I unfolded the banana leaf in my lap in anticipation of lunch on the job site.  Then a woman’s voice said, “This is the same meal we prepared over a thousand times for tsunami victims immediately after the wave came ashore here in Weligama, Sri Lanka.”

 

Neatly arranged in the leaf I saw red rice, a hard boiled egg, cucumber, tomato, curry lentil, stir fried coconut and dried fish.  What was it like to prepare so many of these meals?  What was it like to open it as the only food available for the day?  Where are the recipients of these meals living now that their homes were washed away?

 

The Prouty Project’s annual S-T-R-E-T-C-H  Expedition team, comprised of 13 ppl, participated in a service project on the southern Sri Lankan coast in February.  For 8 humid days we hauled block and boulders, bent rebar, painted wood beams, designed bucket brigades and dug holes for a job skills training center.  The center is part of a 60 home community that is being built following the December 2004 tsunami.  The Stretch Team raised $60K for building materials to support the center and then traveled to the other side of the world to help construct it.

 

The expeditions started in 1999 after the Minneapolis based consulting firm asked them selves are we stretching just as we ask our clients to stretch?   The first expedition was a successful climb to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro – Africa’s highest peak.  Subsequently, one year the firm designs a physical stretch and the alternate year a service stretch like tsunami rebuilding in Sri Lanka.  In 2007, a new stretch team will attempt to summit the highest peak in the western hemisphere – Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina.

 

Sri Lanka is tropical.  Complete with 6 varieties of bananas, many types of mangos, cashews, tea and coconuts.  t also boasts beautiful beaches, extensive national parks and amazing open air hotels.   The people we met and worked with were committed, hard working and shared their country with hospitality and grace.  Some families are still living in temporary shelters 14 months after the powerful waves. Many of them hope to be recipients of the homes being built in the new village - One World Village.

 

If you or any of your clients are looking for a big s-t-r-e-t-c-h, we’d love the company in the years to come!

For more information about The Prouty Project and their annual STRETCH Expeditions visit www.proutyproject.com or contact Pat Costello at patrick.costello@proutyproject.com or (651) 773-1307

 

I realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within.”                          -Lillian Smith