Pictorials: 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.; …..

Experiences: Working on the Gal Oya Project in Ceylon, 1950-61

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; and as an offshoot to develop a special focus on Dr RL Spittel and his work among them; (B) devote attention to the literature on British colonial land policy in the dry zone from the 1850s to 1931; (C)….with a special interest in the initiatives taken by the Governor, Sir Henry Ward, in the 1850s — a topic where my D.Phil dissertation provides useful data;   and, finally, (D) to draw up a bibliographical list of the recent items in TPS on the independent Sri Lankan government’s to revive agriculture in the dry zone arena known as the “Vanni” extending from the Anuradhapura District through to Uva and the Eastern Province — with KK De Silva’s essay and Sugath Kulatunga’s recent contributions in the forefront of my mind.

This programme MUST  be a joint enterprise involving many hands. So this preliminary note is an inivtation to friends  — as well as enemies — to send me a list of pertinent literature relating to the arenas I have specified.

Dr Roman Szechowycz with “indigenous people” (his words) in the mid-1950s       

Dr Szechowycz and other officials 

 

 

 

 

Roman Szechowycz & other officials on the way to Nilgala

 

 

 

 

Dr Szechowyz with his children Andreas & Maria 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 …  performing a postmortem ona pangolin

 

 

 

  ….young Andreas & his mother getting a haircut

 

 

 

 

 

AND, much later in 2016 Andreas and his sister (now married  … Maria Avakian) at Inginiyagala

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 …. AND, capping his nostalgic return to his childhood days, Andreas stands in front of his home at 30 Spillway Road, Inginiyagala with his playmate then J.D. Lionel Premasiri