Today was a day of vocational visits. Lynsey and I were hosted by Rtns. Ishri and Ananda. Ananda is in the electrical business and owns his own company called Ediriweera Construction. He favors this time of year because it is election time and the local politicians really pick up on electrical installations and improvements to local villages. He showed us a utility installation outside of Kandy where he renovated 5 km of a 33kV line, installed a new pole-mounted transformer, and installed a new 230V line 2km from the transformer to a small village. The poles here are primarily made of concrete, I've seen only a few wooden poles. The job required 50 10m poles for the high tension lines and 20 8m poles for the 230V distribution. The Ceylon Electricity Board (state owned and run utility) provides all materials, private companies like Ananda's provide labor only. Ananda uses local labor for digging holes and cutting trees. Tri-M folks better not cry - these guys dig their holes by hand - I have pictures to prove it! He uses skilled and trained company employees to string the lines, install the transformer, and make the tie-ins. Interestingly, not long after the project was complete, the political party that sponsored the project had plastered the poles with posters of their candidate!
In the evening the team attended a special meeting of the Rotary Club of Kandy. At the meeting there was a large contingency of Japanese Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Kurayoshi in District 2690 who were in town to kick off a matching grant project. Two evenings prior my hosts and I had dinner with Rotarians from District 1470 in Denmark who are significant supporters of the Center for the Handicapped. Imagine - I visit Sri Lanka and am returning home with banners from three different countries - and there's still time to add to the collection!
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