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Newsletter Companions Onthistraditionaljourney,” Hesaid SEWALANKA FOUNDATION Edition # 13,October 2006 Newsletter Sewalanka joins Kataragama pilgrimage Sewalanka Foundation once again joined in the annual “We decided to participate in the pilgrimage as an tradition of the Kataragama Pada Yatra pilgrimage in organisation three years ago to allow our older staff July this year, with over 225 staff members coming members the opportunity to continue a childhood together from districts across the island to participate. tradition and to give our younger generations the opportunity to learn about one of Sri Lanka’s oldest Leaving from Okanda in Ampara District on 21 July, customs,” Mr Navaratne said. Sinhalese, Tamil, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim and Christian staff members joined with pilgrims as they “The Pada Yatra is a powerful experience that cuts walked the final five-day leg through Yala National Park. across age, race, gender and religion and for an organisation that attempts to do the same; it has Chanting and singing to keep wild animals at bay, the become an important annual event for the Sewalanka procession travelled over 120 kilometres to finish in the team. holy city of Kataragama in time for the start of the Esala Festival. “In the first year we had around 60 participants and 120 the following year. Each year, more and more staff from Walking for the third year in a row, Sewalanka across the country are coming together to worship, Foundation Chairman Harsha Kumara Navaratne said reflect and share their experiences with old and new the pilgrimage had become an important tradition for companions on this traditional journey,” he said. Sewalanka staff. Continued pg. 3 Working towards peace ................................. 2 Response to emergency situation ............... 10 Temporary shelters decommissioned ............ 4 Work continues on Trincomalee centre ....... 12 IFSP scaled down .......................................... 6 Hari Children's Home appeal ....................... 13 Schools opening in South .............................. 7 News, events and training ............................ 14 Psychosocial support in the north .................. 8 Volunteers @ Sewalanka ............................. 19 INSIDE Feature Working towards peace "Valoor’s peace team identified an interest from young community members in establishing a light- Patrick Silvester has been working with Sewalanka Foundation hearted cricket competition as a Peace and Reconciliation Coordinator since February this between villages in the area." year. Based in Trincomalee District in the country’s northeast, Mr Silvester is responsible for developing support and enthusiasm for peace and reconciliation activities across the District. When I began working at Sewalanka, my first task was to develop activities with young people in the Trincomalee area. There were originally eight target villages determined by Sewalanka and our long term partner German Agro Action, however as three were located in uncleared areas, we are now working with only five of these. I work with 12 extremely hardworking field officers and coordinators. Most of these field staff are young like myself so it makes it easier for us to work well as a team with the young people. After conducting initial awareness meetings in these five villages, we spoke to the young people from each community. For some reason many development staff working in the villages are older people. When the young people see us in the field, they seem really happy to speak openly because we are of a similar age. They say that it is normally their elders who make decisions for them and tell them what they should do. We told them that we wanted to hear their ideas; that these ideas and the resulting actions are what we want to promote. It’s a difficult situation in Trincomalee these days. There are armed forces on both sides of most streets. Shelling happens frequently. Soldiers are stressed and some are scared. It is rare for people to be outside of their houses after 7.30 pm, especially young people. They are too afraid. We wanted to see what we could do to improve the situation, even just a little. Following the awareness meetings, we created ‘Sewa Peace Teams’ – one in each village. Each team has seven young people and two or three elders. The ages of the young people range from 18 to 30 years. The elders include village leaders, teachers and members from community-based organisations. I meet with each peace team every two weeks and we go over their activities and three-month plans. When we first established the teams, we didn’t give any ideas to them in the first month. Instead, they were briefed about the project and >> Top: Mr Silvester conducting a their responsibilities and left to come up with their own ideas about peace and reconciliation awareness what they wanted to achieve and how this could be done. program. >> Middle: A non-violent At the end of one month, we went back into the villages and communications workshop in conducted non-violent communication training workshops with Trincomalee. community members. After these workshops we sat down with the >> Bottom: Valoor’s Peace Team peace teams and discussed their progress. Two teams had already cleaning a school in Trincomalee. started small programs and the other three had some ideas but wanted our assistance to begin undertaking them. 2 One of the activities undertaken in this first month was a Trincomalee what their plans for the future are and they multi-ethnic cricket team in the village of Valoor. will tell you that they want to finish their studies and move Surrounded by three army camps, the village of Valoor is to the UK or to America. In their minds, they don’t think predominately made up of Tamil Muslims. Valoor’s Peace Sri Lanka will ever achieve peace and will do anything Team identified an interest from young community they can to get out. members in establishing a light-hearted cricket When it comes to village members, they want to do competition between villages in the area. They something about the situation because they often don’t approached Sewalanka for equipment and advice and then have the same opportunities to get out. They know that if generated letters to the District Secretariat’s office and to they can do something then they can make their lives the armed forces in the area, requesting approval to hold safer. the event. And that’s exactly what these teams are now doing – There were some initial reservations from the armed something! forces, however after the first day they were impressed to see what was happening; women were playing cricket, My next aim is to develop a network with other youngsters from all over the area were playing together organisations doing similar work. There are so many and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. organisations working for peace. If we linked our activities and had a better understanding of what each of us is One team even visited a nearby village of 50 families and doing, it would make things so much easier. upon learning that the community was without a water supply, established a community-based organisation Sewalanka Foundation has five Peace and (CBO) made up of community members. Once they had Reconciliation Coordinators working in four districts; established the CBO, they approached us for assistance Trincomalee, Mannar, Vavuniya and Kilinochchi. For in purchasing the piping required to establish a water more information on these and other peace and supply. Then they confirmed with us that the labour and reconciliation activities currently underway, email maintenance would be provided by the peace team and Mr Naushad Ahamed, Project Assistant at the families of the village. This is amazing! [email protected] One of Sewalanka’s major mandates is to bring communities together to form CBOs and this is exactly what these kids have done; they established a CBO of 50 families. This CBO has also committed itself to providing additional support to its women-headed households! Continued from pg. 1 The Pada Yatra is a pilgrimage that traditionally begins at In other target villages, peace teams are focusing on the northern tip of the Jaffna peninsula and ends in the language classes; Sinhala and English for Tamil speakers southern holy city, Kataragama; a destination for devotees and Tamil and English for Sinhala communities. There is of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. According to legend, it no age limit for participants, classes run four or five times was here that the god Kataragama – also known as a week and the instructors are professionals from local Skanda, Kanda, Murugan and Arumugum – settled after a schools and universities. battle against the enemies of the gods. These kinds of activities have had a big impact on the Devotees follow along the same coastal route upon which village members’ perceptions of young people and teams it is said Kataragama travelled. Pilgrims stop to pray at are gaining respect from their communities, including the numerous holy sites along the way, including the location police and security forces. where, according to legend, Lord Kataragama met his second wife, Valli Amma, a Sri Lankan vedda. The activities have also had a big impact on relationships between the youth involved. In one village the peace team These days, checkpoints and conflict make it difficult for is made up of Tamil Hindus and Tamil Muslims, who many pilgrims to start their journey in Jaffna. For most together are working to develop ways to promote inter- pilgrims, this year's walk began in Verugal Trincomalee. cultural understanding and tolerance in their own community, as well as neighbouring communities. Ask any young person in Colombo who is originally from 3 Housing update Temporary shelters decommissioned "Field officers are also undertaking a basic analysis of permanent housing sites to deter- Since the tsunami, Sewalanka staff have been working with a mine the needs of communities as multitude of donor agencies and the Government to provide temporary they resettle into their new homes." shelter and infrastructure to almost 10,000 families across Sri Lanka.
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