One Day In Sri Lanka

A headline like “Garment Free Trade Zone”, might lead one to believe that we visited a nude colony in Sri Lanka… but the emphasis here, is on “Free Trade Zone” not “Garment Free” !

Last week Annand took me on an excursion with one of the teachers from his Jaffna schools to buy outfits for their upcoming August concert. The idea was to buy sets of matching ‘good clothes’ for each of the classes in the concert – a total of 200 students! Can you imagine the administrative nightmare of measuring all the children and then purchasing the clothes? Well, Annand and Ann-Mary had it all under control – I joined them on their 3rd day of shopping along Pamunugama Road in the Maharagama area just outside Colombo. Annand tells me that the shop keepers visit the many Garment Factories operating in this area very early in the morning and they purchase a certain amount of the clothing destined for the western markets. The prices on the street are unbelievable – a child’s sporty-looking shorts $1.00 Canadian!!

More pics and stories about the day to come!