I'm still here!!

I know I always start off by saying the same thing (predictable to the last) - but I can't believe how long it is since I wrote my last blog from here.  For those of you who have enquired as to my health and wellbeing as I've been out of touch for so long, what can I say but thanks and sorry.  The past couple of months have gone by in a blur - trying to do 2 almost full time jobs has been almost as stressful as full time work in the UK!  Not very Sri Lankan.......

Volunteers have come and gone, some have been easier to deal with than others but overall a lovely lot of people. Most keep in touch when they go and am currently being urged to join 2 youngsters in India 'for a bit of a laugh'!!  Not sure whether time (or energy....) will allow.  Anyway, here's a photo of the last group who were with me - it's groups like this that make it all worthwhile (by the way, Dogstar's Sam is next to me).

The other big demand on my time of course is work for Dogstar ..... and that never diminishes.  Those of you who follow my blogs on http://www.dogstarfoundation.com/ will know most of our patients, but for those of you not familiar with our work day-to-day stuff revolves around treatment of skin complaints, vaccinations, wound treatment etc.   We've just been asked to help with the dogs at another local Temple - I went out this morning with the vet and for around 4.50 sterling each (less than the cost of a good glass of wine in the UK!) we were able to treatment skin problems and vaccinate against rabies.  Here's Midge, one of the temple dogs who was really in need of help.  I'll be visiting her regularly to keep a check on progress.

The Temple is in a lovely location with beautiful views across the countryside......

Much of the Dogstar work is carried out in the rural villages which are always good to visit.  It really gives an insight into the lives of local people - far from the cosmopolitan lifestyle of Colombo!  Here's Dogstar 1 - our regular transport - and one of the villages I visited recently.

Towards the end of April, Dogstar worked with another large welfare group - Tsunami Animal People Alliance - and Embark, in a joint venture over 20 days just south of Colombo.  During that time, around 500 dogs were sterilised and the Dogstar team treated 300 cases.  Here's one of the surgical cases:

The effects of the tsunami are still evident in some places and it was a sobering thought when visiting the area to treat local animals.

Apart from work with the other groups, we had our own Dogstar clinic at Hiriwadunna Temple on 22 May.  As always, this took a lot of planning but the outcome was worthwhile with 16 cases sterilised and a further 50 odd cases seen for vaccination.

The team are now operating on younger dogs - around  3.5/4 months of age - which is simpler than in older dogs, with a smaller incision and fast recovery.  For the little boys, no external sutures are used - there's just a tiny incision which is closed with super glue (excellent for keeping our the dirt!).

Here's a lovely little pile of pups in recovery.  These were 'left' at the temple and are now being checked regularly.  Dogstar are also looking after their vaccinations and this coming Saturday they'll be vaccinated against distemper and parvo - still killer diseases here.

It's not all dogs and volunteers - the programme still involves a lot of work with the elephants.  Sadly, one of our little males - Madhu - of 17 years has now gone back to his Temple in the hill country for the perahera season, but he'll be coming back with his mahout later this year.  Here he is being loaded on the lorry to take him back home:

Madhu is very small compared to our magnificent tusker, Raja.  Here he is enjoying his time in the river.

Finally (well, it has been a long time!) last week here was one of the main religious festivals of the year - Vesak Poya.  I managed to get 2 days off to visit a friend's coconut estate - which was just the haven of tranquility I needed.  During my brief stay, I was taken to see Dambadeniya Temple - a very old and important site - and climbed a local mountain with lovely views.  At Vesak, paper lanterns adorn houses, temples and every possible structure where they can be fixed.  Below is my friends lovely place:

Cooking here is still done in the traditional way on an open fire - something I've yet to try!

(P.S. The cat wasn't on the menu!!)

Cows are still milked by hand.....

Below are some images of the Temple at Dambadeniya and the surrounding views.

And here are some of the vesak lanterns - all made with a wooden frame covered with paper. Some of them must take ages to construct.

Well, that brings us right up to date!   The big news from here later this week is the International Indian Film Awards being held in Colombo with all the Bollywood stars in attendance - just hoping one of my Colombo contacts can manage to get me an invite (some chance....).

