Customer Reviews

Spicy breezes o'er Ceylon's Isle - By: Sarakani, 08 Sep 2007
Where every prospect pleases .(and only man is vile)... to quote from a missionary poem on Sri Lanka. Since reading this book, I have made Rory Spower's Samakanda website my home page - but for how long I wonder as it is at least one year out of date though it still has some nice pictures with a peaceful feel. This is an account of setting up an organic forest garden estate on the island of Sri Lanka covering the period of one year. Based on the website - I have doubts that the initial flowering indicatedin the book is yielding Spowers the income he deserves or expected ... he will need to build on a career as a writer & communicator & not as the agriculturalist he is seeking to become. The obvious flawin the book is that it only represents a one year account & is thus still not backed up by core knowledge & experience on settling downin Sri Lanka (and the evidence for thisin a period of greater than one year is yet to come). Spowers does not actually express what he thinks about the locals or even Sri Lanka as a place, though he provides some useful portraits with sensitivity. This cardinal volume is thus very sketchy & leaves room for a sequel.

Feeling a bit sick of the UK, particularly as an environment for raising children, Spowers decamps his whole family to Sri Lanka which has to be one of the bravest decisions possible given that the island has a terrorist problem, foreigners are not welcome with open arms unless they are tourists & finally, that Sri Lanka is not usually "on the map" & when it is - it's usually for the wrong reasons. Spowers has the reminiscences of his father & a colonial context to build onin his adventure & just when they have settled into Sri Lanka & think things could not be better, the tsunami strikes.

Spowers has a steep learning curvein dealing with the Sri Lankansin getting their trust & co-operatiion without getting fleeced or emotionally scarred. Armed with a modest fortune he purchases 60acres of prime old time estate landin the south of the island & endeavours to create a sort of eden out of it based on organic, eco friendly ideals, & getting the environmental message out there with the locals. This has to be a magnificient aim.

They realise just how poor most locals are & desperate for funds, & how to get the best of the workers. The people Spowers hires are not up to scratch, & eventually he finds a Tamil manager who brings order to the chaos of his estate as certain workers threaten to build on his land & create divisions between the estate & the local village.

There is a fair bit on the hardship, challenges & support he receivesin setting up (what a friend of mine has described as) the eden projectin Sri Lanka. Spowers apppears to have only inspiration for backing - his travels & the setting up of the Web of Hope which deals with environmental concerns. Spowers realises that action is harder than words & needs to compromise environmentally for his families' good (so he can't abandon flying or driving using petrol). There is so much appreciation of Indian/Sri Lankan culture though not necessarily the sort of respect/knowledge for/of it that would really establish a bond. Spowersin not going native & takes the best elements from Sri Lanka such as ayuruvedic medicines when his children can't be treated any other way, as well as contributing his own culturein the context of outdoor pizza ovens & organic gardening including green tea.

Not many birds or animals are mentioned though habitatin his estate is covered & how he creates a space good for commercial agriculture as well as biodiversity & elements of tourism. His is primarily an educational enterprise which would suffer from funding & publicity constraints. Spowers is doubtless working on these areas.

Spower's by the act of coming to Sri Lanka & flying a green banner has done a tremendous service to the "politic" of the Island, encouraging a new way of looking at the earth based on harmony with nature.

Somewhat disappointingly, the books comes to a rapid close - at least the section dealing with his challenge of setting up "Samakanda" - Peaceful Hillin Sri Lanka - his bioversity estate. There follows after this a series of essays dealing with the most important environmental issues with some relevance or mention of the UK & Sri Lanka (as an aside). I think the essays could have instead been intergratedin the main text or covered elsewhere as the Sri Lankan half is the cream of this book. Sri Lanka needs models of utopia now, more than ever before given its illustrious past glories which have now largely crumbled & with Spowers - there is a taste of a utopia to come.

It is actually a very easy, almost throwaway book & nothing to compare with Spower's earlier, perhaps less commercial, more profound contributions to Green issues such as through the magazine Resurgence. I hope his venture succeeds & there will be a sequel. The work is enjoyable to read highlighting Sri Lanka & the environment, & thus enormously stimulating - but how much staying power Samakanda & the web of hope has remains to be seen.