Human resource development in Veddhas....

Gone are the days where they would hunt for their own survival and engage in the simplicity of everyday life. For the Veddha community, now it is a struggle - to keep up with the changing trends and demands of life and survival. This situation has driven them away from the primitive lifestyle that they once protected and nurtured.

It wouldn't be wrong to say that our indigenous natives have adopted a more business minded approach in their day-to-day living.

Our staff photographer, Avinash Bandara captured these shots in a village in Dambana, Mahiyangana.

They now engage themselves in self-employed (small) businesses where they sell a range of goods ranging from bee honey, rings and bangles of an indigenous nature and even the very bow and arrow on which they solely survived for so many years are being sold for about Rs. 450.

A common view these days would be a trishaw parked behind their houses on which they make their rounds these days.

Gone are the days...now you too can experience the 'native' life with all its paraphernalia.