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Beach blessed by a magnanimous heart
By Anne Abayasekara
My friend, Seetha, is a woman of great resourcefulness and determination. No one else would have been concerned enough to devise a scheme to build toilets for beach people, or had the staying power needed to bulldoze a reluctant municipal council to take necessary action.

Seetha's daily helper, Rita, comes from the beach at the end of Auburn Side in Dehiwela and Seetha sometimes goes to pick her up. One day, while waiting for Rita, Seetha looked around and noticed there were no toilets visible. She learned that there were only six ancient toilets for 300-odd beach-dwellers and out of those, only two or three were in usable condition. Rita said that the children and men therefore used the beach, but the women, for the sake of privacy, would queue up from about 3.00 a.m. to use the dilapidated toilets.

Seetha felt challenged to do something to remedy this shocking state of affairs. She had, however, the sense to realize that before she could get cracking, she must first secure the blessings of the Dehiwela-Mount Lavinia Municipality which would have to guarantee that it would provide sewerage, water and electricity connections if and when the toilets were built. She also wanted the Municipality to do its job of cleaning the pits which were originally used for the old toilets.

Seetha got in touch with the late Minister C.V. Gooneratne who assured her he would move in the matter. He was personally interested in the project because it had been his father, Major L.V. Gooneratne, who was responsible for getting the old, existing six toilets constructed many years ago. But within two weeks of their discussion Mr. Gooneratne and his wife were tragically killed in a bomb blast.

No response
Seetha felt thoroughly deflated, until she happened to meet an ex-student of hers who was working with an organization attached to the Colombo Municipality, but also overseeing Dehiwela on Solid Waste Disposal. This lady was very enthusiastic, wrote a project report and submitted it to her boss, but nothing came of it. She also sent the report to the Mayor at Dehiwela, asking for Municipal approval for well-wishers to carry out this project and got no response. Seetha then sounded some local social service organizations, but nobody was enthusiastic.

In December 2000 Seetha and her husband mentioned their ‘toilet project’ in their customary Christmas letter to friends abroad.The response was encouraging. One recipient of Seetha's newsletter was Rev.(Dr.) Norman Taggart in N. Ireland, who had been the pastor in charge of the Kollupitya Methodist Church where Seetha and husband worshipped. Now in a town named Coleraine, Rev. Taggart decided to make 'Poverty' the theme of his Christmas Day message and in doing so he read out Seetha's request for help for her Toilet Project. The pastor himself was surprised at the immediate response by his congregation. The Irish contribution soon amounted to 1650 pounds. Further, Seetha's son in England collected 100 pounds and an English friend sent Seetha a cheque for another 100 pounds. From a friend in America, Seetha received a bank draft for US $150.

By dint of much persuasion and a lot of effort, Seetha finally got written permission from the Mayor of the Dehiwela Municipality on April 20, 2001, to get started on her project. She also had an assurance from the Municipal Engineer that when the toilets were completed, the sewerage, water and electricity connections would be arranged for by the Municipality.

Seetha was compelled to employ a contractor from within the beach community since no outsider was willing to take on the job. Now she needed a reliable and competent person for the onerous task of day- to- day supervision of the work. Her prayers were answered when, fortuitously, an old friend who had been a World Bank Consultant on similar projects decided to oblige her. Her domestic aide's husband, Siripala, undertook to attend to the ordering of material, check the quantities delivered and make sure there were no thefts of materials etc.

A mason from the beach community was selected. Money was disbursed only on Seetha's engineer friend's instructions. This engineer (who wishes to remain anonymous) was meticulous and so experienced and knowledgeable that he could predict accurately beforehand what quantities of material would be needed.

The pits of the existing dilapidated toilets were full to the brim with garbage, smelly and about ten feet deep. It was a job for the Municipality to clean, but since a bowser couldn't be brought over the railway line and the municipal labourers refused to clean them, the unpleasant job was done by drug addicts recruited from the beach by Rita's husband, Siripala, for Rs.1000/-. "Cheap at the price" says Seetha. "No -one else would have done it!" The Engineer had to make sure the pits were clean and empty because if any refuse had been left in them it would affect the foundation which would sink.

Then came another problem. The cleaned-out pits had served as an outlet for the old toilets which stood in front of the building site for the new. The manholes for these toilets were full to the brim and started to overflow, making it impossible for Seetha's workers to get on with the job. Although the Mayor and the Chief Municipal Engineer were sympathetic and wanted to help, the red tape - meaning "the procedures" that had to be followed - made it impossible. Ultimately, the drug addicts had to come to the rescue again and Seethe felt the extra few thousand rupees spent was worthwhile.

The project got off the ground at last! But Seetha was plagued by unforeseen problems even after that - like the contractor turning out to be an alcoholic and not paying the labourers. A lesser mortal would have given up, especially when big trouble broke out between Siripala and the alcoholic contractor, just as the work was nearing completion. Knives were used, the contractor sustained an injury and Siripala ended in remand jail.

One fine day, Seetha found a constable on her doorstep, asking, "Kawda me Seetha kiyanne?" The contractor had lodged a complaint at the Police Station to the effect that he owed payment for work done! Later, Seetha received a letter summoning her to come before a Conciliation Board. She went, accompanied by her husband and the engineer. The contractor had arrived reeking of liquor and it had become clear that he had no case at all.

New contractor
After several vain efforts, Seetha was able to meet the Mayor of Dehiwela. The Mayor was keen to see the project completed and instructed the Municipal Engineer to liaise with Seetha and see that the work was done to a finish. The Municipal Engineer had much difficulty in finding another contractor because the disgruntled earlier contractor would threaten anyone who went to the site.

At last, with Seetha pestering him daily on the 'phone, the Municipal Engineer did find Mr. Rajapakse, who co-operated fully and the toilet project was completed on December 1, 2002. Mr. Rajapakse was so impressed with the whole project that he volunteered to build the drains to take the wash water out to the sea, at cost. "He was angel in disguise," said Seetha. "He didn't work just of the money, but because he appreciated what we were doing." Further contributions totalling 215.70 sterling pounds had come in and there was enough money to give the finishing touches to the building.

Everything was done by February 2002. Seetha had to go with an escort to see her completed project, because the first contractor had been making loud threats to kill her. The beach community, however, thanked her warmly. She was happy to see the six new toilets and four showers ready for use, and brass plates on the wall, in Sinhala and English, that they were erected with donations received from the Methodist Churches in Coleraine and Ballimony, N. Ireland, and other well-wishers from overseas.

Rev. (Dr.) Norman Taggart and wife visited Sri Lanka in February 2002 and went to see the toilets. They were very pleased with the project, but were appalled to see that since the Municipality had not attended to the sewerage connection, all the waste went into the sea just about 1 kilometre away from the Mount Lavinia Hotel! When Seetha brought this to the attention of the Municipality, she was told that this work was the responsibility of the Water & Drainage Board. "Each one passed the buck to the other. Not having any political pull, I was helpless," says Seetha.

One happy result of the erection of the new toilets was that the Municipality was activated to repair the old toilets after the new ones came into use. In November 2003, Seetha at last received the good news that "her" toilets had been connected to the sewerage line and that all 12 toilets - six constructed with the funds received from abroad, and the other six old ones repaired by the Municipality - were all in use.

"Thank God!" were Seetha's last words on what had turned out to be a long and trying experience. "It was only with His help and guidance that we were able to plod on amidst the numerous problems encountered all the way through. A warm thank-you, too to all the generous donors from overseas for their ready response to a need I just mentioned in a circular Christmas letter - I didn't have to beg for it!"

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