March 30th, 2006, Burgundy - Pierre and Quentin

This morning, the long express road seemed to never leave the night behind, resigned as it was to its fate of March showers and continuous rain, thrown against us by the passing trucks, the wipers flying in panic…. then, as if bleached, the convalescent sky appeared, as we moved away from Burgundy towards Provence, slate-grey covers, watercolour blue, mixed with rose, the first fruit trees in blossom, the simple innocence which the Spring brings, each year is made new …

"When in nature, the colours succeed one another, I am alive" Peter Handke.

Tomorrow, we shall be in Orange for the big celebration in the Collège Barbara Hendrix, the proceeds of which will be given to Green Hope…….we have just had Danièle on the telephone… everything gets finalised in the last emergencies and in joy ….we shall have lunch with the team which dedicates itself faithfully to the Solidarity for coming up to year ….we look forward to meeting them …

Today, there are municipal elections in Sri Lanka, a holiday …

A new house is finished, that of Hirushi ……a thought for the delightful family who sponsors this small hydrocephalus girl …..Here is a picture of her with her mother and father on the threshold, and all the happier as the treatments are very satisfactory…. The next check-up for Hirushi is on August 2nd of this year …

Narigama pre school	Green Hope New Office in Patuwatha	Hirushi house

Along the Gall Rd, the first floor of the future Training Centre and the surrounding wall is finished. Soon, we will see the construction of the new building which will host the Fishermen's Cooperative, the Art Room, accommodation for the security guards, and the garages. Afterwards, we shall renovate the existing building to install in it the English and Computer Science classrooms.

In Narigama also, the new school makes quick progress, the roof is on, just the painting and doorframes remain and we hope that it will be ready to host one of the Festival workshops in July.

After consultations with specialists in the Apollo Hospital, we decided to go ahead with an operation for Dinesh, a child from Dodanduwa, from a very poor family….in the photos you can see him with his brothers in front of their home.

It is a very expensive operation, but we are assured that it will reduce his disability ….to try and give an equal chance for a more pleasant and just life is one of the priorities of Green Hope …

Dinesh Maduranga	Dinesh and brothers

We have the pleasure of announcing to you the arrival of Mary and Delphine into the Green Hope delegation in Ile de France. Thanks to them, Jean-Christophe will be able to dedicate himself exclusively to the Festival which takes all his available time. Mary and Delphine will represent Green Hope on April 6th in Amiens, …… a gathering of which they will tell us about in detail very soon …

March 24th, 2006, Paris - Pierre and Quentin

Roissy airport, C. de G., a cold colourless, grey morning, mist on the airport, the cars, the people…..an immediate impression of a sad country…… our own …

"There is only one immobile present, encircled by a wall of anxiety. "

We search for some looks, a smile; we find only resignation, an extreme tiredness, worn-out …

" There is in the human eyes a terrible thing, the unavoidable announcement of a conscience,
a clandestine cry which manifests that there is a soul. "

We remember the France which we had taken abroad in our hearts, that found in the films of Renoir, Tati, the books of Robert Sabatier…. that of the Resistance, of Eluard, Aragon, ….that of tolerance, Camus…

But where are we? One would think back in an Eastern Bloc country, swung to the Right….a mistaken transferred scenario and our country seems to us surprisingly empty, terrifically silent …

" The human mind tends, of course, to criticize because it feels instead of thinking "

….that can be said also ….All of these quotations are by the same author, Fernando Pessoa, taken from the " Book of Intranquillité " …

March 21st, 2006, Hikkaduwa - Pierre and Quentin

Today is the day we had chosen as the last day of this years programme. ….Six months of voluntary work putting in place care activities, schools, reconstructions, the fishing co-operative and that of the women, the future festival, and the sports …..to bring about a better quality of life, in the day-to-day, for the long-term, to the needy population on the coastal edge of Hikkaduwa, Dodanduwa, and the small neighbouring villages.

Without you, one and all, it would have been impossible. We think first of those who keep the website going, Jean-Christophe, Alain, Karl….. all the " little engines" ……delegations and…. each and every one of you, without forgetting the Sri Lankan permanent team on-site, proud and dedicated …

Thinking of the day-to-day….our support network….. Gabrielle, a loyal supporter since the Tsunami, who forwards us the medications which we lacked, through a friend, Elizabeth, who agreed to take some kilograms extra in her luggage for Green Hope. With them, we can supplement the health centre set up by Valée and Domi ….Four of you rallying together for a more effective medical care …

Kathy and Betty spent some days with us, while on their holidays, in order to understand better, so that they can help Green Hope better. Together, we shared laughs and sometimes tears of emotion visiting the pre-schools of happy children. Back in France, Kathy, a dentist, is going to contact Nathalie to link up for a new programme of prevention and, if possible, dental treatment. Once again, the Mobile Health Centre will be very useful for better hygiene and effectiveness.

