Category: Field Stories

By Laura Luttrell In April, we celebrated the Sinhala New Year, which to our knowledge is the biggest holiday of the year. Students and teachers are off for 3 weeks at this time and the country shuts down for at least the official day while everyone spends time with their families. Typically, people go to … Continue reading Sinhala New Year

By Logan Sander Did you know that Sri Lanka is home to one of the wild ancestors of the banana? We’ve even had the opportunity to try a variety of wild banana still found growing in the nearby forest (Fig. 2a,b). Bananas and plantain (not differentiated in Sri Lanka) are homegarden mainstays throughout the tropics … Continue reading Continuing a Sri Lankan tradition: bananas

By Blair Rynearson Now is time to start planting what is arguably the most important part of any Sri Lankan homegarden - the coconut trees. Sri Lanka has numerous varieties of coconut, and the people consume them frequently, in almost everything. After five months of living and working in Pitakele, I can still use one … Continue reading Planting a Coconut

By Blair Rynearson Virtually every visit to a home in the Sinharaja area involves a cup of tea. The tea is almost always served plain, accompanied by a large, jagged brown block of kitul sugar, or kitul “hakuru”. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth and the thought of eating a large white sugar … Continue reading Tapping Kitul Trees

By Laura Luttrell As our language has improved, so has our immersion into the community. We’ve had several experiences that we don’t fully comprehend, but have been happy to come away with the small extent we understand and the education and enjoyment of engaging with the people around us. Here are a few examples of … Continue reading Life in the village