පවුලක පැතුම් හිස බර දරාගෙන කරුණෙ අයියා වන බුටැවන් මැද්දෙන් කළුවරේම කන්ද බඩගාන්නේ තනිපංගලමේය. කුඩා කල සිටම තමන්ගේ පයට ගෙවුණු රළු ගල් බොරළු පාර කරුණෙ ඔහුට හොඳට හුරුය. කරුණෙ අයියා පමණක් නොව, කොහොනාවල නම් හුදෙකලා ගම්මානයේ වෙසෙන බොහෝ ගැමියන් තමතමන්ගේ කුඩා ගෙවත්තේ ඵලදාව එක්කරගනිමින් දෛනිකව මඩො හෝ කැලෑ කොළ මිටියක් රැගෙන කඳුකර මාවතේ කිලෝමීටර දොළහක දුර පාගමනින් යන මේ වැසියෝ එදා දවසේ ජීවිතය සැලසුම් කරන්නේ තම තමාට එදිනෙදා ලැබෙන මුදල මතය.කෘෂි කර්මාන්තය ප්‍රධාන ජීවන වෘත්තිය කොටගත් කොහොනාවල ගම්මානය පිහිටා ඇත්තේ බදුල්ල දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ මඩොල්සිම නගරයට කිලෝමීටර දොළහක දුරිනි. ප්‍රධාන නගරයේ සිට මඩොල්සිම තේ වතුයාය හරහා වැටී ඇති දුෂ්කර පටු දිගු කඳුකර මාවතෙහි පා ගමනින් පමණක් ළඟාවිය හැකි මෙම ගම්මානය අතිශය සුන්දර ස්වයංපෝෂිත දිවියක් ගතකරන ගැමියන්ගෙන් සැදුම්ලත් එකකි. අයස්කාන්ත කඳු වලල්ලකින් වටවූ මේ හුදෙකලා ගම්මානය ගැන දන්නෝ අතළොස්සකි.උදාහරණයක් කිවහොත් බදුල්ල ප්‍රදේශයේ ජීවත්වන පුද්ගලයන් පවා මේ හුදෙකලා කුඩා ගම්මානය ගැන දන්නේ නැත.

December month start & still we in Kohonawala village. Because we came to here on November 30th. We plan to start our return journey on early morning & but finally journey start on 7.30 a.m.

From last few years we donate school items to rural school. This year also we arranged to  donate school items &  selected 2 most rural schools in Madolsima area.

So thanks to them all, the fee was paid and the wheelchair was ready to be taken but how we were to take it from Colombo all the way to Kohonawala was the million dollar question. As it was custom built so that it could handle the rugged and uneven terrain of Kohonawala, the wheelchair was, compared to an ordinary one, larger and heavier making it impossible to transport by bus. We didn’t wanna send it by train either in case it got damaged in the process as there were many cables and handles that might not survive a train journey amid many other goods to Badulla. Dismantling it was out of the question as we had no technical knowledge about many screws and bolts attached to it so had to take the full packaged assembled as it was.

Again it was Ana who came to our rescue offering his SUV to take the wheelchair to Kohonawala. So we set the dates for 22-23 Aug but due to the busy schedule NG was unable to join us but Athula and I joined Ana for the Journey. Ana had gone and picked up the wheelchair from the manufacturer at Borella in advance which took the whole back space of the vehicle and we left around 3.00am on 22 August while the rains were hitting us from all around.

The surrounding countryside looked parched and many Mana patches had been torched by people for some reason beyond me. So it was a mixture of dark green patches of trees scattered across the sun bleached yellowish hills. The ravines below showed signs of life with houses and plots of paddy fields. The charred areas where Mana was burnt added to the already vivid painting. In no time we reached the “Padi Seeya” (100 steps) where there is a steep downhill path through the tea bushes. Already there was a person coming up and a lady holding a baby girl closely behind him tackling the steep ascent. I spoke to him and he was very cheerful and even bothered to show me a worship place of the estate workers high up on top of a rock. The child, even though being carried by the lady right through, looked exhausted as a result of the heat and the continuous swaying. I managed to take a pic of her (one of the few must-have requirements for me during a journey) and we carried on.

eading Sri’s report made a few of us think of getting the wheel chair that was needed by the little boy in Kohonawala. With Sri’s help we made contact with the Hamuduruwo to get a bit more information. During the conversation he spoke of many older people who had bad eye sight but were unable not get spectacles. So could we arrange for something to be done about it?

This is an isolated village completely surrounded by numerous mountains making it located in the bottom of a deep ravine. Badulla-Passara road seems to be running around this and a few other isolated villages. Namunukula-borne Loggal Oya flows between the border of Urumeethenna, the last village with main-line-supplied electricity, and Kohonawala before joining the mighty Mahaweli at Mahiyanganaya, making it further isolated.

The story behind the start of this village has many different variations. According to the folklore, they origins run far deep thousands of years backwards where the indigenous people of SL, the Veddhas, roamed this island at will. According to one old farmer, the leader of that Veddhas in the village was an elite archer. Once he won a contest of shooting an arrow through a golden ring thus getting the name “Ranpath Mudiyanselage” bestowed upon his clan. Surprisingly all the people in Kohonawala has that as their surname to-date. Everybody is called R.M. and their given name.

Have you guys heard about a village located in the valley of Loggal oya where they do not have a road even and they have to climb an abyss to get to the nearest city (Madulsima) for 3 hours. Yes still our fellow citizens do live in the dark where even some of the basic facilities are not available. The sun is seen only at 9am and it vanishes in few hours at around 3pm, even when the sun could be seen the thick layer of mist covers it off and deprive them with their right to enjoy the sunlight. And yet these 200 odd people have managed to survive happily despite all of their troubles. After some recent media programs these people have got some hope and they are looking forward for a brighter future.