Together with the Manager of the Health centre of Hikkaduwa and Kumara, we visited Dayananda. It is necessary to implant a new kidney urgently in this former "Kind Heart" fisherman; he cannot work any more. We have found donors, but the expenses of the operation, treatment, and the extended stay in hospital exceed our budget possibilities. We shall do everything we can to save him. Dayananda is 37 years old, has four children, his wife due to give birth to the fifth child next week; one of the children has cancer. He lost his home and everything they had in the Tsunami. We sat down on the small terrace of his new home, rebuilt by the government of Austria, and were silent. The Manager of the Health centre told us of a specialist doctor in Colombo, he is going to speak to him. ….. From tomorrow, Kumara will take Dayananda to the Apollo Hospital for a consultation and for further analyses. Two days afterwards, Kumara and the Manager will go back to Colombo to analyse the results …

As a last resort, collaboration between the Ministries of Health of France and Sri Lanka would allow the transfer of Dayananda to France, for treatment and this vital operation in good conditions …

At the same time, yesterday, at 10 o'clock, the propitious hour, we inaugurated the new home of the family of another fisherman….. after more than a year living in a shack ……the family on the flight of stairs…..a new life begins, turned towards hope. …. It is this image which we wish to keep in our heart; it strengthens us, to keep going, to prepare a new programme, to keep on believing and realising the impossible …

Green Hope - Secouristes sans Frontière	One more home rebuilt...	Preparing Narigama School	Betty and Kathy

March 16th, 2006, Hikkaduwa - Pierre and Quentin

In a few days the third Green Hope programme since the Tsunami tore into the South West coast of Sri Lanka will come to an end

Thanks to Jean Christophe and Alain, our ever faithful friends who maintain the website, of whom we are so proud, you will be able to find all our actions in the section entitled "chantiers" or "works in progress". You can also follow them, every day in the Diary, which is thanks to them also. Thus a big thank you again to our " Bearers of words and pictures ", and to Karl their accomplice for the English translation!...

The next programme will begin next November by the completion of the Training centre in English, Information Technology, and Arts….all free …. and we already have numerous other plans, with " Plongeurs du monde ", and also new eyesight testing, a first session of dental health, workshops with artists in classes and many other surprises to be lived together …

By then, we shall already have met in July and August around the Festival set up by Jean Christophe with a team of French and Sri Lankan artists ……

To crown these six months of work and achievements, and superb shared encounters, we have the true pleasure of announcing to you the creation of the first Mobile Health Centre in Sri Lanka.

We have kept this a big secret, until we were certain of it becoming a reality; now it is certain and will start from next August.

The Mobile Health Centre is the fruit of ongoing reflection over several months with our friends from " Secouristes Sans Frontières ", and the Health centre in Hikkaduwa, an outreach of the Apollo Hospital in Colombo.

It answers a number of real needs: that of free care for the most needy, of course; the provision of functional, modern, mobile equipment, but also it will allow the doctors and specialized nurses from French to come to help Green Hope in operations which they will be able to perform together with Sri Lankan doctors. For example we are thinking of the cataract operations diagnosed during the eyesight testing …

The Mobile Health Centre will be a bus fitted out with all the most up-to-date equipment and a medical team which will move every day to a different village, to carry out preventative and direct care. Access to treatment and medicine will be without charge for the most needy. Vouchers will be given in these cases to allow this accessibility.

Medicine for all and open to all, but also, we mention prevention, because the Mobile Health Centre will be able to take part in paramedical programs. We hope to set up, during the next program, information sessions on the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, and, tentatively, an approach to family planning.

The Mobile Health Centre has received the agreement of the Ministry of Health and more than that, its best wishes for a new structure close to the needs of the inhabitants.

Since the Health centre in Hikkaduwa is the outreach centre for the Apollo Hospital here, the Mobile Health Centre will be the link to the more delicate interventions which require a serious hospitalization.

This is how it should unfold: " Secouristes Sans Frontières " have decided to finance this idea, the Health centre in Hikkaduwa will take care of the day-to-day running and of the medical teams, and Green Hope will manage the concept and its ongoing monitoring, particularly in the area of accessibility of free treatment.

