This past week I’ve been traveling around the north east and north central provinces of the country meeting with 9 different Local Authorities that have been added to the program. Some of these are very small operations in rural settings. Only one of them was a city of any significant size. The purpose of the trip was to conduct a comprehensive assessment of each Local Authority and determine if they were a good candidate for our program to improve financial management and community services.

Five of us and our two drivers departed Colombo in two Jeep Wagoneers about 3:00 PM Sunday afternoon for the coastal town of Marawilla. Let me tell you, they drive differently here. Outside the city, the biggest road we found was a two lane highway. Highway is a misnomer; in some places these roads would be categorized as driveways They have no lane markings. I’d say generally they were a lane and a half wide, with about 2 feet of dirt shoulder on either side. This shoulder was not built to be a shoulder, but it’s been developed because vehicles use it in order to pass. Speed limits are generally non-existent or at least not followed…just like the traffic lights in the City. Right of way rules seem to follow the principle of “if you’re an inch ahead, you have the right of way”. Passing is a “sport” generally following the rules of all portions of the roadway and shoulder are kosher and playing chicken with on-coming traffic is just normal driving. And, size matters! As the new guy, I was offered the front seat. I thought they were being nice. Now I know why. I found the only way to keep my heart rate in check was to close my eyes or look down …… all of the time! I wanted to throw-up from anxiety! I quickly learned to move to the back seat when ever possible.

We spent the night at Mario’s Beach Resort. Calling this a resort is like calling an abandoned tenement in New York a luxury apartment. It was nicely located on the beach I took photos all along the trip, but promptly lost all of them as I tried to transfer them to the computer. The mysteries of electronics! The place looked like it was about 26 years old and never had a lick of maintenance the entire time. Not much worked. Several of us had to move rooms because something didn’t work…. The air conditioning; the hot water, the door. It was like we dropped in and they weren’t expecting us… even though we had a reservation. Nobody could figure out why this place had been selected. The room came with half board, which means breakfast and dinner are included. Don’t ask about the food or service. It matched the condition of the place. The next morning, we all decided we should check out and find a different place for our next night. We drove about 10 minutes away and found a wonderful resort called the Palm Bay Club which catered to German and Czech tourists. For the same price we paid at Mario’s we stayed in a very swank resort with a fabulous buffet table for dinner and breakfast. Once we made our reservation for that evening, we set off for our first appointment at Wariypola. Sinhala names are long and contain lots of syllables. You need to pronounce everyone of them…. But remember, h’s are silent. So th is pronounced like a t.

Our appointment was for 9:00, but for our checking out at Mario’s and finding a new place and the condition of the roads, we arrived about 10:20. Nobody was concerned about this but me. Seems things run on Sri Lankan time rather than western time.

Wariyapola is a rural service authority. This is my term because there is nothing about it that resembles a city. The service area is 195 sq Kilometers with a population of 87,000. They employ only 72 people….most of them in solid waste. That means they collect trash and search for some vacant land that they can dig a hole in and bury what they collect.

Meeting with these folks opened my eyes to the conditions local authorities must work under. Although they are called local authorities, there is nothing they have authority over. Although their responsibilities are great, they cannot spend more than 5000 rupees without approval from the province. This is equivalent to $50 USD! Sometimes this approval takes up to two years.

From Wariyapola, we traveled to Panduwasnuwara, another small rural service area serving 70,565 residents with only 82 staff. Total budget is $190,000, including salaries for all the employees. This gives you an idea of the salary scales.

After Panduwasnuwara, we went back to the Palm Bay Resort for some great food and what turned out to be the best hotel on the road. After a fantastic breakfast buffet, we headed off to Chilaw.

Chilaw is another rural service provider. It seemed to be fairly well off financially, with a large staff, new furniture and a nicely decorated office building. They service 69 sq. Km with 110 employees. They too had an annual budget of just $194,000 US dollars. Over 50% of the property taxes levied go unpaid.

We next went to Kalpitiya at the tip of a peninsula that extends into the Indian Ocean. This little community seemed VERY poor. They service 165 sq. Km and a population of 108,000 with just $180,000 US per year. Almost 2/3 of the employees are devoted to Pre School and the library, although most of these are part timers who handle the pre-school. Clean water was the biggest issue here as most of the wells have some level of salt water intrusion, being surrounded by ocean. The Provincial Public Health Officer had been educated in the US and came to our meeting. He gave us a book he’d written on HIV/Aids.

The office was so run down and dirty, I wanted to shower as quickly as possible. At least wash my hands, however no opportunity presented itself. Thank goodness for the bottle of waterless hand wash I carry in my bag.

We then drove several hours to Anuradhapura, where we stayed three nights. On the trip I asked one of the Sri Lankans to tell me how to count to ten in Sinhala. He gave me the names and by the time we got to the hotel, I had them memorized. This is an ancient city with many sacred sites. I was hopeful that we’d get some free time to visit these important sites. We arrived too late to see any of the sites. We had a quick dinner at the hotel and went to bed for an early departure the next morning.

