 | | Coconuts for lunch on a long drive |
In Sri Lanka it seems that the only requirement for a car to be roadworthy is that the horn works. The old rules of the road – biggest and noisiest goes first – are very much in evidence here. And it's the travelling to and around the island that's dominated our schedule so far. | "We will also be able to see firsthand what the people of Reading have helped rebuild with the money they have so generously donated." | | Charity Director and Reading Evening Post deputy editor Hilary Scott |
It all started at customs over the weekend. The Sri Lankans are fantastically laid back and easy going….but when they've got a uniform and a couple of nice official stamps their propensity for bureaucracy is astounding. The charity I'm with - the Reading Initiative for Tsunami Action (RITA) – have close links with schools on the South coast, particularly in the coastal town of Beruwala. The tsunami devastated the area when it hit two years ago, and while schools and homes are being rebuilt, it's a slow, very much long term project. As such RITA have shipped out as much aid as they can get onto a 747 for this trip.
 | | Loading the bus |
But trying to get the five computers, two projectors, two air conditioning units, a TV and several bags of cricket gear through Colombo airport caused no end of hold-ups. Finally the men with stamps were all convinced, and the gear was loaded onto a minibus and driven down the coast. Charity Director Hilary Scott said: "Finally the aid is getting to Beruwala and it will be wonderful to see it there. We will also be able to see firsthand what the people of Reading have helped rebuild with the money they have so generously donated." It'll be Wednesday before the schools receive everything in what will no doubt be a suitably lavish and well rehearsed ceremony. This does leave, however, the charity directors and workers time to do a little PR. The trip here has attracted a lot of attention from the Sri Lankan Government. After the Tsunami tourism has become a huge vote-winning issue for those in power in what remains a turbulent political system.
 | | Another road block |
It seems everyone wants to be seen with the RITA delegates who're hoping not only to help those displaced by the floodwaters, but also help rebuild the tourist industry that's been slow and a fraction of what it was since Boxing Day 2004. The Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament, a Mr Lokubandara was first to meet the group in Colombo, and seemed genuinely interested in their work: "At the time (of the tsunami) all the people form the four corners of the world helped us, so we are really indebted to you. I heard that RITA has built so many schools and clearly helped the poor in their struggles."
 | | Meeting the media minister |
The next day it was a breakfast meeting with the media minister. This time the Sri Lankan press were out in force. The delegation have been on TV and in newspapers, including the state run Daily News, where the group were hailed as being determined to sort out most of Sri Lanka's ills. Still, these are good links to forge for a relatively new charity that needs ministers on side when aid has trouble getting through. On Sunday the team visited the central city of Kandy and the nearby elephant orphanage. When the wave hit many of the islands elephants were injured and RITA gave money and food to the state run nature reserve. Now numbers are on the up. There are more than 60 in the herd who now seem to pay for themselves attracting tourists from across the island.
 | | Elephants from the Pinawala orphanage |
Monday saw the long, winding journey through the highlands to Wiligama. A trip of about 200 kilometres. After a heavy thunderstorm, torrential rain and landslips on the muddy mountain roads it took 12 hours. At least the horn worked. | 
