under their patient tutoring, and we are now laying and mortaring whole rows by ourselves. Once again the local women whose houses we are building came out to help move bricks and clear the worksites.

Courtney and Deb spent time again with the children in the pre-schools and came back with wonderful stories of spending time with them in the classes and sharing multi-faith prayer sessions with teachers and students of Buddhist, Muslim and Hindu backgrounds.

In the afternoon we enjoyed High Tea at the hotel with a group of ten local breast cancer survivors from Colombo and further afield, and the President of the local Cancer Society. We had worried that the language barrier and cultural factors might make the women hesitant to share their experiences, but from the moment they sat down they jumped straight into an animated conversation!

It was a fantastic cross-cultural experience and a terrific way to end the day.

- Meredith

Photos - Day Two

2005-12-05T17:53:00.000-08:00

Click here to see more amazing photos from Jill Karnicki

Participant Comments

2005-12-05T17:38:00.000-08:00

This is without doubt one of the most incredible experiences of my life. The work today was sometimes hard, but mostly rewarding. The kids are the most beautiful, happy little ones. LCES are so empowering of the people of Henamulla, and I am so pleased to be a small part of this.

Just now I have to concentrate on getting my mortaring skills improved otherwise the foreman gets upset!

Love to my friends, family and Mark,

Cheers,

Marie

Today was an amazing day. I can’t say that it was physically challenging, although there were moments, it was about watching this community and knowing they live.

This shanty town is hard to describe without trivializing what I saw. The smell will stay with me for a very long time.

The Amazons got down and dirty today and we managed to get some decent walls up.

What a day!

Triple M.

Yesterday was a blur, too jet lagged to think – woke up this morning to the sounds of the ocean and tooting horns and couldn’t believe I was actually here in Sri Lanka.

Thank goodness for my ex-husband running away with his “Floozy” otherwise I probably woudn’t be here.

Lyn Langer

The thing that touched my heart today was working side by side with the kids. The little 5 year old boy handing me the mortar with his makeshift trowel …a piece of wood…and the older boys shoveling the sand into the wheelbarrow and then me carrying the load back to the work site. Now that’s a meaningful connection!

Lou Moreau

First Day of Construction

2005-12-05T17:35:00.000-08:00

Today our adventure began in earnest with our first day of construction. We boarded our bus at 8 am and headed out to LCES headquarters to regroup and plan our day.

Courtney and Deb paired up to spend the day in the pre-school at LCES. These students are those who lost their homes and possessions in the tsunami last year. The rest of us headed out to the shanty town to get started.

The foundation of two houses were ready for construction to start, with the others at different stages of preparation. We started by carrying the concrete blocks for the house walls down the narrow alley ways of the shanty town to three of the house sites.

It was a huge pile of bricks to move! As soon as we started, a couple of local shanty town women came over and pitched in to help as well. Eventually we set up a convoy chain of our team and 4 local women passing the bricks along the line to the work site.

Next up it was time to learn to lay bricks! One of our bricklayers was an incredibly patient teacher and also quite the perfectionist, and took great time and delight in teaching us how to lay the mortar, get the brick level, then fill in the gaps between the bricks with another layer of mortar.

After an hour or so we all started getting the hang of it and the rear wall of two houses began to rise steadily. The plan is to lay 6 rows of bricks, then let the mortar dry over night before returning to finish the wall tomorrow.

With bricklaying under our belt, we took turns in teams of two to go to another house site and dig the trenches for the foundations. When we arrived at the site the woman whose house we are building was hard at work herself digging out the site.

We got stuck in with one person swinging a hoe to dig out the trench, and the other shoveling out the dirt we had dug up. Once we started we discovered that the shanty houses themselves are built on top of an older part of the rubbish dump. Digging was hard work with plastic bags, trash, even pantyhose trapping the hoe on every swing. We were thankful for our workboots and gloves as we saw cockroaches and centipedes burrowing through the rubble as we dug.

The sun shone brightly all day which helped dry out the worksite, but the heat and humidity were oppressive. We were grateful for a morning tea break back in the air-conditioned van with cool water and freshly cooked samosas sent up to us from LCES.

