Ella finds a new home

Ella finds a new home


Today was one of the best days of the whole educational experience. On the morning we visited home craft industries. We saw how people worked in their homes and produced the most exquisite crafts for sale in stores in Sri Lanka and beyond. One craftsman even produced work for Tiffany. We saw some age old craftsmanship and the prices were very nominal I comparison to how much time was spent on the design and manufacturing of these articles.


Next we traveled out in the rural areas and visited the 18th century murals of Medavela protected in a Maha Viharaya (temple) in the village of Medawala Raja. The temple was the size of a walk-in wardrobe in the USA but the murals had been maintained by the villagers with financial help from the government. It depicted one of the famous Jakata Tales which describes how a family deals with the death of their son as a celebration of life and not a sadness of death.

The villagers were incredibly friendly and welcomed us with open arms. They had prepared homemade tea and traditional cake for us to enjoy before they performed traditional dance and drumming in front of the whole village. We were surrounded by children and we were all in our elements of joy. The little girl you see in the photo was delightful and so enjoyed holding Ella. I am sorry to report that Ella loved her so much that she decided she wanted to spend the rest of her life in the country where she really belongs. It was hard to say goodbye to Ella but as we left the village and traveled in our bus along the lines of waving villagers, I knew she had found a fantastic new home.

This experience reminded me of my South African Fulbright and the final day we left Soweto and the villagers danced and sang to us as we boarded our bus to return to the USA. The warmth of these people is the most important memory for both experiences.