Another new year!

Happy 2017 to everyone!

Admittedly, I haven't been able to keep up my promise of blogging regularly. And I've come to realise that my biggest weakness is procrastination. As karma, I think, I am now about five 12-paged reports behind in submissions. WRITING isn't my best friend right now.

I don't consider myself very ambitious (or I would never procrastinate, right?). However, like bees on the scent of nectar, I generally turn my nose in the direction of food (primarily), nature and adventure. So very often, I accidentally stumble on to things like interesting people and opportunities that initially I didn't think would fit in the grand scheme of my interests (only to realise later it does).

Today was one of those days. I might add that it was a happy one too.

I started work as an intern (Project Coordinator) with a second NGO today. Now I have to shuttle between home for the weekend lectures and the capital city (4 hrs from home) for work on four days of the week. Thanks to a chance connection made by a good friend's father, I found a good mentor who in turn recommended me to this NGO. Through their involvement in projects funded by the UNDP, they work to increase biodiversity, fight climate change, minimise land degradation and minimise persistent organic pollutants with the involvement of (often) impoverished communities.

Previously, I thought the UN Compound was a top secret facility with strange people on the inside. Today, I found out it was not entirely true. There was a cat at the cafeteria too.

Building bridges

Three days ago, I tagged along with a NGO specialising in Knowledge Management to support their team with field work. Four large projects aimed at environment conservation through the empowerment of local communities had come to an end. The team was here to wrap things up and assess the impact of the project in the communities that benefited from these projects. As the newest member in the team, I only witnessed the concluding phase of these projects.

Jaffna on the map. (Source: Google maps)

Jaffna is a city in the northernmost part of Sri Lanka belonging to the arid zone. While it faces drought for a major part of the year, I happened to arrive in Jaffna in the wet season in December when the rice paddy fields were lush and the entire penninsula was abundant with migratory birds. In other words, it was the best time to be in this city to witness nature at her finest performance.

Acres and acres of beautiful green rice paddy fields

A decade ago, it was impossible to even think of visiting the city of Jaffna because the country was torn apart by a racially and politically driven civil war that lasted nearly two and a half decades from 1983 to 2009. Looking back from this point in time, the war was a completely unnecessary event that caused more harm than achieve any useful outcome. Countless families on both sides of the cause (more on the minority side, of course) lost loved ones, the grief and psychological after-effects remain today, so much potential and good ambitions of a younger generation were crushed and the war affected areas fell backwards in terms of development. The worst consequence of the war was perhaps the increased feelings of hate, suspicion and racism between the two races that still linger in the minds of most.

I started writing part of this post in Jaffna a few hours before my departure from that city because I left with a slightly unsettled feeling and a lot of unanswered questions.

For the purposes of this post, I shall refer to two parties called the “majority race” (75% of the population of Sri Lanka) and the “minority race” (approximately 11%). I belong to the majority race.

When I visited Jaffna, a city dominated by the minority race, the people of the area who I associated with treated me with overwhelming respect and kindness. A few went out of their way to ensure our stay was very productive and comfortable. Sure, I was a part of a humanitarian mission to better the lives of the agriculturally oriented people there so they probably saw us coming with harmless intentions. And there may have been plenty of others in that city who did not like our presence. But seven years post-war, I still wonder what these people really think of us.

Do they hate all of us and blame us for the atrocities that occurred to their people? Do they still idolise the group which we call terrorists and they probably see as freedom fighters? Were there some of them who opposed the group we called terrorists but didn't openly admit it out of fear and reprisals? Do they still want to a clean split from this country to operate as an independent state? Do they still feel discriminated by systems set up by the central government for education, medical facilities, employment, etc? Do they still feel like outsiders in this country? As they slowly rebuild their lives and move out of smaller towns to the other parts of the country for better opportunities, do they find their views and opinions of us changing? As a city which was previously suppressed by war and now experiencing a boom of development, are they realising that education and rising above poverty will slowly give them leverage? Do some of them feel betrayed by the political groups that represented them and made them take up arms? Are they biding their time and waiting for the next opportunity to join another struggle to win independence? Are they willing to start another war if things are in their favour despite the recent developments in infrastructure and trade? Do they feel sympathy for the innocent lives lost from the majority race through brutal acts of terrorism by those who fought in their name? Do they realise they also have a part to play in healing the racial divide by reaching out to the majority race and not isolating themselves? Do they think that someday a peaceful and undivided Sri Lanka is a possibility?

