Today was the day of the great move; we would uproot from our temporary base in the Sarvodaya headquarters near Colombo and make our way 160km down the south-westerly coast to Matara and our base for the next eight weeks. The day started bright and early with a 7:30 breakfast of curry, rice, poppadom, bananas and (an added bonus), chips. Following this meal, we were entreated to a meeting with the founder of Sarvodaya, Professor R. Ariaratne. He talked about his views of Sri Lanka, his ambitions for our spirited development and his hopes for true equality and community development. It was a very thought provoking experience!Shortly after this, the bus from our guesthouse that we would be staying in, Moon Bridge (near Matara) arrived to pick us up. We said our ‘ayubowans’ to the sports team and the staff and set off. The bus journey (three and a half hours) was eventful and interesting as we passed numerous iconic structures and traditional aspects of Sri Lankan life. First we saw the kithul pickers; these people shimmy up palm trees to tap the sap for making honey, toddy and arrack (the traditional Sri Lankan alcoholic drink). Next we passed the fishermen perched ungainly on their stilts with a whippy willow wand in their stilt hand. (these places are highly coveted and often passed down from father to son.) Unmistakable, also was the devastation wrought by the tsunami.

Four years have passed since that fateful December day but the scars left by the tragedy are still clear to see today; houses in ruins left derelict to be consumed by the forest, boats washed hundreds of meters inland and left to rot and patches of land scrubbed bare by the wave, only now recovering. One such patch of land used to house a railway track and, when the Tsunami struck, a large number of locals saw the carriage which was on the line and climbed on top of it to escape the wave. What they didn’t account for however was the secondary wave which washed the whole train out to sea with the people on it.

We stopped outside Galle to have drinks and were immediately struck by the amiability of the locals and the cheapness of the drinks. We relaxed for a while and set off again, stopping in the supermarket to stock up on breakfast materials. Eventually we arrived at Moon Bridge Resort and staggered bleary eyed down the steps and into the brilliant sunshine, it was stunning! Perched on the edge of the ocean with only a field of palm trees to separate it from the black sand of the beach, Moon Bridge is beautiful to look at. The staff are also very friendly and exceedingly welcoming. Knowing we have this place to come back to every night will certainly help on those difficult days at school.

We unpacked and went for a swim and soon got chatting to Hasinidu, a local boy studying for his A-levels. He displayed extraordinary pride in his country and immediately volunteered to show us some local sights. We followed him along the beach to a rocky headland and there lay a ‘well’, a man made cave carved out of the rock. The legend says that the corsairs used to dispose of their victims here and let the tide carry them out! Fascinating!