At 12.30 Deb and Courtney rejoined us from their stint at the pre-school. Deb had a quick bricklaying lesson and put down a couple of bricks before it was time for us to head off for a late lunch back at LCES.

It was an exhausting day but incredibly rewarding. So often I have walked through the shanty town and been incredibly moved by what I have seen and have wanted to help.

Today was the first time I think that I have visited and not cried, and I think that is because this time I was not just visiting. For half a day we lived, ate and worked in that community, and it was incredibly rewarding to be able to physically do something there to help with my own two hands.

My favourite moments were working shoulder to shoulder with the women of the shanty town, passing bricks and digging trenches, and then having a short break when one of the women appeared with two bottles of Coke that she had bought to show her appreciation.

Another of the shanty women turned up during the day with a tray of a locally made drink mixed with fruit juice and yoghurt. A few of the braver souls in the group tried it and we look forward to seeing how their stomachs survived tomorrow morning!

Tomorrow we will head back in again to continue building the houses and the windows and door frames are due to arrive.

The hard work and commitment of the women in our team has been amazing and truly inspirational and they have turned out to be one hell of a bricklaying outfit!

Meredith

Photos - Day One

2005-12-04T17:52:00.000-08:00

Click here to see photos taken by our brilliant photojournalist, Jill Karnicki, who has volunteered her time to be here in Sri Lanka with us.

The Adventure Begins!

2005-12-04T17:42:00.000-08:00

Today our adventure began! Several of our group arrived in the early hours of the morning, and a few others returned to the hotel after a couple of days touring the countryside.

We heard from a couple of the girls that earlier that morning there had been two elephants on the park right outside the hotel – we’d missed it while we were making sure the group’s bookings were all in place.

It was completely awesome to see the group assemble on the hotel verandah in their Odyssey t-shirts, excited and ready to start our adventure!

Our bus arrived and we all loaded up to head out to LCES’ headquarters on the waterfront near the shanty town. Our fantastic driver Prasad weaved his way through the chaotic traffic as we all started to introduce ourselves and get to know our fellow adventurers.

At LCES the group met Br Emmanuel, the incredible man who founded the organization and who has dedicated his life to working with the poor. We stood on his verandah where he told the team his story of seeing the tsunami waves roll in, and the women could see the houses next door that were lost in the disaster and that he had helped to rebuild.

After tea, we loaded up again in the bus for our first visit to the shanty towns. Again for Megan and I it was an emotional experience but not just because of the impact of the poverty.

The local people are wonderful and the children and adults excited to meet visitors from overseas and to say hello and try out their English. They could not have been more welcoming and again the joy in life that they share is inspirational.

For Megan and I it was an emotional day to see this incredible group of women who had shared our vision from all over the world finally reach our destination and to see the impact on their faces of visiting the shanty town for the first time, and meeting the families whose lives we will change by building the houses.

Then it was back to the hotel for a group dinner and to talk about our day.

Over the last few days we have become well known around the hotel and made many friends among the hotel staff. They were fascinated by a group of women traveling together and thought we were on holiday.

When we explained we had come here to build houses in the shanty towns the looks on their faces turned to amazement and respect. They told us that God would bless us and it was a very good thing that we were doing and would bring many blessings.

One of our waiters was even more astonished last night – as we all ate dinner together in the restaurant I was chatting to him and told him that every one of us were cancer survivors. After recovering from his shock he said he had never heard of such a thing, and it was incredible for a group of women who had all survived cancer to then travel all the way to his country to help the poor.

Tomorrow the real adventure begins when we return to the shanty town to start building! Two of our group, Courtney and Debra will start the day with us at the building site, then travel to the local pre-school to volunteer there and work with the children of the shanty town.

- Meredith

Participant Comments:

I was so impressed with Br Emmanuel’s personal and spiritual philosophy – pure and simple – allow yourself to be touched – your heart that is!

That is what it’s all about.

I was so emotional throughout so much of our visit to the shanty town. A combination of awe at doing such a trip…and being with women who have something in common – I forget we’re all BC survivors – funny, eh!

