May 21st - AFLAC had arranged a break for us in our schedule of manual labor - a visit to a drama camp for Tsunami-affected children called Abhina: Academy of Performing Art, in Dehiwala, the creation of a famous Sri Lankan actress called Anoja Weerasinghe. After planning events for the children, we spent the day dancing and playing, enjoying the real human contact with people so foreign yet so similar to us. Our day was not over, however - we also had the opporutnity to visit Ambassador Jeff Lunstead in Colombo and discuss the current relief effort.

Entries: Jenny, Nellie, Keith

Yesterday, we left the hotel early to see a temple. Buddhist. With many kids all dressed in white. Afterwards, we worked at the site more—sanding, painting, more girls dug holes. A worker called me a “very happy girl” even though I never spoke to him. Made me happy. The girls went to pick up the very late food, coconuts, water and we met the boys at the church. Tried kumquats. Seal of approval given.

Today we went to the drama camp. It was far more rewarding and meaningful than I thought. We met the kids and coordinated/participated in the massages (my bum!), exercises, activities, and dancing. They were so friendly and open. I really got into the mirror activity, with a girl named Ramika, who I thought was 11. And of course the dancing. I think I’m on video somewhere. Remind me to search college girls gone wild: Sri Lanka edition, when I get back.

There were four rhythms for the dances: water, fire, earth, chaos. Great to do, great to watch. So much energy, intensity, and ENDURANCE. The best thing was how into it the kids got. No one worried about how they looked or what others thought. There were no boys on the side that you had to teach the ole college side-to-side sway to. They just went at it and threw themselves in. so I could too. Earth rhythm was the most intense though-- particularly the eye contact in combo with using touch (breaking our western-built space bubbles which I learned about in 6th grade). Our group were the only ones that found uneasiness with all of this. The closing part of it, in which we all held hands and gathered together, really made me feel a oneness with others, and a power in that oneness.

So this stuff might seem like rubbish and squandering away our hard earned time here, but I felt like there was real psychological and emotional value in it: for us and the kids. They were so adaptive and resilient.. but perhaps their resources are already used up or strained with the stress of dealing with the disaster and keeping up a strong front.. any support we can give must be worth something. Even if that means singing a verse of the titanic song to them. Which I did. Now who can question that dedication. So there Ramika was 20. most of the kids were much older than they looked. Closer to our age than we thought. Is it just genes or environment/nutrition too? After learning we had the same birth year, she was really excited and made it a point to stick by my side. She had Ramila translate to me that she loved the camp, for providing all basic needs, but especially a release and escape. She is very sad to go back home tomorrow, back to her troubles.

After the camp we went to Colombo, ate, and looked at the shops (crescat), then went to meet the US ambassador. We spoke about what we’re doing, what our responses were about aflac, and issues around sri lanka and being in foreign service. There was a big jackfruit tree which they defruited. It seems like clipping a bird or some such horror, bc I don’t think they ate it. As I moan these past 8 years or so for it, this ambassador just throws countless succulent jackfruit away. I hope some lucky cows or goats enjoyed their gold mine in the dumpster. There were more problems with non-flushing toilets.

-Jenny

So many things have happened each day here that I can’t even grasp everything. I love that there are so many new things that I’m learning and experiencing.

Today we ate our 7:30 a.m. breakfast, and then headed off to the Drama Camp, Abhina: Academy of Performing Art, in Dehiwala, which is the creation of a famous Sri Lankan actress, Anoja Weerasinghe. Anoja’s vision is to help young victims of the Tsunami through acting, or through other expressions of music and dance, by directing their pain and suffering into a positive form, and by providing a week of relief from their regular lives. Although we knew we would help lead some activities, I had no idea how fulfilling and productive our experience there would be.

