Heart and Home - Olu Ella Inn, Dombepola

Nostalgia seems to have got to me recently! This doesn't mean that I'm not looking forward to future events, adventures and daily life! I have been gradually becoming aware of just what a life I have had, how much fun and learning I have had traveling my daily path as a woman, wife, mother, grandmother, friend, family member, teacher and also something of how my actions and beliefs have impacted on others, whether for good or not.

My marriage has been the most significant of my chosen pathways and I now think that it is true to say that I took enormous risks in my choice in this. Well, I've been told that so many times but, until now, didn't see it that way. Now that I've seen many more marriages involving couples from the same social and ethnic set as well as some from  mixed up ones, I understand that comment!  I was, however, supremely confident that everything would work out just fine. And, innocent as I was, it did! So, forty five years later . . .

. . . Recently, while relaxing on the balcony of my home, Olu Ella Inn, at Dombepola,  Sri Lanka, I was thinking of my husband's parents, Amma and Thatha, and wondering what they would make of all the changes. I have always felt them near me when I sit here and look the river where I used to go in the afternoons with Amma and the other village women for a daily bath. It didn't matter to me, then, that I didn't understand all their chatter and gossip. I just enjoyed being there in the beautiful river with them,  struggling to bathe wearing a sarong and then. . . oh ! How to dry and dress modestly ? How they giggled at me and with me!

Bathing recently - minus the sarong of the past

I first came to Dombepola after I had been living in both Colombo and Paranthan after my 1967 marriage. I didn't know it then, but it had been assumed that, as a western woman, I would be reluctant to leave the more modern city, proper roads, electricity, city water supply and so on and go stay in a remote village. Remote, it was then, and continues to be so today in a relative way, this is a big part of its charm and beauty. How wrong that assumption was! From the very first moment of my arrival, it was home! This was due to the nature of the people as much as to the natural, unspoilt beauty of the environment.

One lane road through rubber plantations to Dombepola

I remember my first drive here. I made my new husband stop the car so many times as I discovered rubber trees and tea plantations for the first time, caves and waterfalls beside the road! Each time we stopped, I remember that people walking along the narrow road also stopped to look at me! Western women were few outside Colombo or Kandy and in those days and the villagers seldom went that far very often.

Road near Olu Ella Falls, Dombepola

To get to the family home quite a distance up the hill, we had to leave the car on the side of the road and cross the river on a swing bridge some distance from the present bridge. I always liked to wait until everyone else had exited the bridge before I ventured on which caused some consternation at first as everyone wanted to assist me across. My strongest memory of this is crossing with all the other women in the family wearing full sari on our way to a wedding! Having delicate fabric waving around my feet while concentrating on where I put my feet was definitely memorable. In 2010 I led my daughter on a foolish trip across this now no longer used bridge and have told of this, with a photo, in an earlier post. [ December 2010]

In the 1970s Sam and I had another bridge constructed giving the village access closer to the road. Unfortunately a flood damaged it, leaving only the concrete pillars standing. It was repaired by the area council sometime later meanwhile the locals put coconut planks across the supports. I have vivid memories of my second daughter, aged about 7 years, walking backwards across these coconut planks while I screamed at her from way up the hill. Her father's unconcerned comment at the time was, "Lucky the river's so loud she can't hear you or she would fall in!" There's white water, always below that there bridge.

Present day foot bridge

I have been questioned countless times by western people as to how I was received by my husband's parents while the question from the Sri Lankan people is always how my parents allowed me to marry so far from home and without any investigations and negotiations. The answer to the first lot of questioners was always easy: "They welcomed me, prepared a never to be forgotten wedding and afforded me the respect given to their son and brother." Giving a satisfactory answer to Sri Lankans was always, and continues to be, problematic as marriages are made for uniting families for social, economic and political advantages rather than solely for the benefit of the two young people. Before I arrived some aunts, uncles and friends were bringing marriage proposals for Sam so he told them that we were already married. Questions then followed about our horoscopes. Were they compatible? What was my birth date and birth time. My birth date he knew, but the time had to be made up. The astrologer was consulted and the advice given that we were a perfect match! The next question was about my caste - something that is generally not so important until a marriage is being arranged. That was a poser for Sam until he remembered that one of my names was that of the Queen of England's sister - and so I became of the Royal caste! End of questions! A few weeks before my expected arrival he told them that we were going to be married in Colombo and they all threw themselves into organising event, on the day guiding me through the rituals with care and humour.

A small section of Dombepola mountain

Dombepola Mountain from the air at 7.20am

Sam's family has been living in Dombepola for more than 300 years and many of the villagers are related in some way. Relationships are all important and I sometimes get frustrated when names are not used with people being described as "my grandmother's  sister's  cousin's child" or "my uncle's nephew's daughter who is married to . . ." When walking up the hill to my parents in laws' home we used to stop at the graves of great, great grandparents and others but I noticed a few weeks ago that there are now houses built nearby and it is difficult to get to these graves. Before he passed away, my father in law gave each of his children a portion of land - he had acquired quite a lot more in his lifetime. To me, he gave, surprisingly as it wasn't usual, the family home. I like to think that he knew -  even without enough language for me to communicate - how much I loved the place. He was a smart man so maybe he thought that by leaving it to me, his son would surely return after his passing, I would see to that! His surviving daughter and her adult family now live in this house and we have built another one down the hill on the river bank.

