Forging ahead with memories and new friends
Imagine the scene: 500 students in groups, one group bent over cardboard that was rapidly taking the shape of a poster, another group shutting out the indistinct din with their hands over their ears, rehearsing a song they had just devised and still others busy creating a skit.
Smiles all around: Minoshi Ridmika gets a thunderbolt design on her forearm. Pix by Susantha Liyanawatte
Safra Raslan
In the midst of it, smiling volunteers of the Unity Mission Trust, navigating trays of Nestomalt through the groups. It was all part of the fun and buzz of the Unity Mission Trust‘s seventh camp for young people from the north and south of the country, this time at Mirissa Madhya Maha Vidyalaya .
Since the end of the war, the Trust had successfully organised six Unity Camps. This, however, was a milestone in their efforts of developing friendships across the country- it was their first in the south. The four-day camp brought student leaders from all parts of the country together from October 9-12.
Morning sessions on Saturday ended with group time. Huddling around a bright blue flag at the back of the auditorium Minoshi Ridmika holds out her hand for her team mates to draw menacing thunderbolts on her forearm. The thunderbolts are just the finishing touches around the equally menacing looking words “Blue Sharks’ etched in felt pen. “It’s the name of our team” she says. The 18-year-old says coming up with the name was a unanimous effort- “Sharks are powerful animals, and everyone in our team is powerful,” she smiles.
A prefect of St. Lawrence’s Convent, Colombo 6, it’s Minoshi’s first time at the Unity Camp. While it was a bit of a challenge having to wake up at 4 a.m. just to take a shower, the friends she met like her group leader, D. Jeroshan make it a memorable experience, she says.
Dilan Perera
For Jeroshan who came from Mannar, it was hard to imagine that two short nights ago the team members who are now good friends had severe communication problems. Also a first time camper he feels lucky to be able to speak English. “It is a school rule that we speak only in English on Tuesdays,” he explains. A prefect entrusted also with manning the microphones at his school, Valana RCTV, he says while working with people who have different strengths, it felt great to meet people of a different ethnicity.
Pointing at Minoshi he says, “she is my first Sinhalese friend.” Surprised that she can relate to them Safra Raslan 17, from Muslim Ladies’ College in Galle says it’s not just different ethnicities, “it’s the first time I’m working with boys.” Never expecting to make good friends with them, she has been busily translating Sinhalese and Tamil to make sure her team is on the same page since the camp started.
Activities for the five days of the Unity Camp have always included sports, so Kalana Kalhara Nilaweera was a little disappointed about the rain that put a damper on the planned sports. “Head Prefect of St. Servatius’ College, Matara and head of the media unit in the school he was also a leader at camp. The first few days were difficult he admits as he spoke mainly Sinhala. But if things got really difficult, the volunteers stepped in.
D. Jeroshan
Camps like this are important Kalana says because “now we can show the world how good a united Sri Lanka can be.” Learning Tamil was one of Dilan Perera’s favourite parts of the whole experience “My mother is keen that I do,” he smiles. This is the second Unity Camp for the 18-year-old from S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia. Wearing a yellow ochre band around his wrist he says the group’s name is ‘Tigers’ and they are working well together. Being the 1st XI wicketkeeper for his school cricket team, Dilan is well accustomed to team work and is happy to note that “now we work like a family.”
For Co-Founder and Trustee of the UMT, Bertal Pinto-Jayawardane this was perhaps “the single most effective programme ever run by the UMT.” Teachers, and even parents calling to request a seat for their children in limited seating at the conference and a string of calls after the camp thanking them for the revolutionary experience the children had enjoyed is encouraging.
Despite an unexpected hike in the estimated expenses and the torrents of rain that descended, he feels quite a few memories have been made. A comment from a former camper from St. Thomas’ College, Matara that he looked forward to welcoming his friends from the north to his part of the country left the UMT very optimistic. The warm reception of all the participants from the south to the students from the north was in short “a huge victory for the future of Sri Lanka.”