Disclaimer:
In no way am I belittling the woman in the following story. She knows more English, than I do Sinhalese. In fact, I found this government office very cooperative and willing to help. This is just an amusing tale of the struggles we face with the language barrier.

I visited a local D.S. office a few weeks ago and had an interesting conversation. I would like to recap the highlights. - D.S. would be the equivalent of a mayor in the states.

Adam: Good morning!

DS: Good morning.

Adam: My name Adam Pierce, and I am with the Salvation Army. I wanted to discuss our interest in pursuing a project in your division. Last week, some beneficiaries approached us and requested a community center in their village. This is the village ( I hand her a site plan and she nods). Do you have any plans of putting a community center in this location?

DS: No.

Adam: You don’t have any plans for community center?

DS: No

Adam: Or no, you don’t want a facility here?

DS: No.

Adam: So, you don’t want a community center?

DS: Right.

Adam: Why don’t you want a community center? Is there something more important?

DS: Yes, very essential.

Adam: Very essential to have one or not to have one?

DS: Right.

Adam: That was a question. Yes, you do want a community center or no, you do not want one?

DS: Yes.

Adam: Yes, you want a community center?

DS: Right

Adam: I thought you said...umm, never mind...Great! In order for The Salvation Army to proceed I have to have a letter from your office allocating the specific site and then reserving that site for The Salvation Army.

DS: You are asking for a letter from us requesting that you build....

Adam: No, I am asking a letter of permission from your office to pursue the construction of a community facility in this village.

D.S. Right.

-I then take one of their field officers out to look at the site and determine the most suitable spot for a community center. Three spots were “available”. One had rocks on it the size of a house, the other had playground equipment on it and was too close to a marsh, and the final plot consisted of us sharing the ground with a shrine of the lord buddha. With only one option, that being the sharing with lord buddha...I drafted a letter of intent and took it back to the D.S. This is where our conversation picks up the next day.

Adam: Hello, I visited the site yesterday and we concluded on this location. (She takes the site plan reviews and then says)

DS: What about these spots (she points at the other undesignated areas on the plan)?

Adam: One is marshy land, it is the lowest elevation of the site and is prone to flooding...the other site is covered with rocks...big rocks.

DS: Are you sure?

Adam: Yes, the rocks are as big as this office. Too costly to clear the land.

DS: But this site is far away.

Adam: Far away from what?

DS: From the entrance and the houses.

Adam: (I repeated my earlier descriptions of the plots and then said) If you move the community center to this side (away from lord buddha to the site with the rocks), then it is far away from these houses (the two plots in question were at exact opposite ends of the village). The site I am requesting is the one the community requested.

DS: Will this facility interfere with the lord buddha?

Adam: I certainly hope not.

DS: Ok (head bobble)

I believe at this point she had conceded to the idea and we discussed some of the details of the building. We then set a time in which I would hear back from her office with the letter granting permission to proceed (I then took that date and added 20% to it for the real date in which I would receive the letter).