In the course of a meeting in April, SSF and Green Hope will write a contract stipulating the rights and duties of each of the partners. In July, this contract will be looked at again by a lawyer specializing in international law, and will be signed with the Health centre, in Hikkaduwa, in the presence of a Notary.

In August, the Mobile Health Centre will be delivered, ready for action.

Thanks to you, your fidelity and your unfailing generosity, Green Hope continues its work, beyond that of response to the Tsunami, for a better quality of life each day for the poor villages of fishermen on this coast. We are proud of you who make up Green Hope. On behalf of all those who live here, to whom you bring comfort, a sincere thank you!

March 13rd, 2006, Hikkaduwa - Pierre and Quentin

Jordi has joined us from Barcelona. Thanks to him, from the first week of April, there will be a summary posted each weekend of the Green Hope events of the week, in one of the most spoken languages of the world. After the translation into English through the great work of Karl from the Switzerland delegation, here will be an accessible Diary for our friends in the Spanish language.

George and Renee would be delighted to discover how much the seeds of beans and peas from Cazouls have quickly multiplied. The schoolchildren in the vegetable garden of the pre-school at Peraliya look after them, water them, and marvel at the magical progress. Myriam and Serge have written to us saying that George has made contact with them - soon it is the children of Cazouls who will plant and see multiplying the small seeds from Sri Lanka and the first Kitchen Garden Twinning will have taken place …

The vegetable garden	Rainy day

Our friends from Fayence would also be filled with wonder to see the progress of the wall of the new school at Kumara Kanda. Tomorrow we go back there to bring the Green Hope uniforms …

Yesterday the fishermen from two of the trawlers went to Kataragama to bring the offerings promised to Buddha. Twenty two fishermen - happy with the last catches - who took back to the sea nearly a year ago on the Green Hope boats….tomorrow two trawlers set out, next week the boats will be repainted.

In the next Diary entry we shall announce to you the "crowning piece" of these last six months. A plan which we have dreamed of for a long time, and that is being finalized as we speak. Do not miss the next edition!!

As we have been writing to you, the night descended slowly. We feared another downpour like yesterday…. An hour of silence and peace…… In homage to our Spanish friends who will soon read our accounts, we quote from a too little known contemporary author, Antonio Gamoneda:

"The springs speak in the night-time
They speak for those who love silence
I perceive the sweetness of forgotten words … "

March 10th, 2006, Hikkaduwa - Pierre and Quentin

Karin, Anissa, Philippe, of Begat Theater have just left us. The house seems empty …..the silence of the end of a season…..it is still not late …

Already early this morning, Awiska went back with his father to the Apollo Hospital, he is weak again. His mother did not accompany them; she has gone to work in the Emirates, for a few dollars in inhuman conditions. Many women here exhaust themselves far away in the hope of a better life in return. Nobody ever speaks about their lives sacrificed there …

This morning also, Udaya came with a car, the first one that he got for himself, brand new, clean as a newly-wed, shining. He brought us on a small trip up to the highway. Years of working for such a big happiness……. his pride at the steering wheel of his nice car, shared happiness …

Again, just this morning, the red / blue candidate for the next municipal elections came to visit us with his staff: two monks, a small girl, her mother, and some activists. Here, they are saying that he will be successful. He was here on Saturday to inaugurate the new Stadium with us …

This morning, both classes of the Green Hope School are calm also, after Karin's workshops all week long. On Monday, we shall bring the two splendid accomplished books, one from each class, made of collages and painting…..such nice, noble objects, which will return to the classes after a turn in each of the families …

Also peaceful this evening is the cricket pitch. Philippe's stilts workshop allowed us to train nine people on stilts to join the parade of the Festival organized by Jean-Christophe in the summer. A girl: Kumudu, a leader: Laxarou, and Indunil, Nuwan, Pubudu, Soupoun, Chaminda, Pramith, Douchan …

Laxarou	Douchan on stilts	Kumudu	Julie and Laxarou

Before he left Philippe wrote in the "Visitors' Book" in our house " I shall never forget their eyes as they made their first steps on stilts … "

There is a symbol in this workshop that we have just lived through together - to lift up one another, to reach out with a helping hand in the first tentative steps, to support one another, with reassurance, walk side by side …

And, again this morning, we learned that the fishing is once again good, so good that the fishermen are going to thank the gods, in a pilgrimage to Kataragama, later this week.

