Aging in Community Project in Sri Lanka

   
(left:Our team members, right: Delicious Sri Lankan dishes at lunch)

I safely made it back to the US. This trip to Sri Lanka was quite a life changing experience for me in many ways.

The trip gave me a wonderful and unique opportunity to think about the “real meaning of happiness.” In modern societies, people are so exhausted because they need to work hard to earn money in order to purchase the things that other people have. Many of us may believe that having a nice car, a big house, or take luxury vacations will bring happiness to our lives. When we achieve these “things”, however, their value quickly fades away. Then, we start all over again; chasing more and better things to buy without knowing if they will ever bring happiness in our lives. Although these “things” may delight us, this pleasure is rather temporary and do not come with deep sense of satisfaction.

Despite the limited access to comfort, convenience, and financial resources in people’s life in Sri Lanka, I found that their lifestyles were so much more genuine and meaningful. Many people I met appeared to know that real happiness comes from inside, from the satisfaction that one gets from giving and sharing, honoring friendships, or being grateful about what one is given. The sense of happiness is not something that we can purchase. It may require a continual action of giving and sharing with others. People in Sri Lanka diligently find opportunities to share with others, even though some may only have very limited resources. This practice seems to help them find a meaning for their lives, and ultimately bring the sense of true happiness in their lives.

Throughout this trip in Sri Lanka, I was constantly looking for the reasons why elders are highly respected and being cared for by family members and neighbors at home. Among the many possible reasons, I believe is that their cultural values of “selflessness” and “sharing” may be the most important grounds upon which the supports for elders to age in place within the community is founded.

Again, my trip was wonderful, and I have learned so much from this experience. I hope my diary was somewhat helpful ….

Since I have learned so much about elder care issues in Sri Lanka this time, I will keep posting my thoughts as well as the progress of our design project in this blog space.