About 7:30 we departed for Horowupathana. We arrived about 9:30 for our meeting. This is a very unusual community as the central government dissolved the Council and the operation is being run by an appointed Commissioner (like a City Manager). The reason for the dissolution? 7 of the 14 Council members were indicted for misappropriation of funds. This little berg serves 845 sq. km near the Tamil controlled sections of the Country. There are only 32,000 people in this big geography. Total budget is just $56,000 per year that supports all 13 employees.

After our meeting we had to hustle off to the next Local Authority. An hour’s drive later we arrived at Kahatagasdigilya. We arrived about 2:00 pm without having lunch. They served us a very Sri Lankan meal consisting of fried local fresh water fish, potato curry, Millet & Dhal, Chicken, Jack Fruit (this was prepared in a way that resembled stewed meat in both consistency and taste), Poppadums, salad, and beans. Bananas were for dessert. Frankly, I was a bit nervous about eating the meal. I couldn’t determine how it was made, how clean the preparation was and how clean the plates were. It seemed as though I’d make a scene if I didn’t partake. So I took a plate, some silverware and served myself a small plate with choices that looked the least likely to be problems. I was just about to start eating when I realized I and the other American were the only ones using silverware. Everyone else was eating with their hands.

We had read about this before we left, but this was my first experience with it. We actually had dinner with a Sri Lankan in Portland before we left who gave us instructions on how to do it without making a complete mess. The key is to keep mixing the rice and the curry until it is fairly dry. Then you make a good sized clump of food with your fingers, and then flip in your mouth with your thumb. It sounds harder than it is. So I wanted to try this, but in a more controlled situation when I felt better about the cleanliness. However, I vowed to be more observant next time so I wouldn’t be the ugly American by not observing local customs. My chance came the very next day.

I’ll spare you the details, but this was one of the smallest Local Authorities we visited with just 33,000 people.

We came back to Anuradhapura to the ancient sacred city. Here we saw the great Ruvanwelisiya Dagoba that had to be over 100 feet tall. It contains relics of Buddha. I got some great shots in the batch that disappeared. I’m so frustrated, but hope to return soon to get the shots again. We also visited a sacred tree which is supposed to be the oldest sapling taken from the tree under which Buddha received enlightenment. It is said the tree is over 2300 years old.

The next morning we drove to Kebitigollewa. This Local authority serves 400 sq. Km with only 18 employees and a budget of $48,000 per year. When our meeting was over, they served us lunch at the Mayor’s house. Even though he was one of the more wealthy people in the community, he had a very modest house. The outside was nicely painted. Inside it was bare concrete walls and floor. The underside of the tile roof served as the ceiling. And the space between the wall and the roof created by the roof rafters was open to the outside. He lived there with his wife and children and house servant. They served us rice, several kinds of curry and dhal, poppadums, and bananas for dessert. Here I tried eating with my hand. I had to remember not to eat with my left hand, as it is considered unclean. Well the lessons in Portland worked. I think people were impressed with how I did….. nary a drop on the floor and I managed to keep from getting food all over my face and limited to a few finger tips. I expected that I’ve have food dripping from my elbow.

After lunch we all departed for a meeting with the Municipal Council of Anuradhapura, the City containing all of the ancient ruins. This was the largest Local Authority we visited and served. The geography is only 36 sq. Km but they have 128,000 people. The organization is much more like a US city with a City Manager (called a Commissioner) and over 500 employees. The organization was the most professionally run. They even had regular financial statements, program budgets, and expenditure tracking. Made me feel like home.

That evening, we met with 8 representatives from the local media and NGOs. It was a way of getting a different perspective on what we saw on the trip. As a group, they were pretty jaundiced about local government. The entire government structure is clouded by politics. Historically, the country swings back and forth each election between the two big parties. The national elections are not held at the same time as local elections and Local Authorities tend to be ruled by the party that is not the party controlling the national Parliament. Members of Parliament do not want leaders of the Local Authority to become too successful as they will then become rivals for the coveted MP seat. In fact some of the policies intentionally cripple Local Authorities just so they won’t become rivals. All in all, it was a fascinating evening.

The next morning we visited our last Local Authority of Nuweragampalatha. This was another small organization service 1193 sq. km and 78,000 people. However they only had a 22 employees and a $48,000 budget. I was trying to encourage our group to make a quick get away as we had a 5 hour drive back to Colombo. Just as we were ready to leave, in came lunch. So we enjoyed a quick lunch of rice and curry with a chicken drumstick. Again, it was eaten with the hand. We made our get away in about 30 minutes.

Our driver, Suneel, estimated only 4 hours to get to Colombo. It was clearly a 5 hour drive by all sane estimates, but you know what? We drove up to the hotel within 5 minutes of his estimate. I won’t tell you about “Mr. Toad’s wild ride” through the rural areas of Sri Lanka.

I was glad to be home and out of the car.