At our orphanage on the Eastern shore of Sri Lanka, a stone laying ceremony took place last month. The ceremony was blessed by the presence of Sri Swami Sarvarupananda of the Ramakrishna Mission in Colombo, Sr Swami Ajarathmananda of the RK Mission in Batticoloa and Mr. S.T. Arulanandam of the All Ceylon Hindu Congress.
Swami lays the first of the five traditional bricks.
Each of the dignitaries adds one.
All celebrate the event. Bapu, the orphanage director, is standing to the left of swami. Behind you see the new building that was erected to replace the one destroyed by the 2005 Asian Tsunami.
The site is farther from the sea, so future tsunamis will not reach the new facilities. Our congratulations to the team that made this amazing project possible in the midst of hardships and dire uncertainties in this lovely island nation.