Benjamin's family home lived quite high up in the jungle. Their home was on the site of the Kandy City Mission; there was a small church, a medical dispensary and a school that was no longer part of the property. The home was quite large, with remodeled rooms upstairs for guests. My room on the main was a bit more rustic as was the bathroom I shared with the rest of the family. My room consisted of a lone mattress on a laminate floor over concrete. I was happy that I brought my own bedding. Judging from homes in the rest of the village, I would say that the Arumugam family was doing well and that they were leaders within the community. Benjamin's mom handed out medical treatments at the dispensary; they also led bible study on Wednesday evenings at the chapel. Benjamin's parents had lived in the home for thirty-seven years; Benjamin was born there a couple years later, as was his brother Philip (who I did not meet). There were also two older daughters, Christine, thirty-nine, who also lived in the house and Sarah, thirty-seven, who was an attorney in Colombo living with her brother Phillip.

Benjamin's mom welcomed me with open arms. She was everything you would want in a Sri Lankan mother. She was shorter than me, a bit round like Benjamin with greying hair tied in a bun. Within minutes of arriving I was drinking tea with her and eating Sri Lankan rice flour sweats. "Eat, eat, eat" was her mantra. After tea I followed Benjamin's dad down to the market. Mr. Arumugam was smaller than Benjamin's mom, rail thin with a shock of white hair atop his dark chocolate skin. He was quite spry; I needed focus and a quickened pace to follow him down the jungle pathways and stairs cut into the hillside down to the market. For as chatty as Benjamin's mom was, Benjamin's dad was a bit more reserved yet we made pleasant conversation on our ten minute journey to the town's equivalent to a convenience store, a shack set in back in the jungle hillside. There we bought food for dinner. Benjamin's dad insisted that he carried the heavy stuff. I got to carry the eggs.

That evening dinner was amazing, chicken curry, Dahl, vegetable rice and a fried eggplant dish. Benjamin's mom enjoyed that I liked her food, again it was, "eat, eat, eat". Dinner conversation swung from the state of Sri Lankan politics (a mess, possibly/ probably corrupt) to tidbits about the States. Sarah, Benjamin's sister joined us for dinner. She was sleeping when I arrived. She was quite well spoken, cute and with an affable personality like her brother. Sarah had been to the east coast of the United States three times, most recently as a delegate for a UN conference of woman's affairs. She told me that a huge portion of the Sri Lankan economy was based on foreign labor, mostly Sri Lankan woman getting jobs as housekeepers or nannies in the Middle East many times leaving families back in Sri Lanka to fend for themselves. These women have little rights and little protection from the Sri Lankan government. Recently, there was a case in Saudi Arabia where a nanny was hit while feeding the baby in her care and the child choked to death. She was beheaded for this and even after her head was no longer attached to her body the Sri Lankan government claimed that they were still working hard on her behalf. At that point no I was sure for which half they were advocating her head or her body. It sounded tragic. After dinner, a much needed shower and bed as we were departing for the cultural triangle at six am the next morning.