Disgust is what I feel now. Towards society and governments and humankind. How can we allow communities of children and families to live on/by a huge dump? It’s beyond comprehension and yet mixed in with anticipation. We are going to make a difference.

I wish my nose was not working though! The stench at times is nauseating…

I fell in love with a beautiful 8 year old girl – she was beautiful and like most of the kids followed us around while we saw the foundations.

Keep open – I need to let in the joy and not get burdened by the extreme living conditions. Let go of what it should look like – take in the surf and comrades – living the agony and ecstasy – this is how I want to live!

Lisa Underhill

Photos: Tsunami Affected Region

2005-12-02T19:53:00.000-08:00

Click here to see photos

The Aftermath of the Tsunami

2005-12-02T19:48:00.000-08:00

Today Megan and I drove south towards Bentota, our destination for the last two days of the Odyssey after we complete our building project.

We chose to take our team to Bentota for the last two days of this adventure as an opportunity not only to see more of the country and culture outside the big city of Colombo, but also as a way to see first hand some of the communities most devastated by the tsunami and the progress that has been made since in recovery.

LCES has been engaged in development work in the Henamulla Shanty Town for over 20 years, and the Bentota trip will be a great way for us to compare working in an ongoing project with families who have experienced generational poverty and disadvantage, with the realities of those families recovering from a massive disaster such as the tsunami.

Like the rest of the world, Megan and I had watched the television news reports of the tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka with horror, but we had no idea that some of the worst areas of devastation were so close to Colombo.

About an hour south of the city we reached one of the areas hardest hit. You may remember seeing on television a community of poor shanty dwellers who had lived in huts right on the beach with only the railway track behind them, then the main Galle Rd. All of the houses had been swept away.

One year later so much of that stretch of road is completely barren – just occasional piles of brick rubble, bare concrete foundations where a house once stood, or shattered walls.

The recovery effort here has been very slow, and we read in the newspaper later that day that 50,000 families in Sri Lanka still do not have a house. Part of the problem has been finding suitable land to rebuild. The government had mandated that no new houses could be built within 100m of the shoreline, but new land has not yet been released by the government for reconstruction.

Some families have tired of the wait and started rebuilding their own timber shacks back on the beach.

Seeing the spot that had been featured so heavily on the news was incredibly emotional. The day was perfect and sunny and the sea was calm, and the thought of that unexpected wave hurtling in on a day just like this was so hard to understand.

I could only think looking at all of the bare ground that not only are the houses gone, but there were people and families in all of those houses. Where are they? Did they survive? Is there less rebuilding here because the people are no longer alive to rebuild?

The tsunami seems to have been so arbitrary along this stretch of coast. In one spot a community was untouched, in the next it was completely gone. Our driver told us that small changes in the curve of the coastline had deflected the wave in some places, saving some villages and condemning others.

As we headed further south we reached Beruwala. This was also one of the main disaster scenes from the tsunami where huge 100ft long fishing trawlers had been picked up and hurled up on to the road, broken in pieces. We saw whole sections of boats still broken up on the side of the road.

Some of the houses that had been washed away here had been built right on the shore surrounded by coconut trees. The trees somehow withstood the wave, but in between them are bare concrete foundations where the houses had disappeared.

Despite the signs of the disaster that are still evident, there were also signs of recovery and these communities returning to life. We saw many groups of local villagers on the beach fishing – with huge nets that must have been close to a mile long. Small boats carry them off the shore in a big loop, then teams of 20 – 40 men heave on the nets to drag the catch back into shore.

We reached our destination of Bentota, one of the major resort areas on the south west coast. Many of the resorts here and north at Beruwala had been damaged by the tsunami. All have now been repaired and are up and running, although tourist numbers are still low.

Our trip to Bentota at the end of next week with the group will be an amazing experience and opportunity to compare the ongoing development work in Henamulla with the disaster relief work of the tsunami. We are looking forward to sharing that experience and talking with the team about the future needs of both areas and what we might be able to do as individuals and a group to help.

