The Chief Monk welcomed us (By: worker from the association)
On July 20th, China-Lanka Friendship Association hosted the 2nd rice bag distribution in a buddhist temple in Pannipitiya (LO4. Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences). Originally, we planned to held another session in Arawwala. However, considering the time consumption when loading and unloading the rice bags on to trucks, we chose the mid point so residents from both districts can walk to the Pannipitiya temple for collection. Using the left over 15,000 yuan from our rice bag fund, we purchased 500 5kg bags of rice from the retailer and conducted the same registration process as last time. We planned to give out 400 bags to low income families in Pannipitiya, and 100 bags to those in Arawwala.
We arrived at the temple at 9AM, then started unloading the rice, piling them at the entrance. We then made offering, sacraficed five bags to the monks, before starting the distribution process. The monks sang Sinhala prayers with the pilgrims, and organized them to stand in two queues. Two volunteers took up the duty of verifying the tickets, while the other six of us splited into two teams, passing rice from the entrace towards the queue of residents. It took about 2 hours to finish distributing all 500 bags. It was like a mass production line where we repeated the same passing and giving process robotically. Our arms became sore as the l
The total amount of rice we were distributing (by: the author)
ong queue shortened, however, the feeling of fulfillment and calmness upon completing this session was immense. When cleaning up, an unexpected even happened. A little girl, presumably the grandaughter of the village chief, knelt on the floor and touched all of our feet to express gratitue. We hurriedly helped her up, patting her head, but at the same time felt happy because we knew we have made contributions to alleviating the hunger as a result to the Economic Crisis (LO7. Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions).
Me giving the rice to a villager (By: worker from the association)
This 2nd distribution took less time to complete than the 1st one, and it went smooth throughout. I attribute this to better organization and planning beforehand, and efficient communication with the local monks and police. We are becoming more productive and effective at this, and hopefully we can try to contribute more to the community with more fundraising sessions (LO1: Identify your own strengths and develop areas for personal growth).