Sri Lanka Fall 2008
Cealo visited Sri Lanka
in December 2008 from the 5th the 13th. During this trip
the Foundation U.S.A donated $20,000 for
Direct Action Projects in Sri Lanka.
We spent the fund on the Karuna (Gayuna) Harmony
Center, a Direct Action
Center, and its neighboring
village. Now we are taking care of 11 acres of land including the Center and
the village. None of these projects including the Center would happen if not
for the support and guidance of the Venerable Subhuti,
a monk who enjoys Cealo’s way of Direct Action.
Another 20 acres of land came to Cealo that houses 50
families who just live and farm there without permission. So, the Global Harmony family including volunteers in Sri Lanka, the U.S, and Japan is helping this village and all the villages
as if it were our own village. In order to support the village people and the Center
management in the future, we are going to start vegetable garden
and rice farming there this winter as soon as the place is ready. One of our
friends from Japan is staying in Sri Lanka until February to grow vegetable and rice experimentally
at the center land and a village where gypsy people currently resident to
settle their life .
He is a farmer in charge of the Global Harmony Rice Farm in Japan
who proposed the agricultural support
project in Sri
Lanka. The harvest time in Japan
is finished and we had bountiful rice crop more than in any of the years past. Since
our friend does not have permanent joy during the winter in Japan,
he decided to devote his time to work
with our friends in Sri Lanka.
Our agricultural development projects are doing well thanks to the team of
Tambo, the Japanese rice farm, that has supported
villages in both Cambodia
and Sri Lanka
for several years now. Our farmer friend is staying in Sri
Lanka center until the end of February.
Eventually, Cealo hopes that we can welcome any volunteers who
wish to visit Asia at the Center. Right now, Cealo's way
of direct action is not easy for everybody to join now. In the future, it will
be easier to host American people once we have the Center ready and programs
with a purpose to do service work, such as helping to make wells, farming, and
making bricks to built houses.
There is a report of our trip to Sri
Lanka provided in Japanese that was written
by O-chan, a lady with children on the first picture of the page, with many pictures
that you may enjoy at: http://news.cealo-ngo.org/?day=20081227
Here are a few of them for you to enjoy.