Photos: Pre-Adventure

2005-11-30T21:08:00.000-08:00

Click Here to see photos

First Day in Sri Lanka

2005-11-30T20:19:00.000-08:00

After 12 months of planning, Megan and I have finally arrived in Colombo for the early preparations of our Odyssey adventure!

We touched down after midnight and made our way to the Galle Face Hotel, arriving in the early hours of the morning. Built in 1864, The Galle Face was once one of the pearls of the Orient, and hosted visiting celebrities and royalty throughout its history.

In its later years it took on an aura of faded colonial elegance, but recently one wing of the hotel has been completely updated and refurbished. We are staying in the old wing in the cheaper old style rooms. Although a little tired, they are clean, spacious and the plumbing works!! The staff at the hotel are wonderful and the food is cheap and fantastic. The Galle Face is the only hotel in Colombo on the waterfront and the cool breezes and evening views are wonderful.

After a few hours sleep we were picked up from the hotel by Br Emmanuel, the Director of Lasallian Community Education Services (LCES), the local agency we are working with on this project.

He took us straight to the Henamulla Shanty Town we first visited a year ago to see the preparations for our house building next week. It was amazing how in the space of a year so little and so much has changed.

The families of Henamulla have built their houses on unwanted land next to the city rubbish dump. Many make their living scavenging through the rubbish for things to sell, and collecting cardboard boxes that they strip the paper from to make paper bags.

Since we visited last the rubbish dump has encroached to be just 15m from the houses, and is now is a mountain about 10m (30 feet high). The poverty and disadvantage in the slums is the same, and recent heavy rains before our arrival caused flooding and damage to many houses and the local pre-school run by LCES.

Br Emmanuel has identified 4 local families in great need of new houses. Each of these families has been unable to help themselves because the main income earner in the family has died, or they are older or disabled.

Workers have demolished two of the houses to be rebuilt and were busy laying foundations for our project next week. All of the building materials have been carried in through the narrow shanty town streets by hand, or squeezed through the gaps in wheelbarrows.

We visited the other two houses that are to be demolished this week – ramshackle huts with gaping holes in the walls and ceilings that look on the verge of collapse as it is.

We met the two families of these houses – one is a young woman raising a family on her own, and who has sadly lost one leg to amputation. The other is a widow with two small boys.

This week the workers will clear away the old houses and lay the foundations ready for us to start on Monday laying the new brick walls. Windows, doors and roofing have all been ordered and are on the way.

This was our second trip to the Henamulla slum, and my third trip visiting these kinds of projects in Asia. The culture shock each time is huge and the experience is very emotional. At times walking around the alleys it is impossible to hold back the tears.

As always I am so blown away by the friendliness and resilience of the local families, women and children, and the pride they take in the few possessions they own.

After visiting the houses we walked on to the local pre-school run for the children of the shanty towns by LCES. Without access to this free pre-school, these kids would have no chance at a future education.

The teachers do a wonderful job with the 200 students in a building in need of significant repair itself. The roof has many holes and the school was flooded in the recent rains. Over the coming week our group will visit the kids at the school, and funds raised by the Amazon Heart Odyssey will also go to vital repairs to this building.

After the shanty town, we headed off to LCES headquarters, in a donated building on the Colombo waterfront. Megan and I last visited here 6 weeks before the tsunami hit.

LCES’ building survived the tsunami with some structural damage that is only now being repaired. Shanty houses next door were swept away by the waves and Br Emmanuel described the scene to us as we stood on his first floor balcony.

He saw the first wave come in and overwhelm the houses. Most of the residents managed to escape to higher ground up the road. After the first wave the water receded hundreds of meters of the shore taking all of the people’s possessions.

The local families all ran out along the seabed to try to rescue them when the second wave arrived. Fortunately most managed to escape. Over the course of the day they experienced seven surges all together and little was left of their homes afterwards.

Amazon Heart and the Australian Lasallian Foundation raised $6,000 after the tsunami to help rebuild these houses and feed the displaced families. It was great to return after all of these months and see the houses that we had helped build and the families we had supported.

