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Prathichakkrekaranaya
Not a word that you come across regularly in scrabble!
It is the word for ‘recycling’ in Sri Lanka – and it was made up by Dr Ajantha Perera, whilst she was working amongst the Rag Pcikers in the garbage dumps of Sri Lanka.
Ajantha, a Christian married to a Buddist, is the Executive Director of the Department of Social Responsibility at Methodist Headquarters in Sri Lanka; she gave a most moving testimony at the Spring meeting of Bromley Christian Aid to what she graphically described as ‘My Life of Garbage’ working with the Rag Pickers – once known as the ‘uneducated, unloved, simple [and smelly!] people’ of her native country.
The Rag Pickers would make a living (only just) by scouring the mounds of filthy and odious smelling solid waste dumped outside Colombo, and then selling the paper, plastic and metal to ‘middle men’, who in turn sold this on for recycling. Thanks to the hard work of Ajantha, her country is now taking recycling seriously and the Rag Pickers themselves have slowly been recognised as having an important role to play in recycling. Their life style, whilst not very different from that of some years ago, has improved.
We heard of the difficulties that Ajantha encountered with officialdom and the media over the years as she has battled to gain acceptance within Sri Lanka of the Rag Pickers as rightful members not just of the community but also as important parts in the economy of the country.
The evening highlighted the role which Christian Aid’s partners play in countries where Christian Aid is working. We felt very humbled when hearing at first hand the descriptions of what can only be described as real poverty. |
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This page was last updated on:
Saturday, 25 March, 2006
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