Bridge2Peace Srilanka

http://www.bridge2peace.org/

Lunugamvehera, a remote village near the Southern coastal town of Hambantota in Srilanka is where the first Bridge2Peace Montessori begins its mission.

Completely on volunteer bases, Bernadine, Lysiel and Tharanga are Montessori teachers who have for the past three years, committed their time to the vision of Bridge2Peace. They train young women to be qualified to care for preschool children as well as continuously monitor their performance to ensure the quality of education is not compromised.

Bernadine Anderson the Founder of the Bridge2Peace initiative promotes Maria Montessori’s Peace education. The Peace curriculum which she has adapted for the preschool programme in Lunugamvehera is a benchmark for making peace education a part of the educational system.
Since its inception three years ago, 60 children have graduated from the Montessori while the first Batch of preschool teachers have been trained in providing quality child care, comparable to any preschool in urban Srilanka.

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Bridge 2 Peace Sri Lanka

In 2004, after the Tsunami hit the shores of Sri Lanka, many well meaning Nations and individuals committed time and money to projects, many of which have been abandoned or mismanaged.

Living in Srilanka, has given me the opportunity to meet three incredible women who are dedicated to helping rural communities in war torn, Tsunami ravaged , rural Srilanka.
Their steadfast commitment to helping the poor has been a source of inspiration to me. Notwithstanding our racial differences, the common thread of our humanity binds us to a cause we believe in working for despite our own personal challenges.

Bridge2peace is one of the NGOs still working consistently to better the lives of the poor in Rural Sri Lanka, by providing free quality preschool education to the poor in rural Sri Lanka.

Bridge2Peace goes beyond the band wagon of the tsunami relief efforts and puts in place a model of education that will remove ethnic segregation which has been a major cause of division among the people of Srilanka.

Through an education in a trilingual medium of English, Sinhala and Tamil, Bridge2Peace creates a community that embraces unity in a Country recovering from over two decades of civil war.

Bridge2Peace Sri Lanka has built a school in Lunugamverahera, which provides quality teacher training and free Montessori education for the poor in the area.

Though i have been here only about a year now, I at once connected with the mission and have committed my time contributing in whatever way I can.

Volunteering for me, is not something I choose to do, it’s something I am compelled to do; driven by an incomprehensible force, I have over the years been drawn to doing what I can to make a difference in the lives of children. Suffering youngsters stir in me the desire to give my widows mite, from cuddling HIV positive babies to providing children’s books for an orphanage library.

Coming from a part of the world where any non religious affiliated charity work is viewed with suspicion, volunteering comes with its own unique stigma, ranging from being considered a fraud, to being ridiculed for having a ‘Mother Theresa complex’.

Reaching out to the helpless leaves me with a better perspective of life, and I learn to count my blessings.

One of the most intense moments I experienced on a visit to the Bridge2Peace Montessori, was watching a child with Down’s syndrome, work on his own, studying intently in an organized and stimulating educational environment. This child would have been segregated and hidden from the public, but here he was, enjoying the experience of quality education.A high quality Montessori education in a rural community is a huge blessing for both parents and teachers in the area.

Marketing Education in Sri Lanka

Srilankan School Girls...

Education is the only way out of poverty... educational opportunities abound providing young Sri Lankans with numerous career options.

Most popular College programmes are the ones that allow the students to start courses in universities abroad, within the shores of SriLanka, then leaving to Australia, Uk, Canada, India etc to complete the course and hopefully gain emlployment.

Nigerian Pidgin English

If there's one thing that i really miss about living in Nigeria (apart from Abuja's clean streets), is speaking Nigerian English.

There is something sweet about how the words flow out of the mouth, making light, issues that would otherwise be very serious.

I really miss Nigerian stand up comedians (somebody please send me a CD of Basket Mouth and ClintDDrunk)...i really miss those guys.

For some wierd reason pidgin English Lyrics have ben playing in my head today...there's this popular one

me i no go suffer,

i no go beg for food

me i no go suffer

i no go beg for food

God of miracles,

na my Papa ohh

God of Miracles na my Papa ohh

Another one

Seek am first the kingdom of God ohh

and his righteousness,

if you do am soo,

everything else ohh na jara

Money ohh!

Na jara

Husband Ohh!

Na jara

Education Ohh!

Na jara

Pickin ohh

Na Jara

Job sef ohh

Na jara

Just had a thought, wont it be cool, if someone sang all these pidgin english hymns and put it of utube?

I would have done it myself but my voice wouldnt do the songs justice.

Things i like about Sri Lanka!

I have Started a list of the reasons i like living here

• The Constant Electricity and Water Supply
  

Electricity is widely available in the Country; not just for the Generator possessing few, but for most of the country. It’s very expensive if you use hot water and Air conditioning but otherwise affordable. I have learnt that some electronics consume more electricity than others, my bill has gone from 15,000 rupees to 2000 just by not having an AC, hot water from the tap and changing my refrigerator.