Many still experience post-traumatic stress after the tsunami – they live on the waterfront and wake in the night hearing the waves and are afraid it has returned. Many of the children who used to play along the beach are too scared to even look out to sea now. A team of counsellors is working from LCES visiting all of the families and helping them to overcome their trauma.

While we were at LCES we met one of their staff, Rani, who we had first met last year. Rani is one of two breast cancer survivors on LCES staff. When she was diagnosed, Rani could not afford the cost of chemotherapy drugs and Br Emmanuel paid for her treatment. It was wonderful to meet her again and see her so well and happy.

Back at our hotel we had time to take stock of our day and continue finalizing details for next week. Sri Lanka is such a beautiful country and the people are so welcoming and friendly.

The tsunami has clearly had a huge impact on the local people and their psyche. It has come up in every conversation, starting with our driver on the way in from the airport who asked if we had visited Sri Lanka before and if that was before or after the tsunami.

Over dinner at the hotel we chatted to the local waiters, one of whom told us he was from the beach town of Bentota to the south, where we will head for a few days at the end of the building project. He told us he lived and worked there until the tsunami, but had to move away.

We were admiring the beautiful clear night and the stars and he told us how down at Bentota at night out to sea people could see a blinking blue light and a blinking red light that weren’t there before the tsunami. No-one has been able to work out what the lights are and where they are from.

He told us that things now are back to their best at Bentota, and that we could look forward to elephant rides along the beach! Tomorrow we will head down there for the day to check out our accommodation and other arrangements.

Like so many of the locals, his job and family depend on tourism to survive and the impact of the tsunami has been huge. It reinforced to us how every aspect of this adventure will help so many – not only the families in the shanty towns where we will build houses, but the income we bring by coming back to Sri Lanka and staying in hotels and eating in the local restaurants.

The first of our Odyssey team, Lou Moreau arrived last night and we will catch up with her for coffee this morning before she heads off on a tour. Most of the team arrive over the next few days, with our first official day this coming Sunday.

It has been a busy year for Megan and I at Amazon Heart with our three motorcycle events around the world, and we haven’t had a lot of time to reflect on our coming adventure here in Sri Lanka. Yesterday’s visit to the shanty towns brought back to us immediately why we were inspired to create the Odyssey and we are looking forward to the adventure of a lifetime.

-Meredith

About Sri Lanka

2005-11-30T20:13:00.000-08:00

Sri Lanka is an island nation to the east of southern India. It is located almost exactly halfway around the world from North America, and there are two major routes for getting there.

From the West Coast of the US or Canada, the typical route is to fly west with stopovers in one or more Asian cities such as Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Singapore. From the East Coast, the major route is to fly to Europe, then stop in Dubai and on to Colombo. Depending on the length of time between connecting flights, either route takes 30 to 40 hours of travel time to get to Colombo.

It is a bit closer from Australia - it is an 8 to 10 hour flight to Singapore or Bangkok, then another 3 hours to Colombo.

Interesting Facts (source: Lonely Planet):

- Full Name: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
- Capital City: Colombo
- Population: 19,000,000
- Languages: Sinhalese (official), Tamil (official), English (other)
- Religion: 69% Buddhist, 15% Hindu, 8% Muslim, 8% Christian
- Climate: two seasons – dry and wet! We have just missed the monsoon season as it was wet last week (and the previous several months) and is now dry here in Colombo. The average temperature in Colombo is 27°C (°F)

For more information:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/asia/sri-lanka/
http://www.srilankatourism.org/

The Adventure Begins December 4!

2005-11-27T14:37:00.000-08:00

The Amazon Heart Odyssey 2005 - Sri Lanka is about to begin. There are 12 of us going, and everyone is incredibly excited.

Meredith is flying out of Brisbane, Australia this afternoon, and I'll be on a midnight flight out of San Francisco. I have a 12 hour layover in Hong Kong, while Meredith spends the night in Bangkok. Then we meet in Bangkok for the final flight into Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Other participants will be arriving from all over the US, Australia and Canada over the next week.

We'll be updating with photos and stories as we can. It should be an amazing adventure. Thank you to all who have supported this event. So far, US$30,000 has been raised for the project.