Phase 9: February - March 2001

This visit was a very great honour, for this "high priest" to leave his monastery. For one thing it is very dangerous for him, because violent people want to kill him and he can only go anywhere under the protection of bodyguards. This man is also already revered as a saint and very probably is one. And he carries responsibility for 87 monasteries and 1,400 monks, mostly in the war zone. He is both a spiritual and a temporal leader in a poverty-stricken and war-torn region. And, unlike most of the monks here, he has not allowed himself to be corrupted by politics.

Michael Kreitmeir, who has known this monk and enjoyed his trust for almost two years, has spent many days and nights in the monastery hewn out of rock and guarded like a fortress. And he has wondered at the source of the "high priest's" strength and serenity in the face of the great responsibility he carries.  
On 1 February, the "high priest" brings 9 children from the war region to our village.

The high priest was shown around the village by Michael Kreitmeir and visited the children's houses, the school and the medicinal herb garden. The visit ended with shared prayer at our temple.

Visitors' month at Little Smile.Sponsors and supporters from Füssen and from Upper Austria took the opportunity to broaden their understanding through experience. They got to know the project and the children.
Pater Christoph from Füssen gets to know and love the children and our village in the mountains.

Birgit Stecher from Aschheim near Munich was our first trainee. She lived with and for the children for five weeks, teaching English and computer skills. Bandula was able to resume work after a long period of illness.

Construction of the workers' houses and carpentry workshop continued after being interrupted by the rain in January.

Michael Kreitmeir flew to Germany specially to meet Sri Lanka's president, Ms. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumuratunga. At the heart of their conversation is the difficult position of social organisations in Sri Lanka and the lack of support - and often even hindrance - from the authorities.