Because this community by the train tracks is within touching distance of the carriages as they regularly come thundering through. Working with the unstoppable Dr Godakumbura is inspiring - he's led a one man crusade to provide safe replacements for the poorest of the poor here for the last 17 years and is busier than ever as he continues working into his retirement. But when he took me into one of the shacks to show me living conditions of a family and to give them one of his safe lamps disaster struck, as in the middle of a shot, the camera suddenly stopped working! Maybe it's because it was hot and very humid in there, anyway I was unable to fix it so spent the evening tracking down a replacement. Luckily this industry is full of resourceful people and Colombo no exception...

1000 the next morning identical hire camera is in hand, complete with young assistant who looks to be a dab hand with a portable battery light - looks like I'll need it as a lot of the filming will be after dark.

While much of the rest of the world has been suffering from the economic a downturn, Sri Lanka seems to be coming out of a long dark tunnel, in the South anyway, as the population puts the civil war behind them. Maximus has had a good three years since winning World Challenge in 2006 - we went to see the factory they spent the prize money on, in an area where the locals are in daily contact/conflict with elephants. The factory is huge and has just started producing paper from wild elephant dung. Was taken to the virgin forest next door. Following the elephant trails through the thorny undergrowth we soon found fresh droppings, clear sign of the regular proximity of elephants - and a handy supply of raw material for Maximus's paper!

Until recently the factory employed over 120 locals finishing products on a big contract for an overseas client, but they are waiting for the next order before they can scale up again. Right now they're training up a teams to operate two production lines and expect things to pick up again soon, as they've managed to show double digit growth through the recession. Filmed interesting interviews with a local family. The daughter is earning a pretty good wage doing piece work at home for Maximus; her father is a farmer who came face to face with an elephant the day before, threatening to eat him and his neighbours crops. Although this time hey managed to scare it off, for his generation, elephants are a dangerous pest in their midst. But we interviewed his daughter as she sat next to him painting tiny paper elephants - for her and her friends attitudes are changing, as Maximus relies on elephant (OK, their dung) for the work she's getting, and she told us she was starting to see the value in elephants. Hopefully it's the beginning of a new consciousness in the country where the now-endangered elephant has always been a national symbol