This article is about how Buddha’s Place is working on our Karma and possibly how you work on yours.

The Asian Tsunami has produced a cooperative of tsunami-affected seamstresses in Polhena to make the MonkBag. This is a holey woman owned business (unusual for this area). Buddha’s Place is working on offering this bag on our site.

All the profits from the wholesale sale in Sri Lanka, go back to the women’s pockets. One of the groups behind this production is Suba Ude (subaud.blogspot.com).They focus on psychosocial needs beyond food, shelter and medicine.

In Kalutara, Sri Lankans living in camps while houses are being built, many parents returning to work and others idly waiting for assistance, most children going to school and, one can surmise, life returning to normalcy (if you call living in overcrowded tin houses ‘normal’). There are an abundance of volunteers- international and local-leading children’s activities, building houses, conducting livelihood surveys and running mobile clinics. Unfortunately, they will witness the destitution that still plagues the affected.

Houses of every shape and size pock the coastline from Moratuwa to Trinchomalee. Affected people are still living in camps but most are being moved into transitional shelters. These are not considered “camps” because the shelters are not tents and many of the shelters have been built on the same land where they will build their permanent homes.

Children have returned to school; however, many are not going because their camp or transitional shelter site is too far away and there is inadequate transportation. Yes children are going to school, men are fishing and women are cooking.

Buddha’s Place has the Monkbags in stock.