Who Benefits Whom?

Eager eyes stare and small mouths smile at me, white teeth gleaming from grubby faces. The weariness of ten travel hours fades as my “Hello!” is answered by a chorus of giggles that erupts from behind cupped hands. Tropical heat simmers in the windowless classroom, yet the children focus with rapt attention on my English lesson. Street sounds assail, but tiny ears ignore the symphony of horns, vendors’ shouts and temple chanting. Thus Sri Lanka welcomed me.

“For you!” beams a tiny girl, reaching up to offer me a banana leaf of rice and curry. I press my palms together and bow, evoking another round of delighted laughter. A boy sidles up, shyly offering a frangipani flower.

Shining with sweat I sashay through the streets of provincial Ratnapura, followed by an odd olio of students and beggars. The guard admits me when I reach my host home, yet I cringe. My tea on the balcony, pleasant prospect of the surrounding plantation, satisfying meal, mosquito net and ceiling fan for sleeping probably contrast with what many of my students will enjoy tonight.

Early the next morning, when I greet my students with hands folded in ayubowan, they beam and cry, “Teacher, teacher!” My host family had surprised me with a traditional Kandyan sari. Wrapped in it now I am astonished by its weight, and respect the women who wear them every day in this heat.

To the coast for the weekend. “Thump!”—a coconut lands at my feet. Looking up I spy a young man grinning from a tree. “Ayubowan!” he calls; I wave back. A day of swimming and reading is followed by my guesthouse owner’s bustling me into his tuk-tuk. Twenty minutes later we enter a temple resonating with the chants of orange-robed monks, young and old. They insist I speak some English, which once again induces chuckles, then line up and bow at my feet in thanks.
The little language teaching I do is more than compensated by the humility, humanity and peace offered to me in this beautiful country.