We visited Chammi bringing the usual big purchase of groceries. Her husband had been working in Oman for seven months now and he was doing fine this time. He sends her some money every month. She did not have much work as the people needed to eat first. Because of the upcoming holidays (Singhalese and Tamil New Year) she did have a lot of work at the moment.

Her father was on the move in a freshly starched shirt. As many others, he was going on the Government busses to a site were the President was to hold a speech later that day. Each participant got a free lunch packet, a bottle of water and as the rumor was spread, Rs. 1000 (seven Swiss Francs). In the evening news they showed the full ranks.

Chammi had made the payments but her house is in bad shape. Eight years after construction the houses in the Tsunami housing scheme are falling apart! In addition to that, the legs of her daughter were covered with blisters. She was treating it with an expensive ointment from the doctor but it was of no use.

Humaid’s wife Fareeza had presented me two Shalwar kits and I gave them to Chammi for tailoring. She did not want any payment but I gave her an envelope with money and told her to take the child to the hospital in Tangalle. In my opinion the blisters were caused by mites. In the refugee camp right after the Tsunami a lot of children had scabies and it looked exactly the same.

This brings me to the huge construction site for a new hospital outside the town. Who would come there for treatment in a part of the country where most people had a hard time to afford ointment??
 

Nothing simpler than that: a lot of very high specialized doctors will work there and the rich patients will arrive at the nearby international airport. 

It was not possible to find out whether they also plan to build an airfield for UFOs.