In August 1989, at short notice, I was called to the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila in the Philippines.

         They needed me to help them with an urgent mission in Sri Lanka. My role was to go to the head office of the Department of Agriculture in Kandy and collect information for a bank loan. This was a six-week assignment.

         The Bank booked me into the Hyatt Hotel,  an easy walk to the old ADB building.

         One day I was walking to the bank along an isolated footpath when I was about to cross a feeder road when a large Crown car with darkened windows pulled up in front of me.

         Suddenly the back window went down and a beckoning figure waved a police badge to me.

         I was running late so I just waved my ADB identification card and kept on walking.

          After I arrived at the bank I casually said I had been held up by a policeman – all hell broke loose. The head of security came running.

         He told me this rouge policeman usually asked for the consultant’s passport, and while browsing through it he would stick a gun in their ribs as his driver sped off.

         This man had been robbing ADB consultants on this route for some time.

         He was unlucky that day as I had been carrying US $14, 000 in cash in my body belt.        The New Zealand Government had given me US $7, 000 to cover my mission, and the A D Bank gave me another US $7,000.

         I went straight back to my hotel and rented a security box for my cash. I never made that mistake again!

         At that time there was a war going on in Sri Lanka and there was a heavy curfew between 10p.m. and 4a.m. You were shot if you were out during the curfew hours.

         The ADB man in charge of this mission was a Tamil and he was scared of going to Kandy some 116 km from Colombo.

         As there was no public transport I was told to rent a taxi for a week. That sounded too expensive for me.

         Being the Sri Lankan Rugby Union New Zealand Liaison Officer I discussed this problem with Kavan Rambukwelle, the Union President. He offered to take me by car and to organize a return ride a week later.

         The Head Office of the Department of Agriculture was situated at Perideniya, over the road from the University, some miles out of Kandy.

         A friend, Professor Ravi Sangakkara took me to the University each day and returned me to my hotel each evening in Kandy.  I walked daily, to and from the university to the Department of Agriculture head office.

         Two weeks after my regular visits to the University I read a Reuter report saying the rebels had gunned down, a volunteer army captain, and the assistant registrar at the University.      The next day his troops moved in and beheaded 18 men. Their heads were placed around a pond on the campus.

         What terrible things have been going on – they are not improving today.

         I am fortunate I returned to New Zealand for my retirement.

Geoffrey Moss (mossassociate.co.nz)

“Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb – that’s where you find the fruit.”

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