General News
14 August, 2025
Therese shares Sri Lankan journey
The August 2025 regular meeting of the Combined Probus Club of Hopetoun was held on Monday, August 11, from 10.30am at Hopetoun with a luncheon catered by Hopetoun Southern Mallee church ladies.
President Alan Malcolm welcomed 16 members, one guest present, and noted seven apologies.
Una Splatt read the Probus prayer.
Entertainment Officer Gwen Malcolm then introduced this month's speaker, Therese Sanders from Beulah.
Speaking all about the Sri Lankan homecoming for her cousin-in-law Chase, who married her cousin Hayley here in Australia.
Ms Sanders wore the sari from 13 years ago.
Almost 13 years ago, Ms Sanders and 12 other family members travelled to Sri Lanka for a homecoming/ wedding, as well as a two-week holiday, during which they experienced travel around various parts of the country.
There was quite a bit of unrest with the Tamil people around this time; many security men were on street corners, standing with a machine gun slung over their shoulders.
Ms Sanders stated she never felt unsafe at any time during the trip.
For the homecoming/Sri Lankan wedding of her cousin, the ladies were dressed in saris.
The saris were pinned to make all the beautiful lines.
One of Ms Sanders's fond memories was about her aunt, who pinned the sari with her underwear, and she required help to go to the bathroom.
When the family was travelling, there were few Caucasian people around. Their bus, with 13 members of the family, received a lot of attention from the Sri Lankan people.
The youngest member would have his hair touched a lot; the people just wanted to feel the blond locks.
Also noted was the number of billboards advertising whitening cream for Sri Lankans to use.
OH&S did not exist much, and the family were amazed at how shops were built on the sides of mountains.
Elephants were on one side of a tiny, low-lying rock with a do not cross " sign for the tourists to read, even though the elephants could just step over this if they wanted to.
Never having travelled overseas brought up cultural differences.
Time meant nothing to the Sri Lankans; if they stopped at a cafe to get food, they would claim to be in a hurry, and two hours later, they would get their food.
Never take photos of the locals without offering them money.
Ms Sanders recanted the story of the snake charmer and his monkey, chasing the group as they never offered him money for the photos they were taking.
The city of Galle, a fortified city, is one of the places our Australian cricket team plays, and the locals who love their cricket were amazed that the family showed little interest in cricket.
During the 2004 Tsunami, the fortified city of Galle's wall was breached, devastating the local area.
The family visited a memorial wall re devastation of the 2004 Tsunami, where an estimated 35,000 people perished.
The wall showed what they all saw at the time: people hanging in trees, the crumpled train that ran alongside the beach, buildings devastated, and boats thrown inland.
The rich would build beautiful homes, and right next door, there would be a shanti house for a poor family.
Ms Sanders, Wayne and two of their daughters experienced that our friendly, smiling culture in Australia was not good for young ladies, as if the girls smiled at a man, they would want to pursue them for marriage.
The Sri Lankan Rupee went a long way, and the girls' school at Hopetoun raised money for an orphanage that the family was visiting.
Ms Sanders said they didn't get much information about the orphanage, but they all wished they had more information; as they would have had enough money to buy them a washing machine instead of the toys, towels and soaps, as this is what they truly needed at the time.
When Ms Sanders and her friendly Australian family engaged and spoke freely to the locals, they found it strange at first, as her new cousin-in-law would sometimes say That's enough and move them on.
This was to protect the family, as the locals were trying to gather information, hoping that the family would sponsor them out to Australia.
Member Paullette Deutsch expressed her appreciation for Ms Sanders sharing her experiences and presented her with a Probus pen.
The next meeting of the Combined Probus Club of Hopetoun will be on Monday, September 1, 2025, at 9.30 am in Beulah at the Uniting church hall.
– LISA WILSON