15 Years one world foundation free education unit Sri Lanka

there was a meowing at regular intervals. But there
is no cat living there as for some reason Ayurveda
and cats don’t get along. We eventually discovered
that these catlike noises were made by the Brahminenweih,
white headed brown birds of prey, when
taking off from the tops of the palm trees of the
former monk land and soaring upwards in spiral
formations until they’re almost out of sight. We
observed flocks of more than eight birds.
In my attempt to classify animal noises this was
not the only deception I experienced: It took some
time to find out that the sound of a bleating goat
belongs to – nomen est omen – none other than a
“goat frog”. This particular performance was, however,
a singular event as opposed to the recurring
croaking of its amphibious relatives from the water
lily ponds and the lagoon night after night. It’s a
background noise I’ve come to like as much as the
monotonous clitter of the crickets in Provence. At
times you discover the frogs in the most unlikely
places: Inside a closet or perching on a picture on
the wall or peering out from the mouth of a wooden
mask from Ambalangoda or on the terrace where
for a long time one of these animals would spend all
day and leave only at night to hunt for insects or go
for a swim in a water hole.
Almost all the other animals I came across in the
garden are silent. Among the insects there are the
ants, the dragon flies, the fire flies blinking at night
– also called Ceylonese fire flies – and of course the
mosquitoes. Reptiles are practically not heard at all
– soundless are the geckos waiting for insects to
approach the light of the evening lamps, the goannas
and snakes or the sea turtles coming to shore,
mostly on a full moon night to bury their eggs. Even
most of the birds are mute: The small herons parading
among the spherical lamps on the lawn, the
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sunbirds with their metallic glow whirring in front
of the hibiscus flowers or the colourful kingfishers.
Except for the already mentioned Lena also most
mammals avoid making any kind of noise. The
mongooses sneak through the bush silently. Only
the monkeys don’t always manage to remain unnoticed.
When in almost regular intervals a fairly
large group of purple faced langurs or leaf monkeys
appears in the trees in the back of the garden to
enjoy a meal of fruit and leaves, you can hear their
arrival because of an unusual rustle in the trees and
the impact of fruit tossed to the ground.
One could fill a small zoo with this list of animals
found in a private garden in Sri Lanka. They
are all part and parcel of Bogenvillya and add to the
respite offered by an Ayurvedic therapy stay. Except
that you’re hardly aware of it.
What each and everyone should be aware of
though is that everything they enjoy as guests of
Bogen villya is owed to one world foundation and
thus to Kathrin Messner and Joseph Ortner and
their most impressive accomplishment. Without
them and the organisation they initiated 15 years
ago, Bogenvillya would certainly not exist in its current
form. For good measure, the owf also eases our
conscience: We can enjoy being spoiled rotten because
we know that with our presence we support
a good cause as part of what we pay benefits the
school. With this in mind: I’ll be back next year.