Habitat for Humanity

First, I'd tell what these Habitat people do. They build cost effective houses for families who live in inadequate houses. The family should pay back the material cost (no-profit mortgage / no-interest loans) but there is no labor cost as the labor is provided by volunteers. Some companies like Whirlpool make donations for habitat constructions to reduce the material cost. This organization (Habitat for Humanity) is a worldwide organization which does constructions in regions of Asia, Middle east & Africa, United States, Latin America  and Canada.

So..do people volunteer? Of course. The ideal work groups are teams from private companies, Student groups, scouts, etc. People from our work place participated in this last week, as a team building activity. The construction site we worked on belongs to Habitat of  Monroe county. There were three houses being constructed. Our people worked on installing insulation, pantry cabinets and trimming the ceilings and walls. Also, we had to organize two trailers full of power tools, nail buckets, concrete, I'd say everything needed for constructions. Well it was not that easy. Had to grab all those out and reorganize. But volunteers normally don't feel that way. They volunteer expecting nothing but satisfaction. At least, that's what I got.

I think people should be informed about this organization. Honestly I didn't know about this till I come to US. I wonder why we didn't know about  Habitat in Sri Lanka.  Why many of  private companies organize  team building events spending/wasting enormous amount of money? I'd rather give a hand for this at least once coz what you get at the end is lot more worthy.

Fight poverty - Build hope !!!

Our First Car

We bought our first car in last September. It's a 2006 Lexus. We have been in car hunting for couple of months and finally ended up with this :)

Hambantota Harbor Opening - New Era Begins in Sri Lanka

15th Aug, 2010 is a historical day for Sri Lanka. The water-filling ceremony of Hambantota Harbor was held in the morning of this historical day.

The constructions started based on an idea of president Mahinda Rajapakshe, in January 2008. This is the second largest harbor in Sri Lanka. The fact that made this idea a brilliant one is, the economical importance of the location. Hambantota is very closed to a key international shipping route which connects Asia and Europe. The main intention of building this harbor to provide services and resources for ships which use this international shipping route. As estimations show the number of ships that use this shipping line is about 36000 annually. So it is apparent that this would be a great source of income for Sri Lanka.

President Mahinda Rajapakshe poured the first drop of sea water into the tank  on the auspicious moment, with the Buddhist religious blessing.   I used to live in Hambantota for sometime when I was a kid. My father, Jayasiri Ruwanpathirana worked as the divisional secretariat of Hambantota. So it is a great pleasure to see the area is being developed. I still remember the calm little harbor which was near the district secretariat office. I wonder how it'll look like when I get back to SL. I just can't wait :)

Anyhow it seems like a new era begins with a revolution in development. It is a certain fact that there will be an economic revolution after a war in a country. I wish it should be the same for my country too. In Sri Lankan history, great kings are defined as the kings who protect and develop the country. Both of these tasks should be accomplished by a king to be a great king. I believe this is the our president's second phase of the path of being a great king, after completing first phase by defeating Tamil tiger terrorists. No matter what he has done in the past or who he used to be, his name is already included in great kings list. Everyone has black and white spots...so is a president, but does anybody question how many black spots were there in King Dutugemunu's character?  Who cares...so no doubt the future generations will consider president Mahinda Rajapakshe as a "great king".

Trip to Chicago

This trip was organized in a rush, in last spring (2010).  Covered Shedd aquarium, Willis tower, Fields museum and Adler planetarium. Anyway this trip was kind of ruined by the mist.

Here is the link for Trip to Chicago in my travel blog.

Cure for Dengue - Papaya Leaves

Good news on Dengue cure.

This is for Sinhala readers only - Dengue cure.

Working Parallely with KFS and IFRI

I was working on IFRI as a summer employee when I get a permanent position in Kuali Financial Systems(KFS).

IFRI(International Forestry Resources and Institutions) is a research group which focuses on how institutions and governance arrangements shape forest use and management outcomes. I was assigned to solve problems in their huge database and data entry application, by Professor Beth Plale. While working there, I got the rare chance of working with a noble price winner: Elinor Ostrom.

However I was still working on IFRI when I get the full time job. Therefore I couldn't leave IFRI at once to join with Kuali. Anyhow I was able to negotiate with both parties and to get permission to work half time for both till the summer ends.

Now I am working for Kuali in the morning and for IFRI in the afternoon. It's a bit different experience but interesting.

Trip to Tennessee

It was our first trip in US. I thought to start a separate travel blog for US trips rather than including those here. This is the link for Trip to Tennessee.