Today has been pretty amazing. I started the morning with poop duty, then did vet checks and today I got to paint with the ladies! Rani and Lakshmi are quite talented painters. We set up easels for them, load up a brush with paint, and their mahouts direct them to the paper. They both have very distinct styles...Rani always stays within the edges of her paper, while Lakshmi likes to draw long lines that go off the edges. The first day we painted with them Rani was being stubborn, and she would only draw polkadots. Lakshmi didn't feel like painting, and she knew we wouldn't make her while she had food in her mouth, so she crammed a bunch of food in and chewed really slowly.
We (the other volunteers and I) also got to go up the hill to see Sumana and help with her second round of antibiotic injections. While we were preparing the medicine, she and her mahout were playing, and she started to make a funny grumbling noise. We asked Ruwan (the vet assistant) what it was, and he said "it is the love." How beautiful is that? Here is this great old elephant with huge sores on her sides from being mistreated by humans for her whole life, and she is able to forgive it all and lover her mahout. That's the sort of bond animals and humans should have, not one bred of fear and servitude. We injected 100 cc's of amoxycylin into Sumana's back leg. Her mahout punched her leg to bring out the vein, and then Ruwan jabbed the needle in and pumped her full, switching syringes half way through. When he pulled the needle out, some of the antibiotics started to come back out the wound. Her mahout just punched Sumana for a while and it went away. No matter how many times we inject her or punch her leg or poke at her sores, Sumana is always gracious. She never fusses, never runs away, and has never been violent. Throughout the whole thing she just sits and lets us treat her. Sam, one of the volunteer coordinators, says she thinks Sumana knows that we're doing our best to help her.
My friend Elena and I decided to go for a walk after work and we ran into Ruwan on the street with his son. He invited us back to his house, so we went over for tea and cookies, graciously served by his very pregnant wife, who is an English teacher. Their son is 2 1/2, and he was adorable, showing us all his toys and his awesome dance moves. Ruwan pulled out his wedding album and we looked at photos of his wedding, which was quite extensive. They have a traditional western ceremony where they go to the court and sign marriage papers, but then they also have a big Sri Lankan ceremony at the bride's house, where they give the bride over to the groom. There's definitely a sense of openness and hospitality that you don't find in the United States. People are very friendly and love to have you over to see their houses and meet their families. Also, I feel like the American sense of privacy is much diminished here. People don't hide behind their closed-off doors so much, and they like to ask lots of questions about who you are and where you are going. It's really a beautiful thing.
Because it was my last day of work, I got to have my elephant ride today. I rode Pooja, who was led around by her mahout, Upali. It was SO amazing. First off, her back was very bony, but it was incredible how high up I was! At one point, Pooja reached over her head with her trunk and I reached out and she touched my hand. After we went up the hill, we went into the river, and Pooja showered me with a ton of water. Then she kneeled down right in the river and I dismounted. It was SO FUN.
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