I now have a volunteer-free month which is nice in some ways - means I can catch up watching some DVDs in the evenings.  At least I hope to be able to keep in touch on a more regular basis.

Love to all.

Mo xx

How can 4 months just disappear.......!

Despite a 4 month silence my Sri Lankan adventures have continued.......apart from a 3 week break in the UK in December!  Just where time has gone I don't know, but it's been very busy here working with both volunteers and dogs....

My Christmas Day in Sri Lanka was a delight, with the morning spent visiting one of my small English students and then on to a local orphanage.  Pictured below is Muranga, who I think looks pretty delighted with his Maisy Mouse present!

The little boys from the orphanage seemed a little overcome by having presents given to them and at first were even reluctant to unwrap them!  I'd like to thank my lovely friend Mandy in the UK for her kind donation of clothes and toys for the boys, which were very welcome.

This little boy of 4 looks a bit bewildered by it all.....

From the orphanage, I went off to join friends in Colombo for some Xmas partying (any excuse here!!) and we were incredibly lucky to see a turtle come up onto the beach during the evening.  It was certainly off course as that's miles from their normal nesting sites.....luckily some locals managed to steer her in the right direction back to the sea so hopefully she found her usual nesting ground.

Sprucing up for the New Year meant getting some furniture both for my room and for the Dogstar office.  My wardrobe came in an open truck, but our filing cabinet came courtesy of our Dogstar tuktuk - here's Sampath (right) our driver making sure it's secure!!

The dog work has continued apace and on 1st January our local Temple asked us to see a small pup who had been left there.  Very tiny and far too young to be away from mum, we took her - Maisey - to our local vet who gave her some supportive therapy.  She stayed overnight in my room but sadly at 5a.m. on 2 January she died.  At least she was warm and had some company.....but some tears were still shed....

I hope you are keeping up with my Dogstar blog too (http://www.dogstarfoundation.com/ - volunteer blogs)!  Dogstar had a wonderful start to 2010.  On 4 January we became a registered UK Charity (of which I am a Trustee) and then in early February, Dogstar were awarded WSPA membership status which is a tremendous achievement for a small outfit. 

Following their assessment of us on 3 January, WSPA asked if we would like to visit TAPA - Tsunami Animal People Alliance - who work down towards the south coast.  It was a wonderful opportunity for us to learn from a great team who work in a lovely location - as you can see below (Unawatuna beach).

The team work 20 days in one location and then have a well deserved break before moving on up or down the coast as required.  They see around 20-30 dogs a day for sterilisation/vaccination - here are a couple of dogs in surgery.

To illustrate that it's not only the beaches in Sri Lanka that are beautiful, below is my friend's place in Pamukkada where we had a party to celebrate her daughter's birthday on 11 January. Just gorgeous as the sun goes down....

There was further celebration later in January when friends of mine from Colombo got married.  I was invited to the homecoming on Day 2 (weddings take place over 2 days here) and it was a nice occasion.  As the only westerner there I had plenty of company from people trying to practice their English, and even got to have lunch with the bride and groom (who normally eat alone).  I think Lakshika looks absolutely stunning....

Never missing an opportunity to dress up, I donned another sari for the event.....

Away from the celebrations, there was plenty of volunteer work to do.  Now the war here has ended numbers are increasing and we're having some really nice people join us - if you're tempted (as one of my ex work colleagues, Geoff, has been) to come here I can always send details!!  The last weekend in January a group of us went off to climb Sigiriya - below - also known as Lion Rock.  It's an old fortress and looks pretty imposing from a distance....

Climbing is actually not as hard as it looks as there's a series of walkways.....an hour or so later we managed to reach the top.  I laughed to see a sign there saying 'Noise may provoke hornet attacks' but it's not that funny - the next group of our volunteers who went a week later actually WERE attacked and a poor fellow tourist ended up in hospital as a result of all the stings...

There's a new museum there which is very interesting but which is also surrounded by lotus pools - I particularly like these temple flowers which seem to photograph so well.

Moving on from Sigiriya, we went to nearby Dambulla to the cave temples.  Despite the fact that the Golden buddha looks a bit tacky, the cave temples are lovely - and there are plenty of monkeys for company too!