Water runs uninterrupted in taps; people that don’t have taps have fresh water wells nearby their homes. I noticed that unlike in Nigerian rural areas where we fetch water and take home to bathe, here the rural folk bathe, do the dishes and the laundry by the side of the well.
Woe betide you if you don’t pay your bills, they cut off you supply after a warning. Receiving a warning is considered very irresponsible so generally most people pays bills as soon as the pay check comes in.

• Sri Lankan Body Language
  
  Beginning with what I will call the “SriLankan Head twist”; a delicate move of the head that is neither a nod nor a side to side movement, but somewhere in between.This head roll may mean anything from “OK”, “Maybe” or “Yes”. It is a contagious habit that I have also began notice myself do.
  
  The unique “SriLankan Hello Smile”, which is sooo different from what, we do in Nigeria. The smile is a slow reciprocal gesture that one can find in shops, schools and other places strangers interact.
  
  Here greeting is not compulsory or considered rude except in formal settings.
  Ayubowan! “May you live long”, is the standard greeting, yet no one says it except you are about to spend your money...E.g. at supermarket checkout counters.
  Usually once you caught the eye of the person you want to communicate with, you just proceed with the dialogue with no greetings preamble. Even elderly people who are strangers do not expect any elaborate greeting, respectful eye contact and a slight smile is all you need.
  
  I have learned to discern between the innocent and not so innocent smiles. Some could mean
  “I think you are interesting” this could come from a person who is just passing by, and happens to make eye contact. Some smiles could mean “I think you are cute”, this I return with a rude glare that clearly says “back off, I’m not available” or in the rare occasion where the guy is actually cute too I pretend I don’t notice by simply looking away.

• MD Gunasena, Sarasavi and Secondhand Bookshops

I have enjoyed reading a lot of books recently and discovered lots of writers, though lately i have curtailled my cumpulsion to buy books. I spend hours in bookshops or the British Council Library, i find it therapeutic.

I have even volunteered to inventory a school library, i really enjoy being around books and i feel really bad when i see books illused or disarranged. I wonder if i was a librarian in another life time....

Just before leaving Abuja, New Metro opened in the heart of the city, it was my favourite place in Abuja, though very expensive. Here you find a wide range of prices. There are quite a few publishing houses here, many translate popular world literature in the Native languages Sinhala and Tamil.

• Food and Fruits

I remember the first time i tasted Srilankan food almost ten years ago now, i fell in love with it immediately. Coming here i gained 10Kg in one year due to the side effects of medication i am taking and , my love for the spicey food. I miss yam alot, Heck i dream about yam alot...but i enjoy the variety of Vegetables and rice they have here.

Rice is the staple food here and there are several different kinds, my favourite is the red rice i remember searching everywhere in Nigeria for it those days.

Fruits are not soo cheap, especially bananas and papaya. But when in season mangoes, mangosteen, pineapple are sooo tasty.

The Honeymoon is Over!

Reality slowly sets in for me as I begin my second year in Srilanka.

Immigration rules and exploitative business owners have soured my romance with this country.




Starting with the news from the immigration that I will have to pay forty thousand rupees every year to live and work here. I am reminded that I am a legal alien…and I ask myself why I choose to live in Srilanka despite the increasing disadvantages.


I seem to forget that i am a foreigner here until i am charged double what locals pay, (e.g for my Child Psychology Diploma) then i become very upset by what i consider an unfair treatment.
There doesnt seem to be any advantages of being a foreigner, except the annoying call of trishaw drivers "Taxi Madam"... they call out at me as i scurry to the nearest bus halt.
I have since stopped using Trishaws or three-wheelers as they are called here, as the cumilative monthly cost is almost the same as my rent. I wonder why they cant have meters like taxis?



I used to think that once you where granted a Residence Visa you could live and work like a local. How completely wrong i was.
Sometimes i miss the lack of restrictions one gets living in one's own Country. Lots of topics i was researching and hoping to write about in Nigeria has been put aside. This i must admit is the only true loss i have experienced by leaving Nigeria.





Considering how green, clean and beautiful Abuja is… Colombo is Hell! The garbage in the streets, the flowing sickening gutters that line the narrow walkways continues to repel me.



I have often asked myself why am i here?, Why have i opted to live here?



The obvious answer is my children's education!

My boys are thriving here, they are happy and balanced. yet sometimes i wonder....


In some ways my life was better in Nigeria, while in other ways it was terrible.

Basically i had a job i loved and lived in a beautiful place, yet i was greatly dissatisfied with life.



I have exchanged one life for another, one set of worries for another.

i have gone from having everything done for me by house girls and gardeners, and going in AC driven cars to going in public buses and washing the maggots out my trashcan.

Who am I?

I am not who my parents made me,
i'm a cow seeking greener pastures.

I am not who my country made me,
I'm a Patriot, only to the nation
within and around me.

I am not who my childhood made me,
i'm a queen, ruling her kingdom
with the firm hand of faith.

I am not even who my genes have made me,
i'm, an athlete running against the tide of nature,
fighting to keep the flab away.

I am not who my children have made me,
i'm a dream, waiting to come true.
A vision of unspoken hope,
working to find a peace thats not imprisoned.