The latest round-up from Sri Lanka

Why do I always have to start with an apology?!  I know many of you may have given up hope of hearing from me again, but things here have been verging on the frenetic for the past couple of months.  Dogstar work never gets any less and coupled with an increase in MEF volunteers, the days just seem to fly past and I seem to be juggling tasks all the time. 

Generall, our volunteers are a lovely bunch and I currently have 12 to try and co-ordinate and look after.  Duties currently range from responding to calls at past 10 at night to remove large spiders, to travel guide, confidante and general sorter outer of problems.... Bookings for placements are good this year and we have volunteers booked through until next January so my workload is unlikely to drop significantly.

We have a lovely new male elephant at MEF - Saliya - who, with his mahout Vijay, is proving to be a big hit with both volunteers and tourists. Here he is below, complete with tourist!

Somehow it's very easy to became blase about these wonderful creatures when you're working with them all day - it's usually only when I'm doing something like writing about them that I realise just how great they are and how lucky I am to be working with them.

The volunteers and I went on a 2 day trip recently - firstly to Habarana, to look at human-elephant conflict and then on to Trincomalee up on the north-east coast to do preparatory work for 2 projects. The first of these is teaching English in an area which is only just starting to recover from the effects of the long Civil War and the Tsunami and the second will involve coastline conservation. We had a really good time - in Habarana it's very sobering to listen to accounts of elephant attacks (2 people have been killed in the last year by wild elephant), but Trinco was much more fun, visiting a local village where a school would be established, bathing in sea that was as calm and warm as bathwater, and wandering along the beach watching a fishing community at work.  Here's a selection of photos of the beach:

 

In the Fort area of Trinco is a wonderful Hindu Temple which is set high up on a hill - it was very hot while we were there but the views down to the sea below were amazing!  Hindu Temples are always very colourful as you can see.

Devotees leave prayer messages written on tiny scraps of paper which are then tied to a sacred bush - here's the one from Trinco.

Here are the views down to the sea:

The last thing you may expect to see in the middle of a large town like Trinco is a herd of deer, but there are numerous groups wandering the road and living up in the Fort where grass is plentiful!

Sadly, evidence of the war is still around - from the plentiful roadside checkpoints to damaged buildings along the main highway.  Here's a soldier having a quiet rest, and some ruined buildings that are testament to just how awful the Civil War here was.

This was once someone's business....

....and a family used to live here.


It's not all doom and gloom here by any means - the animal and plant life here still amazes me.  On the way back from Trinco we saw a lovely grey langur monkey

At Kandy recently, I took a photo of a beautiful lotus flower.....

The little fellow below was an inquisitive visitor when we moved the Dogstar office into a new house we are renting -

There are also things here which I take for granted now but which I would never see in the UK - (in order below) cows in the main street, rice drying, real coconuts, rice paddies and (a photo taken when our driver had to visit the local hospital for anti-rabies shots after being bitten by a cat) smartly starched nurses!

You don't see these outside Tesco!

Rice drying in the sun....

Real coconut - still in its green casing

Rice paddies with mountain in the distance

Haven't seen socks this white in a long time! Very proud of their uniform too.

Not all wildlife is the sort you want to see all the time - last week (and for the first time since I've been here) we found a deadly snake on the garden which was quickly dispatched - seems you die in an hour from this one's bite ....don't want to see another for a while.

Well that's only one half of the job.......the other half is of course Dogstar work.  Rather than give you an instant cure for insomnia, if you want to find out what's been going on with the dogs check out my latest blog on the Dogstar website (http://www.dogstarfoundation.com/ - volunteer blogs).

I do hope that life with you all is good and thanks to those of you who keep in regular touch - whilst there are many things I don't miss while living here, I certainly miss all my friends!

Love Mo x

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