If you have ever been in the central highlands of Sri Lanka, this is a scene that you will see repeated all over. A small trail, up in the hills, with morning mist rising in the valley around you, the lush greenery wet with condensing dew from the cool night - The local small trader (watti amma - an endearing term used to describe door-to-door produce saleswomen) making her way to the local pola (farm market), her woven basket filled with fresh picked vegetables and fruit balanced on her head - If you listen very carefully, you have to listen very carefully, for there are other distracting sounds, like the bubbling of water in a nearby brook, or the various nestlings waking up to the rising sun and crying out for the first bite of the day, you just might be able to hear the gentle laughter of children on their way to school.

Photo: Tom Tidball