Ladies & Gentlemen, I’ve the pleasure and the honor to introduce you, directly from the South-East of ASIA, the charming and chilled country of Sri Lanka.
As I’ve to speak about this Island, I can discuss several points, separately.
The Medical Coordinator – Opening my passport, I can read that the only job I’m supposed to do in this Country, is the medical coordinator. It’s nothing more than a big & huge organizational work, for all the activities implemented by the NGO that sent me here. I’ve an office, 2 mobile clinics, 1 HHP team. I’ve the Pharmacy, either, and its stock management (trying to avoid the thieves…). I’ve the formation days, too, in which I wear the professor super-suite & I (try to) teach some medicine to the local doctors (these are older than 60 years…& I don’t know exactly what they think about me…they are, by the way, very participating, because they know that at the end of each lesson there are several questions they have to answer to!!!)
I’m not spending all my days in the office (I feel that’s not the right place for me). I move to the field, where I’m practicing session n° 19 of JPUngers: the Supervision (do you remember Fabrice in the remote Belgian village, trying to consult appropriately the shy Alba?) of almost all the staff. I move to attend some more or less interesting meetings, just to discuss who & where is providing all what’s necessary in the assisted IDPs camps. I move…
Seeing how they do live in these camps it’s not so easy to describe…imagine a big camping, with tents or small bungalows, one close to the other, with all the needs provided, like drinkable water & sanitation, like food, like health care, like livelihood & instruction. Everything’s free for the beneficiaries.
Imagine that, maybe, you’re in this camping since 6 months/1 year. Imagine you arrived because in the land where’s your house (in which you lived the past 30 years of your life), there’s a war, now. Imagine you lost some members of your family while moving to this terrible camping. Imagine you have no money & it’s not so easy to work. Imagine…
The Spicy (war-affected) Country – This nation, in its relatively small surface, is full of differences. The prevalent ethnic group is the Singhalese (governmental) one, while the Tamils are the others (some of whom, the Tamil’s tigers, are trying to separate from the rest of the Country). There’s a third group, however, represented by the Muslims. This mean that you find three religions in Sri Lanka: Buddhism, Hinduism & Islamism.
All people is eating the most spiced food you can imagine…a few times I risked a third degree burn in my mouth (that I avoided drinking, simply, a glass of milk).
The War started in 1983, because the Tamils would like to have independency, while the Singhalies don’t want to give them it (the same story, as always, with different actors). The Tamil’s Tigers (LTTE) home is the North of the Island, with some areas controlled in the East, where I am. The governmental army is very well equipped, but the rebels, too. They have, indeed, their own Navy & some airplanes…after some quiet periods, they arrived to a ceasefire, signed the 22/02/2002. This ceasefire was broken on April 2006...the situation is far from peace, actually.
The fightings are to the borders of the governmental & the Tamil’s controlled areas, with some suicide bombing almost everywhere, but mostly in the capital, Colombo. There are check points in all the roads, & the militaries are almost in every image captured by your eye (that’s sounds like poetry…ehm…).
We work in governmental controlled areas, where the IDPs arrived, escaping from the battles.
The Elephants – yes, because sometimes you can meet some of them, walking, on the roads of the town, too……yes??? Unbelievable??? Ok, me, neither, believed to such a thing…but, some weeks ago, I saw three elephants close to the road…& one of them decided to cross that road, so that I’d see it…and, in a magical way, they don’t do any noise at all. Who could imagine, considering their weight?
The Ocean – here there’s the Indian Ocean, the protagonist of each Novel written by Conrad (do you remember the Bay of Bengal in The Shadow Line?). The first comment is for the Tsunami, the signs of which are still visible, where destroyed houses are close to brand new schools or buildings, where some fragile walls are surrounded by all the new boats provided by the humanitarian aids to the fishermen.
In Sri Lanka, on December the 26th, 2004, a huge quantity of water, divided in three or four moments, arrived to erase most of the costal area. This water arrived 500/1000 meters inside, erasing almost everything, lives, houses & so on…
Eleonora – ehhh, my lovely wife came with me in this marvelous piece of the World. Officially she’s still Erasmus in Paris. She could prepare three relations, send them in Paris & had good results…just keep studying!
About her…the only thing I want to say is…that I love her, & it’s enough!
Ciao, Luca
