Hello, friends.

As some of you know, I spent my spring break in New Orleans this year. It was a decision made from the desire to be witness to the situation and at the same time be directly supporting communities most affected. Not coincidentally, I chose to be there 7 months after the storm, the same interval after the tsunami as I was in Sri Lanka.
I have put photos up at my smugmug site: matthewkertesz.smugmug.com/
Feel free to pass along that information.

I am not ready yet... read more

It is my last day in Batti, my home for the past 25 days. Where the north star is barely visible over the horizon. Home of dry winds from the west, lonely beaches, and military checkpoints. Push bikes, Indian Tamil pop music, diesel fumes, and the sound of kotthu rotthi being cooked in the evening. The UN, NGO’s, and paramilitaries. Crows, palm trees, cows, and children in their white school uniforms. Bridges and lagoons. Friendly stares, questioning glances, and many stories. The effects of ... read more

First thing is to say that politically, things seem to have eased off slightly. Either that, or, like the heat, one gets used to it. There are still incidents, though they are very particularly targeted killings. Today the LTTE released a strongly worded demand for self-rule.

The two others who have been working on the physical activities portion have left, and I am in the process of visiting the homes one more time to check up on the tutors and how they are doing. Our last visits were for... read more

As you may be hearing on the news, the cease fire here in Sri Lanka is on shaky ground. That is actually an understatements. The cease fire actually expired on the 13th, though talks through Norwegian diplomats took place yesterday. They ended with no agreement. There are many issues at play, which some of the articles refer to. The LTTE, being the side without "legitimate"; political power, is in a position to be labeled as "the bad guy" in an overly simplistic view of the situation which se... read more

Over the past week I have been training tutors to bring art (and two others have been doing the same for PE type activities) into the four orphanages we are working with. (photo is of this) It has been such a pleasure to work with them, and an interesting experience for me as I came in to the situation perceived as a teacher in a culture where the teacher/student script is much different than the way I like to share my knowledge. I managed to keep it fairly informal, though, and there were ma... read more

We have visited 7 orphanages now, serving a total of about 350-400 children. They have run a wide spectrum in terms of how well off they are. They all existed before the tsunami struck. All but one lost at least one child to the tsunami, while many children were directly affected, having been on holiday and visiting relatives or going to temple. Some of the children are very afraid of the water, as you could imagine.

Of the orphanages, even the most well off is struggling to make ends mee... read more