We started out by spending a few minutes talking with the kids. I immediately became friends with a 15 year old, Taniya, who spoke English very well. Although she was lucky enough not to lose any family members, Taniya had lost all of her property during the Tsunami. She told me how schooling is very important to her, about how she wants to study business and economics, but how she had lost all her books and school supplies in the water of the Tsunami. All of the children were very interested in hearing about our lives as well, about our families, and about American culture.

I realized just how resilient these children were as a group of girls began to dance for us. There was one girl, who we had learned later had lost her whole family during the Tsunami, who was radiantly smiling during the whole performance. I suppose that not only was the drama camp a good source of relief to take her mind off of her troubles, but I also came to realize just how courageous and strong she must have been. That is one of the biggest truths that I have discovered so far: these children have suffered through so much, but they continue to be strong and resilient.

Once the activities began, I was filled with even more enthusiasm, and experienced one of my most meaningful and enlightening moments thus far. First, we were paired with a partner for a warm-up exercise. My partner massaged my spin and shoulders as I relaxed my body and focused on my breathing (all directions were being given by Anoja). At the end of this exercise, our partners focused all of their energy into their hands as they placed both palms on our foreheads. Our goal was to push all of our negative energy out into their palms, and as I did this, I felt a powerful connection to my partner and the whole group of Sri Lankans and Americans. Despite the overwhelming differences between our two cultures and our experiences, I felt like everyone in the room was one body and one soul, sharing this one experience together.

The following activity was lead by Anoja, as she demonstrated how body language affects your mind. First she used a neutral face and slowly moved her body into different positions, and asked us what emotion her position produced. She then reversed the activity, and thought of an emotion before using her body to express this emotion. An interesting comment she made that struck me was how, if you think of seeing someone you love, you always open your body up; it’s not natural to close your body to a loved one, that love and open body come as a pair.

The most meaningful activity we participated in was the four-elements dance. The first dance was water, as we let our bodies completely flow freely in every direction. At some moments during the dance Anoja would yell “partner,” and we would have to find a partner to lock eyes with as we continued to dance. At one point Anoja was my partner, and it was again as if we were one spirit as we locked eyes and danced in circles. I felt like I could see all of her courage just in her eyes, like I could feel her spirit, and that she was giving me some of her strength. I put all of my inhibitions aside, and let my body float freely, and let it express my inner emotions. We ended the dance by joining hands in a huge circle, and then by walking into the center. Again, an emotional energy of oneness formed around the group as we became one community of people, one mind, fighting for a common cause. By the end of our visit to the camp, I felt so fulfilled by seeing how resilient these children were, and how welcoming they were to us.

-Nellie

So last night we met Mevan from AFLAC. He is serving as our coordinator for the trip and is helping us out. Our discussion focused on the importance of our trip. The money that we spent on going to Sri Lanka could be used to buy 40 boats or build 10 houses. We have to make sure that we make it worth AFLAC’s time to make such a large investment in us by inspiring people to make large contributions back in America. Mevan also dropped a little surprise by telling us that we had to plan 4 hours worth of activities for the drama camp that we went to today. We planned these activities in about an hour and called it a night.

Today we left early for the camp, which is organized by one of Sri Lanka’s most famous actresses for tsunami victims. Even though we only used a few of our activities, the camp was definitely a success. All of the kids loved interacting with us and called me Patch Adams because I am so goofy and made them laugh. They all took our addresses and hopefully will contact me.

After the camp, we went to a mall in Colombo for lunch and a little shopping. I had Pizza Hut, which is nothing like pizza in America. We then met the American Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Jeffery Lunstead at his house. We discussed the concerns in Sri Lanka, including the tsunami. One of my favorite points from the discussion was that there was poverty before the tsunami, so not all of the resources should necessarily go to tsunami relief, but they should go to helping these areas too. He also stressed that America has to be careful with how it treats average Sri Lankans in situations such as tsunami warnings in order to seem legitimate. I will consider his opinions when deciding what I think the best policy to have in Sri Lanka.

-Keith 7:31pm