Day 4: Beneficiaries of the Salvation Army's post-Tsunami work

After we had talked with the family in the previous post, we visited their neighbours to see how they earned a living. The mother and daughter were producing rope, and from the rope items such as doormats, with use of a machine that her son had made. The machine used a ceiling fan to spin the two hooks, which in turn spun the fibres from coconut husks into the rope. The two women then walked backwards whilst the fibres were spun, then the mother would walk forwards with both ropes in her hand so that they spun together. This whole process took about 20 seconds. It's great to see how people have managed to get back on their feet after the Tsunami.

 Our group and the women making the rope

We headed back to Hikkaduwa for lunch, before proceeding to a road-side memorial to the Tsunami victims. The atmosphere at the memorial was the same as you find at any of the WW2 sites in Northern France or Belgium, peaceful and sad. We were required to remove our shoes out of respect to walk on the memorial and read the inscription, and as can be seen in the photo there was an amazing carved mural behind the memorial.

 

The memorial

The mural

For our next stop we visited a bakery the Salvation Army had constructed, where the baker met and spoke to us. Several local people were employed to work at the bakery, and the oven shown could hold up to 300 bread loaves at a time! The baker was very proud to show us what the Army had provided him with, and he in turn provided vital food for the community.

 The baker and his oven

We then walked the short distance to the home of a man described to us as a 'big helper of the Army' because of how they had helped him. Even though he was a Buddhist, he frequently let the Salvation Army use his house for Christian prayer meetings. With Dinuka translating, we got his story. Once again, we were warmly welcomed into a home, with juice and homemade cakes. He and his family had lived in the same location for the past 30 years (the new house constructed for him by the Army was in the same place as the previous one), except for the two years after the Tsunami when they had to live in one of the Tsunami camps. On the day of the Tsunami, he heard shouts so ran to the hills with his family, and so avoided the disaster, at least physically. He told us he had never heard of the Army before the disaster, but now was happy to help them however he could because of how they had helped him. His daughter was one of the 25 people from the area who had been invited to the Salvation Army in Colombo at the coming weekend (9 of these 25 made commitments to Christ as a result of this visit, praise God!).

After this meeting, we visited a rope production plant, where we met another business and group of people who the Salvation Army had helped get back on their feet. The rope production is as follows: Coconuts are cut down from trees and then the husks are removed (by leaning over a big blade in the ground!). These husks are then ground down into their fibres by a special machine, which the Salvation Army paid for. These fibres are then spun into rope as described above, and sold to a variety of buyers. 12 people were employed on this plant, and several children were also present, playing and helping. 

 The man just to the right of center is removing the husks from the coconuts

 The fibres are spun

We then drove up a hill to a beautiful spot to one of the meeting halls constructed by the Army. Here we were warmly greeted by the women's group, who were having their monthly meeting, with bouquets and hand-crafted badges. This group enables the women of the community to learn important skills together (in the meeting we witnessed, one of the residents was talking about cultivation of home-grown food, and a growing competition was started with two teams!). After the meeting the women offered us plates of food, along with sweet Sri Lankan tea (think black tea with about 5 sugars). This was entirely for our benefit, as the women only ate after we offered them the food they had offered us! Incredibly humbling hospitality once again. One of the plates was filled with pan-cake rolls, which tasted incredibly nice and consisted of coconut and cinnamon wrapped with pancake.

 Us and the women's group

We headed to a restaurant back in Hikakduwa, complete with serenading band who sang such hits as “My Bonnie lies over the Ocean,” to Boyzone, to “We have no Bananas Today!” much to the amusement of a large table of tipsy Germans!

To finish off the day, we had a team debriefing session back at the hotel. Sam shared with us the Widow’s Offering reading from Scripture, and of the two blind men being healed by Jesus. We discussed our thoughts and feelings of the day, very challenged by the complete generosity of the residents and the many stories we had heard. There was also hope through the day though, as we could see the clear and definite impact that the Salvation Army's work had for people in order to demonstrate God's glory. She explained to us the process of firstly seeing & understanding need, then experiencing compassion, then acting in faith before experiencing God's power. On this day we had certainly experienced the first two steps, and we talked about how we could move on to the last two, something which has occupied my thoughts ever since. What is the best way for me to act in faith so that God's power can be shown? I'm certainly on the lookout for opportunities, and pray that God will reveal to me the paths he wants me to take.

At this point I'd like to say a massive thank you to everyone who sponsored me, the 'extra' money raised through your giving has been donated to the Salvation Army in Sri Lanka, who hope to run an education project for a whole year in the slums in Colombo with this! The aim is to teach children who don't attend school Sinhala, Tamil, English and Maths at two of the slums - a fantastic project.

Once again, I will end with Mark 13 v41-44:

'Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” '