Gal Oya Valley Scheme, American Participation & Downstream Development

 Courtesy https://thuppahis.com/2024/04/06/pictorials-roman-szechowycz-in-the-dry-zone-in-the-1950s/ P ictorials: Roman Szechowycz in the Dry Zone in the 1950s Michael Roberts Dr Roman Szechowycz and  his brother served the newly independent island of Ceylon in its hydraulic agriculture projects in the Dry Zone in the period 1950 to 1961 …. mostly from a base at Inginiyagala in the Eastern Province where the Gal Oya Tank was constructed. We are fortunate to have some photographic ‘asides’ of a “personnel nature” — so to speak — associated with this work  The detailed descriptions presented elsewhere in TPS: viz.; ….. They were sent to me by Roman’s son Andreas, who is now residing in Chicago but has warm feelings or our country and also has a citizenship status because his father was honoured as a Citizen of “Ceylon” in 1956. The initiative taken by Andreas has stirred a clutch of ideas in my head . I plan to (A) develop a listing of the literature on the Vadda people; an...

Courtesy https://thuppahis.com/2024/03/29/for-ceylon-roman-szechowycz-in-gal-oya-1950-61/ ↓  Jump to Comments For Ceylon. Roman Szechowycz in Gal Oya, 1950-61 Andreas Szechowycz  … detailing his father’s dedicated work in the Gal Oya Project in the 1950s and in communication with  Michael Roberts   in ways that mark his deep attachment to the island Group Photo – Dr. Roman Szechowycz in middle. L-R: Mr. (not legible), Mr. P. W. Richards, Mr. Coel Menai North Wales UK, Dr. Roman Szechowycz, Dr. A. J. Kostreamaks Bongor, Mr.. Anwari Dilmy Indonesia, Mr. B. A. Abeyvickram   Colombo, Mr. R. A. DeRosaryro Colombo Dr. Roman W. Szechowycz was employed by the Gal Oya Development Board from 18 July 1950 to 1961. He arrived in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) with his wife Sabina (nee Czekan) Szechowycz and their 3-year-old daughter Maria. I was born in October 1951 in Colombo. During the time in Sri Lanka, we lived in Inginiyagala next to the post office. Dr Szechowycz with indigenous...

 Courtesy https://thuppahis.com/2017/01/14/gal-oya-addressing-errors-in-ajit-kanagasundrams-recollections/ Gerald H. Peiris Michael, I knew Ajit at the time he was an undergraduate at Cambridge, and remember meeting him on and off at the ‘Arts Theatre Restaurant’ at lunch-time. The image that comes to mind is a mild-mannered and gentle youth  ̶-  younger than my circle of post-grad ‘Ceylonese’ pals  like Uswatte, Mahes, Shan, Gunda or Dharmawardena  by, say, 6 or 7 years. I haven’t met him since that time, but it seems from what he has written that he has not lost his gentleness, and has remained almost entirely free of “racial” (ethnic?) prejudices, probably impelled by personal experiences since that time. While I particularly like the ‘autobiographical’ segment of  his essay , I have to refer to several errors  ̶  some, important, others trivial  ̶  that could be attributed to excessive reliance on memory and ignoring what serious res...