March 7th, 2006, Hikkaduwa - Pierre and Quentin

A Nice day, Sunday!... We passed the morning and had lunch with Patrick, who has been writing for more than thirty years the " Guide du Routard " and the blue Hachette Guide to Sri Lanka. A fine, cultivated, intelligent, man, with heart. His next guide is devoted to the Tsunami …

Then, we went back to the Stadium for the second day of tournament. The team from Ratgama won the first trophy, the team from Boussa, the second …
In presenting the trophies we were in good company: the President of the National Football League, the President of the Olympic Committee, and the President of " Right to Play ", an American association, who had made the trip from Bangkok. The Stadium was full, the pitch also, several hundred people from the neighbouring villages. A true Sunday rediscovered, shared together ….Sport brings a universal coming together, freedom for the body, and the spirit….a sense of being in a team.

In this suffering country, without any psychological assistance after the cataclysm which ruined the coast, sport, like art, are necessary values for the reconstruction of the person …

In the evening, a big celebratory disco closed the unveiling and we thought especially about Jean-Christophe, and about the Festival, which will have two performances in the Stadium, on August 5th and 6th of this year. With Karin, Anissa, Philippe and all our friends we drank and danced on the pitch….with the freedom that comes from a mission accomplished.

Already several schools asked to use the Stadium, cloakroom, the showers…. for their sports periods. The reconstruction of the Stadium was really a priority for Dodanduwa, Hikkaduwa, the Community of communes of these fifteen kilometres of coasts…..
…..and starting the next morning, we began workshops with the "Begat Theater" …

The morning, in the pre-school at Patuwatha, Karine, helped by Philippe, Julie, puts together a book - the class - every page of which will be a pupil. On a background of collages, daily papers, pictures, every child is going to do his or her portrait. It will be a nice object of which they will be proud, they are the characters, the heroes. The book will be bound…. a precious object…and will go around the families and then return back to the pre-class.

"The nice things which we write about, if we have talent, are in us, indistinct, like the memory of an air which charms us without us being able to find its contours"
With this quotation from Proust, V.S. Naipaul, the Indian author ended his speech when receiving the Nobel prize in 2001.

Yesterday, Philippe was at the carpenter's finishing the stilts. This evening, we came back to the cricket pitch. We set ourselves up in a corner, and, very quickly, they came from everywhere to participate in the practice workshop. Full of life, game, the young persons walked on the ground, on the small road ….. balancing on stilts, helped by Karine, Julie,Olivier, Ishan, Priantha. Tomorrow, the celebration continues, we are afraid that we will be….too numerous!

As we are writing to you, a tropical storm splashes on the roof. …Since this morning, it was as warm as molten metal. The rain is going to cool the exhausted air, the beaten-down plants …… This evening, the misty smell of budding jasmine will mingle with the fresh smell of the herbs…..the smell of tea from the humid earth …

Karin and the kids	Putting together the book at Patuwatha	Philippe is finishing the stilts	Collages ....

March 4th, 2006, Hikkaduwa - Pierre and Quentin

Under a bright sun, the Stadium of Morocola was inaugurated this morning - set in motion after the Tsunami, with thanks to A.O.S , in partnership with Green Hope - in this in-between season of flowers and fruits, when nature is fruitful, before the rains to come.

It should have taken more than four months to construct this building, consisting of terraces, showers, cloakroom, a meeting room equipped with kitchen, enabling the Sporting Club of Dodanduwa, come back to life after the wear and tear of time and the fatal blow of the Tsunami

…And it was a whole area, a community of villages, which celebrated this morning when the festivities began, with musicians and dancers who came to greet us on the Gall Road. The Mayors from the villages followed, and the officials, all joined together through sport. A moment of harmony before the next municipal elections, in March …

We were all there, too ……François made the trip from Colombo, Julie, Christelle, and Karin, Philippe from Begat who joined us yesterday…….full of emotion and happy

We thought a lot of Marion, Vincent, of Giles, without whom this nice achievement would not have come into the world …

On the way to the stadium...	Arriving at the stadiulm doors	The new terrace	Celebrating a new life

From Monday, we are going to begin workshops with Begat. In the morning, with the pupils of the pre-school in Patuwatha, working on the realization of a book, whose every page will be that of a child, and the book will be a living class of so many different personalities …

The afternoon, Philippe will set himself up on the pitch which is used for cricket, and will make stilts, a "wild ", free workshop, opened to all….we will tell you about it…

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