Living together after tying the knot in Sri Lanka, 40 years ago
Celebrating a promise of 40 years is what Alain and Manuela De Sauvage from Belgium was about during this Christmas holidays --having first tied the knot in Sri Lanka back in 1978.
Their union has not just given them the chance to keep coming back 31 times over the past four decades but also increased bilateral ties and encouraged more travellers from Belgium the opportunity to visit Sri Lanka.
Mr. De Sauvage explained, in an interview in Colombo, how he had first travelled to Sri Lanka because of his sole interest in Buddhist architecture while still a student.
At the time Sri Lanka was one of the cheapest destinations to travel to and so he had visited the country and believed it to be the ideal location to marry his fiancé Manuela.
Though Belgium tradition had it that a marriage ceremony should take place in the girl’s city, they did away with that more so since Manuela’s family was continually changing location and so there was no one place she could really call home. However, initially her parents had frowned upon the idea of her entering wedded bliss in Sri Lanka but were later convinced.
Mr. De Sauvage said, “Not only is the country beautiful and peaceful, but the people were nice and the economy was growing and the edu- cation was impressive.”
Back in Belgium, Mr. De Sauvage established the Belgio – Sri Lanka Association that had increased the bilateral ties between the two destinations. One of the first projects of the association was to build a small village school back then in Sigiriya.
“We collected 24 tonnes of medicine and used a military style aircraft to transport it,” he said adding that subsequently they decided to marry in Sri Lanka.
The Catholic wedding ceremony took place at St. Anthony’s Cathedral in Kandy and Fr. Michelle De Martin officiated at the service while Andrew Kariyawasam, founder Chairman of Andrews Travels was the witness to the ceremony. Andrews Travels has been one of pioneers in the introduction of the Belgium market to Sri Lanka.
In addition Mr. De Sauvage said he used to organise guided tours for people and friends from Belgium as well and had later through the association also built a village in Wathuruwila called Belgium in the Galle District. The village comprised 120 houses under the Gam Udawa project with patronage from the Queen of Belgium and funds raised from Oxfam in Belgium.
The best thing that happened in Sri Lanka was peace, he said adding that 40 years ago Sri Lanka was on an ascending wane in education, economy and autonomy.
And Sri Lanka continues to fascinate the couple who both insisted that inspite of a few tall high rises and the changing landscape, Sri Lanka is still the same every year.
Some of the key sights and attractions that have taken their interest are Polonnaruwa, rock caves and the stone monuments, Mr. De Sauvage explained.
In fact, this time they would be taking a trip to Kandy via Dambulla and Polonnaruwa, he said. The couple would be in the country for about six days, they said as they had already been travelling to India during this holiday.
One of the key aspects that Sri Lanka outshines against its rival destinations is the fact that within a small land area tourists have the opportunity of visiting a number of locations, checking out the sights and attractions and engage in activities without much travelling.
However, other destinations they note caused them to travel a lot within the destination itself, thereby taking up much time.
“Sri Lanka in a small area you have beautiful temples, landscape, nice people and the paddy fields,” they said.
The couple has been visiting mainly Asian countries like India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia and Myanmar and Europe.
This would be the first time they celebrate their anniversary in the land they first entered wedded bliss and as Manuela said, “there must be some chemistry” between them for them to last together for so many years when compared with the numbers that separate.
Sri Lanka attracts 15,000 tourists from Belgium annually and the number of holidaymakers from that island nation that is comparatively smaller in size has grown over the years as well.