May 31st - We left Sri Lanka extremely reluctant to go. Many of us went on to India, on our next adventure, while others returned to Philadelphia, LA, and New York to start internships in the business world. Even though we had just left, we had already started to reflect on our experiences.

Entries: Keith

 

Right now we’re flying over Europe, marking the end of the journey. Here’s the recap of the last few days. On Sunday, we went to the interior of Sri Lanka. We visited a village that AFLAC made there. AFLAC did a really excellent job here. They spread the houses out, allowing families to have their own property and privacy. They also constructed the new houses adjacent to the older houses of the families, which were made from mud and stone and often were destroyed by elephants. The families were able to utilize both houses to make their lives more comfortable. The children of the community were very playful and the parents cooked us lunch. The only disappointing part of the day came when one of the parents asked me for money. After visiting this village, we went to Sigiriya, where we saw the Lion’s rock, an old fortress built on top of a mountain. The climb was tiring, especially because I still felt weak from being sick, but the vista from the top was simply amazing. We could see for miles around us and the whole country was just beautiful.

After this, we went back to the hotel and decided to go out as a group. All of us went to the club in the hotel and had a great time just playing pool, dancing, throwing darts, and talking. We wish that Ish was still here, but it was nice enjoying everyone’s company for one more night. After the club closed, about half of us decided to go swimming at 3:00 in the morning, which was also a lot of fun.

On Monday, we went shopping at the local craft stores. I had a lot of fun negotiating with the vendors again and found a lot of really cool gifts. Unfortunately we had to leave tonight around 3:00 in the morning so we stayed up all night to prepare for the flight back. Right now we’re on the Sri Lankan Air flight back to London. In a few hours we’ll be there and then will fly back over the Atlantic to home.

So now I’m going to try to make some final reflections. The trip has been an amazing experience for me. I appreciate having the chance to see another culture and how it is trying to function in the wake of such a catastrophic event. I am convinced now that I will help with relief projects in the future, not just tsunami relief. But I might not contribute to the people affected by the catastrophic event. So many people contribute to help those people that others suffering in the country are often forgotten about. For example, in Sri Lanka, the poor people in the center of the country were largely ignored after the tsunami. Whatever I do, I will probably look to do through a small group like AFLAC so that my money isn’t spent partially on administrative costs. This trip taught me that it doesn’t require that much effort to help but even the smallest effort makes a large difference.

-Keith