Olu Ella Inn - our second home

When we decided to build Olu Ella Inn the idea was that we would live there for a significant part of the year and maintain the place as a guesthouse. In the end, other family events elsewhere intervened and we visit only for a month each time. We wanted to ensure that the place was environmentally friendly so as few trees as possible were felled. Most of the materials used came from our family's village lands - check out the ceiling on the balcony - and the concrete blocks were made on site. Where possible, the work was done by local people which added to the village economy for the three years it took to complete the job. What a celebration we had when it was completed with all the villagers and everyone who had participated in the building of it present!

I love the timber ceiling!

As well as relaxing on the balcony and bathing in the river, I enjoy walking up the hill to the school and the temple. The path up is a little steep at first but a new road has been built making life a lot easier for the villagers.

Until recently, everything needed to be carried up in this way.

The new road through the village

The road has now been completed and this time I had to stand back for this truck and a couple of tuk tuks. There's not enough traffic to destroy the calm atmosphere and we still met people to chat with along the way.

Having a chat along the way.

I was quite excited about my visit to the school this time as it had recently acquired  a library, the first it has ever had, and I was keen to see it as I had been trying for four years to achieve this. In the end, it was funded by a bank after its Social Club had enjoyed many days at our Inn and became aware of this need. This meant that the money I had been given by a Charity group at Hillbrook College, Australia, as well as personal donations from friends and family was able to be spent on English books which made up a considerable part of the 80kg I had hauled around airports and hotels en route to Sri Lanka. I also gave some of this Hillbrook money to Rajasinghe College, Ruwanella, for the purchase of Science textbooks. More about that in a future post.

A new sign for the village school featuring the school shrine, classrooms and local landmark, Olu Ella Falls

The students were all rather shy and I had a job persuading them to hold a few of the donated items for the photo. The sports gear was donated by Mark, an Englishman who had come to Sri Lanka to watch the cricket, wanted to give some sports gear and other items to a school and found a mention of Dombepola on the internet and contacted me! He and Sue, his partner were thoroughly captivated by the village and Olu Ella Inn. Maybe we will see them here again! Mark's bag was bulging with gear so I think that he must have also had a hard time at airports and in transit with it. I was able to take some of it to another school in Ruwanella. Hopefully I'll get around to posting about that school too, as it is an interesting one.

Staff of Dombepola School

The soon to be expanded English section of the new library

There are 80 students at the school. It's looking great now, with a new roof and new paint. Quite amazing really as not a thing had been done to it since Sam started there as a pupil seventy years ago! Another pleasing thing, even amazing too, is that this little school has produced eminent scholars and citizens not only at local level but internationally. Scientists, Professors, Doctors, Engineers, etc  Amazing! Why? Because its only resources have been the dedication of the teachers, students themselves and parents who have had to forgo their child's assistance with farming and earning a small income in order to have them study and leave to take up scholarships. These students have not had the benefit of daily cram classes that others have had to ensure their exam success. It is some of these who work at the bank, together with our family, who were the driving force in getting the library built.

Dombepola School present day students

The cataloguing of the new books donated by the Bank is almost complete so the students will soon be able to enjoy their new library.

Dombepola School Library

From the school yard you can now see Olu Ella Falls, the fifth highest Falls in Sri Lanka.

Olu Ella Falls

 The above photo was taken by my son about sixteen years ago when he climbed to the top of the mountain. The photo below is the view of the Lower Falls, taken from the road recently after a day of rain.
 

Lower Olu Ella Falls

Our village is no longer such a secret with many people now coming to see the beauty of the area and to relax and refresh their minds at our guesthouse.

We Oya, upstream from Olu Ella Inn

 The We Oya has many calm holes, enticing me to enjoy the cool, soft water. Simply sitting, watching the water boatmen, dragonflies and small trout, listening to the birdsong is heaven! Don't be fooled though as it also has stretches of permanent wild white water crashing around and over massive boulders and rocks.

Further along the road, about 14km from Nawalapitiya

The road to Dombepola from Yatiyantota used to go all the way to Nawalapitiya but part of it is now impassable, even to most 4WD vehicles.

There is so much to see around our area. Tea Estates, stunning rock faces, different eco systems at each level of the mountains. After 45 years I still haven't seen everything!

Weviyatalawa Rock face

Halgolle Tea Estate

Halgolle Tea Estate

Halgolle Estate, Weviyatalawa is one such place that demands a whole day to explore. The weather changes minute by minute, the beauty, never.

Early Morning coming down the mountain

So, what would Amma and Thatha be thinking as they watch us sitting together here on the balcony, in a building that they probably would not imagine would ever be seen in this area, with Sam reminiscing about his childhood climbing coconut trees, scaring monkeys away from banana plants, weeding the paddy fields with his father, about life in a school hostel far from home and the University on the other side of the world? Planning what he would like to do next time.

I think they would be happy that after all the places in the world we have lived in and seen, this is the place that pulls us, draws us close and envelops us, makes us feel at home and that we treasure our humble roots, value the family they created.

As usual our departure is early in the morning, so, as we drive down through the rubber tree lined road, the mist sits gently on the hillsides, hovering over the valley, enveloping all below. 

A gentle, soft goodbye.

Until the next time.