Ampara -- here are a few pictures of the trip to "Ampara" this week. We have set up an additional project office on this coast (it's an 8-9 hour rough ride from Hikkaduwa). We say "Ampara" -- the house is in Ampara; but the office is located in Kulmanai, on the coast, and that's where the construction/livelihoods/community work is taking place. Dave (the Construction Coordinator) set up the house and the office and got it all running; he's now stationed there 3 weeks out of the month (thus the reason that Adam is overseeing all the construction on the southwest coast). They've already finished their first house -- they've been working looong, hard hours. Livelihoods have also hired several officers and are investigating beneficiaries and working to conduct business trainings and handout assets. We've been overwhelmed with CCD work in the southwest - trying to get programs up and running, so this was our first CCD trip to Ampara. The purpose of our CCD trip was to conduct the field orientation of our newly hired Ampara CCD Officer, to visit some of the communities with him, to begin needs-assessment in those communities -- basically, to generally orient ourselves to this "field," and to hopefully conduct some community meetings.

Children from a tsunami-affected school in Kulmanai, where we're hoping to help provide shelves for their library, build a playground, and provide child development and psychosocial awareness programs for parents and teachers.

Welcome flowers, a tradition at community gatherings... here we were at an HIV/AIDS awareness program in a Muslim community, where many are also receiving housing help. One of the meetings was held in an unfinished house -- in true Muslim style -- with the women (about 35-40) together in one "room" and the men in a separate "room."

A few of the women who are receiving grants from The Salvation Army to complete their homes. The government gave enough money to lay the foundation; our construction guys are helping them with the completion of their homes.

Kulmanai is home to Sinhalese, Tamil, and Muslim people... much of our time this week was spent in the Muslim communities...

An afternoon along the coast... Kulmanai was shockingly different from Hikkaduwa and the southwest coast. The ruins of houses stand as if the tsunami hit yesterday, so walking around provided a vivid opportunity to imagine the dramatic / traumatic impact of the waves.

Above, 1 of 2 Muslim burrial grounds in this small community. The sticks coming out of the ground represent unmarked graves. Mr. Munaffeer (our CCD officer) helped gather 175 bodies here the day after the tsunami.

Young boys, just finished school for the day.

Brightly painted houses in one of the Muslim communities...