The friends of the minority race there who helped us are nearly my age. We share the common experience of being born during the war, which consumed most of our childhood and early adulthood. While us in the majority race were spending normal and happy childhoods, these friends were affected by the war, each having some experience of fleeing from place to place as children, fearing for lives, hearing constant bombings and shelling, not having regular schooling, sharing one home with many relatives for safety or losing people close to them due to the atrocities of the war. Those thoughts pained me especially when these same friends who went through such adversities in their childhood not so long ago gave us the best hospitality they could afford. Even though I had nothing to do with starting that war, I felt an overwhelming feeling of (perhaps misplaced) guilt when I received kindness from some of these people.

Maybe someday I will have the courage to ask those friends for answers to my questions. And maybe there exists a small minority within their minority race who, like a minority of us in the majority race, are willing to start building the bridges from their end.

We're here! What now?

It occurred to me one morning quite recently that I've finally reached the "destination" of a journey I struggled to get to for about a decade. Last year around this time, I was working nearly 70 hours a week to ensure that ships met the regulatory and statutory regulations to leave the port and join the global fleet of vessels that extract and process fossil fuels. And before that, I was weighed down with student loans and stuck around in unsatisfactory jobs without a way out. Compared to all that, now I go to classes that teach about species extinctions, struggle with trying to memorise hundreds of animal species in local animal guide books, visit National Parks, associate with people who have devoted their lives to conservation efforts, and (on a similar level of joy) wake up without an alarm clock.

It is definitely not a happy ending or a final destination, but I'm going to camp at this checkpoint for awhile.

Often times, we spend a lot of time planning a journey and being involved in the act of getting to the destination. And when we finally get there, we don't realise the magnitude of the achievement. Or we might (like me) find ourselves ill-equipped without knowing what to do next, because we realise that we concentrated most of our efforts and energy on just the journey!

Whether it be starting a new family or finally getting that dream job, it applies to many life goals for various people. If we are not mindful enough, we might even run the risk of gambling away a big "achievement" because we forget the bigger picture (like how much we wanted it, or the sacrifices that went into it, or the people who helped us get there) and not make the most of a given situation. Also, it's probably a good idea to constantly remind ourselves that most good situations remain "good" for as long as we play an active part and things can change in a moment's notice. This way, we are less likely to be complacent, take it for granted or be too devastated if it was all gone. 

As of late, I'm rediscovering the natural beauty of Sri Lanka. The country stretches for 430km from North to South and 230km from East to West, and towers to an altitude of 2524m at its highest point. Within these confines, exist flora and fauna that have led Conservation International to list Sri Lanka as one of the world's 36 Biodiversity Hotspots.

Two weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to join a team of researchers and their students as a volunteer evaluator for an environmental impact assessment. They were very accommodating and down-to-earth folks. Although I was the newbie (and still a "small fry"), it didn't take us too long to bond because beneath the professionalism, they were a fun-loving bunch. We were on the road for 3-4 days, driving through beautiful rural parts of Sri Lanka, conducting field surveys and observing plenty of wildlife along the way.

 

We had to stop a couple times (at a safe distance) to let wild elephants cross the road.

People in these parts were accustomed to minor traffic blocks caused by wild elephants. Similar to when trains cross over highways, the vehicles had to stop and wait till the elephant passed.

This is what remained of the lake during the last month of the dry season. This small amount of water helps many elephants, birds and other animals survive till the rains come later this month.

The assignment involved interviewing 35 families (primarily rice paddy farmers) which were beneficiaries of a lake expansion project which took place 2 years ago. My team helped me in getting familiar with certain terms in my native language (which I'm not an expert in) so that I was able to use it during the interviews with the villagers. These were resettled families from previously war-torn areas. Unfortunately, many acres of forest (previously elephant territory) have been cleared to make space for homes and agriculture. Although we were just there to collect data from the villagers, it was a moving experience to hear about their struggles like elephant conflicts, job insecurity, difficulties to send children to schools, flood season and losses when adverse weather destroys their crops. Most of the parents worked very hard as farmers, wage labourers and small shop owners to build their houses and give their children a good education so they can move on to better prospects. Children juggled school work and helping out at the family fields. Several families offered us whatever they had like fruits and vegetables from their home gardens, tea, delicious sweets and even curries for our lunch. 

This little boy followed us with a lot of enthusiasm and his parents let us have our packed lunches in their home. He is seen here making a fishing rod to play with.

This boy showed me around his house and shared a piece of raw woodapple. 

Raw woodapples are sour yet yummy!

One family showed us their newly adopted pet. 

Some of the villagers were small shop owners who depended on visitors to a nearby temple to earn a living.

Overall, I'd say the assignment was an eye-opening experience. Not only did I learn something about the type of work conservationists do, it made me want to get more involved in beneficial community projects like these and reminded me to stay humble.