A DAY IN THE VILLAGE
On Sunday Winsor and I with the Anuradhapura Coordinator’s wife and child drove a long way to a celebration of the ways in which Sarvodaya had helped their village, primarily with a nutrition program that was restoring the weight of malnourished children.
From the beginning in 1958 the Sarvodaya Shramadana Society had put great emphasis on the development of children between 3 and 5 in a preschool program. The preschool teacher in each village, a volunteer, is also the conduit from Sarvodaya to the village for all kinds of development projects. The open air preschool, built the villagers themselves, is also a community center.
As happened again and again when I brought students to Sri Lanka we were greeted with folded betal leaves as a welcome with garlands put around our necks (remember, I wasn’t fooled). And then the children of the village, girls 6 to 8 dressed in exquisite red and white costumes did a choreographed dance for the audience of mothers and preschool children, and of course for the Sarvodaya coordinator and for me. I took my first spatial video of the trip which I will only be able to see on the Apple Vision Pro goggles that have just been released.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0cdSqlmzjkSjxEcOHBZM5B4Rw
But I can put a flat screen version on here which I hope you can see along with photographs if you can’t. It was an expression of delight by the children and the community followed by a variety of sweets for everyone there. It is this delight which so touches me and which I wish that I could express in words.
After the preschool celebration we got in our van, drove down a muddy road with deep potholes, got stuck axle deep in the mud which the villagers, men and women pushed the van out of, to the home of an entrepreneur who, with Sarvodaya investment money, was raising a flock of 80 chickens in a large fenced in area who were producing 30 eggs a day which he sold in Anuradhapura.
He also was experimenting with the growing of a wide variety of vegetables using a spray irrigation system and no fertilizer.
In the middle of his field as, apparently, on every farm was a rough covered hut where he slept every night to ward off monkeys, wild boar, peacocks and other wild animals that could easily decimate his crop.
And then we went on to his most innovative project, three very large artificial lotus ponds where he grew blossoms to sell to worshippers to use as offerings in the large Anuradhapura Buddhist temple and complex. But he had discovered that if he dried the blossoms he could crush the dried flowers into a Lotus tea that was treasured (and expensive) in Australia.
And he was experimenting with adding scent to Indian incense sticks, pineapple and lotus, and reselling them at a marked up price. It was at his house we ate a late lunch of a variety of curries with rice.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 