The Rural Voice, 1997-11, Page 21when regular pasture can't be used
(with a small landbase and a 250-
350 -ewe flock they must buy their
hay so extending the grazing season
is important).
The exchange partners will also
be on hand for the fall shearing
of the sheep, an event that the
Cannings turn into a sort of mini -
festival. The shearer will arrive in the
area and handle about 800 sheep on
several farms within a few days.
School children are invited to the
Canning farm to watch the shearing.
They choose fall shearing because
they get a better quality of wool
when the sheep have been on pasture
all summer. As well, you can fit
more sheep into the barn after they're
sheared and the barn doesn't have as
much humidity. When the sheep
went into the barn unsheared they
tended to perspire more creating a
dense fog in the barn. Such
conditions also damaged the wool for
the spring shearing.
The Cannings also aim to bring
their lamb to market just before, or
just after, the traditional Christmas
market (they do the same at Easter).
They'll have 150 ewes lambing in the
coming weeks and their visitors can
experience the late nights sheep
farmers keep in lambing season.
This kind of experience, more
than practical skills development, is
the purpose of the exchange, Sinclair
says. Champika, for instance, has
learned to work right alongside the
men, using hand and power tools to
work on the wool shed. In Sri Lanka,
women would never be allowed to do
such work. Now she'll have the skills
to do some of these tasks for herself
back in Sri Lanka but Peter wonders
if she'll be allowed to.
"Women work in the house,"
Champika says. "In Canada, women
and men work together."
Liyanage, meanwhile, has been
taught to cook, something he had
never done before. Work in Canada,
at least on the Canning farm, is
shared much more interchangeably
between Peter and Jackie, Peter says.
As part of his life in Canada,
Liyanage now cooks and does dishes.
In Sri Lanka men are shooed out of
the kitchen if they do try to help, says
Sinclair.
For Arreola and Sinclair, the
culture shock may be as difficult
P. W. Liyanage operates a skid -steer
loader at the Canning farm. In Sri
Lanka few machines are used on
farms.
when they go to Sri Lanka to live by
local customs. Arreola, for instance,
will notice a great difference in what
women there are allowed to do.
Women aren't even allowed to go out
after six at night. They can't drink
alcohol. Traditionally, they wear
sarong, not the jeans and slacks
Arreola is used to growing up in
Canada.
But when asked the biggest
change she's noticed about being in
Canada, it isn't freedom to do new
things that Champika says, it's the
cold weather. Even the unseasonably
warm weather of October seemed
cold to people coming from
the 30 degree Celsius
temperatures of Sri Lanka,
which is just eight degrees
north of the equator.
They experienced even
colder weather when they
were taken for their first
experience at skating at the
local rink. Sinclair,
meanwhile has become an
instant hit in Mildmay. A
former Junior "A" goaltender,
he's been coaching young
goalies in the Mildmay minor
hockey system.
The community has been
very welcoming, Peter says.
when they talked, to sharing the
experience of Thanksgiving with
their Sri Lankan visitors. When they
tried to explain the concept of the
holiday, says Arreola, they just got
blank looks from Champika and
Liyanage. "It will be part of the
cultural experience," she says.
o show the visitors part of the
T
political process of Canadian
agriculture, Peter arranged to
take them to a meeting of the Ontario
Federation of Agriculture in Toronto
(Peter is a representative from the
Sheep Marketing Agency on the
OFA board). OFA president Tony
Morris then suggested they should go
over to the Legislature where the
MPPs were debating the Act to
Protect Farming and Food
Production. Grey MPP Bill Murdoch
gave them a tour of the Legislature
and they met Noble Villeneuve,
Minister of Agriculture, Food and
Rural Affairs who, during a break,
took pictures of each of them in the
speaker's chair.
But the sharing of experiences
goes both ways, Peter says. He and
Jackie, and their children, have had a
chance to understand more about Sri
Lanka because of their visitors. Their
three children in particular, Jackie
says, have taken to their visitors. It
was they who broke the ice and were
first to build warm relationships with
the strangers. "My kids are going to
find it very hard when these guys
leave," says Jackie.
"We've developed personal
Liyanage meets Noble Villeneuve, Minister of
Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, in the
legislature.
The young visitors have also spoken
at schools and service clubs.
The Canadians were looking
forward, on the day in early October
relationships," says Arreola. "The
kids look at us as older brothers and
sisters."
"Kim (their youngest) now has
NOVEMBER 1997 17