Day 2-3 – In-country orientation

I had intended to write this post yesterday, but the jetlag which had so far only been moderate hit me. Hard. And despite drinking gallons and gallons of water, I still found myself challenged to stay hydrated. The heat and humidity in Colombo is intense – a bit like being smothered with a drenched weighted blanket every time you go outside. Once I’ve been outside for a bit, I’m quite fine, but when first going from (also intense) AC to outside it can be quite the shock. Needless to say when I got back “home” I was exhausted. However, in the hopes of overcoming my jetlag I resisted going to bed too early and instead relaxed and did some reading. Thankfully it seemed to pay off and I slept a solid 8 hours and woke at 6:30, rather than 3:30, like the night before. Success! It seemed to work and I feel much better today.

Now to the point of this post… I spent Monday and Tuesday at in-country orientation, hosted by WUSC. Monday was a very full day in the WUSC office (schedule below) and Tuesday included a half day back in the WUSC office, followed by a traditional Sri Lankan lunch where Nina and I were taught to eat with our hands (as is the custom here), and finally an introduction to the partner organization I will be working with!

In-country orientation was invaluable, but also a LOT to take in and process. My favourite part was the discussion led by Prema on the history of Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan culture, including the evolving status of women in this country, as well as general norms and challenges (e.g. how to cut-down on single-use plastic when clean drinking water is not otherwise available). Prema provided excellent context and really painted a detailed, complex picture of Sri Lanka – a country that spent time under Portuguese, Dutch and British rule before becoming independent; and has strong – and varied – religious and traditional beliefs.

After much anticipation, meeting with my partner organization – MAS Intimates – was lovely. However, also a lot to take in and try to get up to speed on as quickly as possible. It seems there are two national holidays while I am here (fun fact: Because of the diversity of cultures here, Sri Lanka has the most holidays of any country!) As a result, I only have 11 full working days with my partner organization while I am here. My initial meeting covered the current and upcoming strategic plan (focused on future-proofing the organization) and a review of my general mandate:

Because this mandate is huge, as I continue through “onboarding” I will be working to identify key concepts/tools I can provide to MAS to help them up for success after I leave. The goal of the Uniterra program, for which I am a volunteer, is all about knowledge-transfer and capacity building, rather than us as volunteers trying to do all of the work ourselves, in a very short time, and then leaving with no long-term capacity for the work to continue. The rest of this week (except Friday which is a holiday) will be focused on getting me up to speed on the current and desired corporate culture and the work that has already been completed, is currently underway, and is planned, so I can help build out where to go from here!

Due to highly proprietary information photos are not permitted at MAS, however on Instagram @amyl4c you can find photos of the Buddhist temples Nina and I explored around Colombo after work on Monday!

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Stay tuned for my next post about my garment plant tour!