100 Days in Sri Lanka: Zeddy's personal reflection on her 100 days in Sri Lanka

I am lucky to have spent my first time abroad working for Ocean Stars. This has given me the opportunity to kick off my career in international development, get experience, offer my knowledge and skills and of course travel. Coming from a developing country, it is not a common scenario to work in another developing country, the ideal situation is always to work in developed countries e.g. in Europe or America. For me this was an eye opener into how I perceive things and learn more to appreciate other people’s cultures and their way of thinking and life.

Chenkalady 2 school trip to Trinco

With the livelihoods study that we conducted, I was able to get a deeper understanding into the lives of the people where OST runs projects. Most of the people we interviewed were women who did not have jobs or anything to do but become house wives and depend on the husband to provide. However, this is not the case in Kenya, for example where I come from, women who did not get the opportunity to further their studies or get a job will tend to start their own business just so to bring something to the table and have some sort of independence however small it might be.

Communities and Livelihoods Interviews

One of the Ocean Stars’ project that caught my eye, was the sewing project in Yattiyanthota. The women in the project are the preschool mothers who would otherwise be doing nothing as they wait for their children to finish school. This project is a wonderful example of Ocean Stars going beyond providing access to pre-school education, but also empowering women with employable skills to be able to improve their living standards.

Yattiyanthotha Sewing Project - learning to make pillow cases

From my observations, the work to instil an entrepreneurial mindset into the communities through Hope Houses and other community projects, will be a challenging process when considering the social, economic and cultural dynamics of these communities. However I am encouraged to see that Ocean Stars is providing such a breadth of opportunities to women and children from many forgotten communities in Eastern Sri Lanka.

Working with Hope House staff

I was also able to work with a team of volunteers from the UK during the July trip. It was great seeing other people who are interested in bringing smiles to the faces of the children in the preschools and link schools, come and work together.

July Trip Team 2 volunteers, OSL team and helpers

The OSL staff have been great and always there when we need any help on anything especially arranging for the meetings and transport to and from different places.

Chithra and Pooja welcoming us to the office everyday with warm smiles, making us sweet tea and goodbyes when we leave every evening. Not forgetting Gowsh, who has been the best translator to have and explaining to us all the cultural differences that we encountered enabling us to understand the culture and the people more. They have made my stay and work much easier.

Getting to know OSL staff (Chitra)

Getting to know OSL staff (Pooja)

It’s been an amazing experience to be able to share in the work of rebuilding shattered lives in Sri Lanka with Ocean Stars. I have grown in terms of my personal and professional development, being independent, responsible and sympathetic to the social, cultural and economic forces the govern the lives of beneficiaries.

Below are some more photos from my 100 days...