Koslanda
| Koslanda | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
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| Coordinates | 6 ° 43 ' N , 81 ° 2' E | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | Sri Lanka | ||
| Uva | |||
| District | Badulla | ||
| ISO 3166-2 | LK-81 | ||
| height | 700 m | ||
| Residents | 1500 | ||
Koslanda is a village in the mountains of Sri Lanka with about 1500 inhabitants. It is about 700 m above sea level. NN in the Badulla district in the province of Uva . Koslanda is located on the main A4 road that connects the capital Colombo on the west coast with Batticaloa on the east coast of Sri Lanka.
etymology
The name Koslanda is composed of two words. Kos-landa, 'landa' roughly means forest and 'kos' is the jackfruit tree in Sinhala .
population
Koslanda is an ethnically and religiously mixed village. Sinhalese and Tamils live there in roughly equal proportions, the Muslim moors are a small minority. As in the entire Uva Province, the coexistence of the ethnic groups is mostly harmonious; the region is not affected by the aftermath of the civil war in the north and east. The inhabitants are about half Buddhists and Hindus, there are only a few Muslim and Christian families. In the village center of Koslanda there is an old Buddhist temple with a monastery and a Hindu temple.
The Koslanda District Hospital was built by the British in the 1930s. At the point there was a rubber plantation in front of it. The buildings are still in use today. Health care for the entire region is ensured in the clinic.
Most of the residents work on the tea or rubber plantations in the area, grow pepper or other spices, or practice subsistence farming . In addition, there is still a small proportion of employees in the trade and service sector, as Koslanda is the center for a dozen smaller villages and settlements within a radius of about ten kilometers.
The tea from the "Koslanda Organic Tea Gardens" is known nationwide and is only exported to western countries. The mild mountain climate allows the tea to ripen to a very special quality. In addition, the Koslanda Estate was one of the first tea plantations to rely on production under organic and fair trade standards. Around 600 employees work on the tea plantation alone, most of them Tamils.
Little Smile Children's Village
The Mahagedara Children's Village (Sinhala means ancestral home , center of the family) was founded in 1999 by the German television journalist Michael Kreitmeir near Koslanda to give children in need a home and protection as well as the chance of a better life through education. Kreitmeir, who as a journalist also experienced the civil war in Sri Lanka, also wanted to create a model project in which Sinhalese and Tamil children and educators can live and learn together like a family. The living together of children of all religions in a children's home or village is the absolute exception in Sri Lanka. Today between 85 and a maximum of 100 Sinhala and Tamil children live in the village, most of them half or full orphans. The children do not have to leave the facility when they reach the age of majority, as is often the case in Sri Lanka. Instead, they have the opportunity to complete an apprenticeship. Young people from Koslanda also use this opportunity. The children live with housemothers in eight houses. The village includes a school, training workshops for sewing, traditional medicine (Ayurveda), carving and a carpenter's workshop, an infirmary, residential houses for employees, as well as a Buddhist and Hindu temple and a chapel. The 21 buildings are surrounded by spice plantations such as pepper, vanilla and cinnamon as well as rice and vegetable fields. The children's village has a total area of around 15 hectares and is integrated into the mountain landscape on 13 routes. The children's village includes a boys' home, which is just five kilometers away on a ridge towards Poonagala. Boys older than twelve leave the children's village and then live with two supervisors in the boys' home on Hill Top.
The children's village's economic partner project is the farm in Dikkapitia, seven kilometers away. The founder and head of the children's aid organization Little Smile Michael Kreitmeir lives in the children's village himself. The organization's other projects, such as a training hospital in Buttala, an international school in Kalmunai and a cultural center near Galle, as well as children's homes in Badulla, Monaragala and Palugamam, are also managed from the children's village. The supporting organization is the Little Smile Association, which is recognized as a charitable organization by the Sri Lankan Ministry of Social Affairs.
Attractions
The Diyaluma waterfall is six kilometers away from Koslanda and is a popular destination for both locals and tourists. With a height of around 200 meters, it is one of the highest waterfalls in Sri Lanka.
Web links
- Web site Koslanda (English)
- Website Children's Village Little Smile Koslanda
- Website Spicefarm Little Smile Organic
Individual evidence
- ↑ Map of Koslanda, Sri Lanka ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Travel journals
- ↑ The meaning of Koslanda , Koslanda website (English)
- ↑ Little Smile Association Registration at ngosecretariat.gov.lk (English)
- ↑ Falls of Sri Lanka ( Memento of the original from January 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Tourist Info Website. (English)