Going back to Dogstar for a moment (I try and get a plug in here and there...) we had a vet, Kate, volunteer with us from mid January for a month.  Whilst here, she sterilised another 13 animals for us aided by Sam and me.  Here she is operating Sri Lankan style!

My latest Dogstar 'project' is Pippa, a poor little stray I found in a nearby village in mid January.  She looks very sorry for herself, but I'm glad to say that with regular feeding and medication she's now coming on a treat.  Our MEF volunteers love her and there's no shortage of volunteers to do the feeding run!

To end my adventures for this edition, several of us went down south on February 5/6 to the lovely beach area of Mirissa (which is probably even lovlier than Unawatuna) to go on a whale watching trip.  Although sightings weren't guaranteed, this area is now supposed to be one of the best sites in the world to see blue whales - and we weren't disappointed (if a little wary when one of them came close to our boat which rocked perilously....).  Below are a couple of Sam's photos (my camera just didn't do them justice).

I confess to feeling incredibly lucky to be having these experience and adventures at my time of life!  The downside to life here is missing my friends in the UK but am able to keep in touch via email etc.  I'll be making another brief trip from 10-31 March so will hope to catch up with some of you then.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy reading about life here in Sri Lanka.

Love to you all - take care.

Mo

xxxxx

October news from Sri Lanka....

Hello again from Sri Lanka! As I will be leaving here in another 5 weeks (scarey thought...) thought it was about time to update you on what's been happening here. The past few weeks have passed by in a blur as it's been so busy but the main themes for this month are dogs and religion!! I know that many of you follow my blog on the dogstar website (www.dogstarfoundation.com) but for those of you that don't (and I know many of my friends are animal lovers) there are a few photos in this blog about dogs and cats.

I know that some of you commented on the photos I sent last time of the sunsets here in Sri Lanka so thought you may also like to see one of the photos I took on my trip to Anuradhapura which I don't think I uploaded (and if I did, then you'll have to see it twice!). It's one I'm particularly fond of.

As many of you may know, religion plays a very big part in Sri Lankan culture and society with the majority here being Buddhist. For me, that means not only being exposed to Buddhism on a routine day to day basis via my dog work with Temple monks, but also on special occasions with people close to me. October 11 saw the anniversary of the death of Carminie's husband (Carminie is the lovely lady I live with) and to mark this event annually a 'pirit' is held where monks come to the house and chant throughout the night. For the past 2 years I've been invited to attend, which I've been pleased to do. Below is the little structure which is put up to house the monks during their nightly vigil.

Having been here for so long over the past couple of years I feel very much part of the local community. Recently, along with other locals, I was approached to sponsor a musical event that our tuktuk drivers arranged for October 14. Carminie's son (another sponsor) was asked to open the event and all sponsors were asked to light candles to bless the event - there's a back view of me doing my bit!


Here's the group on stage. It was a great event - everyone here knows I have a penchant for dancing so with the other couple of volunteers who went along we were expected to get up and bop along to the music. Sadly, the heavens opened and the girls and I managed to dance our way through another half hour of so when soaked to the skin we made our way through the torrents of water cascading down the hill (shoe-less!) to our home here.

Still on a religious (and dog!) theme, I was asked to go along to a Temple close by a couple of weeks ago to see their dogs and liaise with the monk about the possibility of a small clinic there. Hopefully, we'll manage to sort something for January when I'm back in Sri Lanka after my December trip to the UK. I was taken by one of the locals to see the hilltop shrine with lovely paintings, one of which is shown below. It was a bit of a trek up a lot of steep steps but the paintings and the view certainly made it worthwhile.

Here's the Buddha figure in the same little shrine.

And here's the wonderful view from the top over the surrounding paddy fields and to the mountains beyond....

Those of you who have read my recent dog blogs will know about Oscar - my latest love! I found him exhausted in the road a couple of weeks ago and was able to keep him in my room for a couple of days before a local Temple kindly agreed to give him a home. As you can see below, Oscar was a pathetic little scrap and I wasn't sure he would survive.....

