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Julia Anderson-Canada

We were welcomed at the airport with a very big hospitality from the coordinator of RCDP-Sri Lanka “Mr. Michael” and well transferred to the RCDP office at Galle where language and cultural immersion was held. It was quite interesting learning Sri Lankan language and about their culture. Everything to do with our stay here was better than expected. The staffs here are always smiling and seem to love their work and this attitude is most contagious. The information delivered to us was most enjoyable and educational. After the completion of my cultural and recreational phase we started working on volunteer project in Galle .

Our four weeks voluntary program in teaching which is located in a little rural area on the edge of Galle fort which is about 25 min ride from the host family it was really astounding place where we can see beautiful beaches, Dutch fort, green forest, lakes, gentle rolling hills etc. After the 2 completion of teaching we moved into Elephant orphanage placement we really enjoyed here.

There was several kind of activities we get involved during our project time we had our own cook, he cooked us Sri Lankan rice and curry everyday which was so delicious. It gave us new taste and we enjoyed a lot to have the food. The life style here seems so simple than westerners. The tank nearby our home stay viewed so wonderful where local people they would come to take bath and wash their clothes. The drinking was boiled which was pumped up from the ground. The facility of electricity was not enough but the electric power from the solar worked very well.

The local environment gave me an opportunity to submerge into the different world than mine. We joined the activities like riding on cycle and walking to the paddy field which takes you o the nature. We saw the traditional method of two oxen pulling the plough in the field paddy field. The children and local villagers always smiled and waved their hand to us saying that hello and goodbye. The local children seemed incredibly poor by our standards often no shoes but have a lovely nature. It can be a new lesson to all people who comes here to visit and do volunteering in this beautiful nation.

In elephant orphanage placement, our daily works that we undertook were fence and tank monitoring; visit an elephant damaged place to survey it and stay in some tree hut where we could see glimpse of elephant before dawn and park elephant observation. Sometimes local people were annoyed by the elephants as we knew from an interview with them. We saw some terrible site like complete kitchen had been destroyed by a single male elephant. We tried to find out the causes behind of it. We came to know that elephants were there first and farmers are cultivating traditional elephant territory.

Except all these kinds of activities, the area is very famous for bird watching and we could get chance to observe wildlife there. I enjoyed a lot with the people there. Accompany from the staffs and community people was unforgettable and we amused playing crickets, carom board; a famous Asian game and some matches too. I would like to suggest to upcoming volunteers that it is a country of scenic beauty so please come here and experience a typical Sri Lankan lifestyle which you could get once you are here.