Below is the lovely Temple which is now Oscar's home and where I go to see him every couple of days. My colleague Sam from Dogstar is here at present and we've made sure he's had his rabies vaccination and other necessary skin/worm treatments. The monk at the Temple (in very unmonkly fashion......) has taken a bit of a shine to me so I'm currently getting text messages at 5.15a.m. telling me it's time to get up and work (am now putting the 'phone on silent by the way!).

Unfortunately for Oscar, one of the female dogs at his new home took a dislike to him (or rather his sharp puppy teeth....) and gave him a nasty bite which needed stitching. Poor little Oscar hasn't really had a great time of it so far... Here he is looking a little miserable after being stitched up but Sam and I visited every day afterwards to give him painkillers and dress his wound. It's cost us about 5 pounds so far to make him better....

And here's Oscar yesterday looking much fitter, much happier and more like a puppy should! I always seem to have a 'project' every time I come here and this time it's Oscar. The lovely monks at his new home are certainly making sure that he gets enough to eat (we provide regular donations of Pedigree dry food for them) and have numbers for the local vet and our Dogstar tuktuk driver should any medical help be needed if Sam and I are away from Randeniya.

Still on the dog theme, we saw another local female dog on Sunday. We thought initially she'd just had pups but the owners said no - but on Monday we went back and she'd just delivered a little of 5! As always, we've managed to find a home for the male but have to get people to take the females. Sod's Law that of the 5, only 1 was male.... Slowly, tho' people are starting to consider female pups because they know Dogstar will arrange vaccination and sterilisation at the appropriate time.

Sam and I visited another local lady on Tuesday this week to check on her dogs post surgery - and to have to lovely rice and curry lunch she prepared for us. She also wanted us to meet her mother in another village to see her pets, who were extremely well cared for. These included a lovely female cat who has a litter of kittens about a month old - mum and one of these is shown below.

And here's our friend Violet with her 2 dogs. Despite telling her to the contrary, she's convinced Sam and I are vets and we're both known as 'lady doctor!'.

Violet's house is in a little rural village through the paddy fields. Here are some of the local men working planting the rice (looks back-breaking work to me, especially in the heat).

And this is the patch from where the individual plants are taken.

Sadly for Sam and I the monk from our local temple (Randeniya) passed away earlier this week. Wangeesa Thero had been instrumental in the setting up of Dogstar when he asked Sam for help in 2006 so we've always had a special bond with him. This of course was a very important event locally and many people here had never been to the funeral of a monk before. Below are all the signs up at our local temple where Wangeesa Thero's funeral was held.

To save any disruption from our temple dogs (who yip excitedly when Sam and I visit), we went via the Dogstar tuktuk and parked outside so we could follow what was happening.

Here's another generel shot of the Temple on the day of the funeral, last Wedneday.

It is customary for monks to be cremated at their temple on a funeral pyre. Here below - in the monsoon rain which came over during the afternoon - is the covered pyre onto which Wangeesa's body was carried.

This is Wangeesa's coffin being carried by locals just prior to the cremation. As is customary here, the body had been placed in the Temple for locals to visit. Sam and I went to say our final goodbye the day before the funeral which was a very sad time for both of us.

The coffin was carried around the covered pyre 3 times before being placed inside. During this part of the ceremony, other monks (in their lovely orange or red robes) accompanied the coffin.

Here's the final part of the ceremony, the actual cremation. Sam and I both felt this was an appropriate time to leave having said our goodbyes to a man we both admired and respected.

That brings you right up to date with happenings here. Mostly, it's been a very positive and upbeat month (but damn busy......) marred only by the loss of Wangeesa. We still have 14 dogs being cared for by the novice monks at his Temple and we are sure the new head monk there will also - in true Buddhist fashion - provide sanctuary there.

After a busy few weeks, and knowing that Oscar is now well settled in his new home, Sam and I are off to Colombo tomorrow for some retail therapy and to catch up with friends there.

I do hope you've enjoyed reading this and that for those of you living outside Asia it will give you a flavour of the countryside we're working in and on the part religion plays in life here.

I'll try and send a final update before I come back to the UK on 5 December!

Love to all

Mo

xxx