Suddenly amity

How long will it take before all communi- ties live together in peace? A decade? A millennium? An ambitious programme launched by the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute seeks to find answers by bringing together a group of students from varied ethnic backgrounds, for a week's workshop in Colombo.

These young men and women, all awaiting university entrance had been used to looking at the ethnic conflict from the view point of their community and background.

By the last day of the workshop most were awakened to the "other side" of the problem. The 21, Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims said that they learnt to respect each other's cultural and religious differences.

Twenty three year old A.S.M Alaravan from Jaffna would never have considered spending any time together with twenty-one-year old Malinda Punchinilame from Colombo.

Neither could he imagine them being batch mates at the same campus. But the two were thrown together and became friends.

Unfortunately all invitees did not turn up as expected. But the organizers were satisfied. Twenty one students arrived on a Monday morning at the SLFI premises, with no idea of what exactly they would be doing that week.

Sharing rooms with strangers, discussing sensitive issues like the ethnic conflict may have sounded too demanding. They also discussed varied topics such as devolution of power, human rights, career guidance, prevention of alcohol and drug abuse, etc. of interest to their age group.

SLFI Lecturer, and Course Director, Chandra Kumaraswamy said that the aim was to give the students the experience of living together with students from other communities, "to sensitize them about the need to live and to let others live peacefully, and to create in their minds the culture of ethnic harmony and national integration."

Feelings took a positive twist as the workshop progressed. And to everyone's surprise a concept which has been hacked which seemed the most impractical option became a reality. Suddenly national integration seemed to be out of the books and in the real world.

"I was always used to seeing the issue from my point of view. Now I believe that I can see it from both sides," said Malindu Punchimudiyanse, a student selected to Colombo Campus's science faculty.

In the case of twenty two year old A. Arasalingam, it was a new experience. "I got the opportunity to spend time in a different atmosphere where I met my batch mates from varied ethnic groups even before I went into campus," she said.

"Now I have been assured after the workshop that it is only a matter of understanding each other. All the problems have cropped up due to lack of communication," she added.

For young Priyadarshani, a migrant from Jaffna who is now living in Colombo her fears of the majority have now been diminished.

"When we were in Jaffna we did not have a feeling for the Sinhalese. We knew only the soldiers. Then we were afraid of what the majority must be like and what they would think of us. But no more. I can go back to Jaffna anytime confidently and tell the people there that they are not what they think we are," she said.

But, for some like Sachith Mettananda, there has been little or no change in the way he sees the world and other communities then or now.

"It was quite obvious that all communities can live together in peace. But, practical problems such as communication, need to be worked out. All in all, I don't think we have achieved much," he said.

R. Fernandopulle, a student from St. Joseph's claimed that he didn't exactly belong to any specific ethnic group as he is called a Tamil, though he is a Sinhalese.

"The workshop turned out to be an excellent opportunity for me, to understand the problems we have on our hands," he said adding that he sincerely hopes to put into practice what he learnt, at the University.

But A. Malaravan another student who was more skeptical of what was going on, said that he found that students were clustered into different groups after six days of attending the programme, suggesting that workshops alone wouldn't create integration between different ethnic groups.

"But I made friends with students from all ethnic groups and I see no reason why the others shouldn't do the same," he said.

People & Events

Ms. Universe will be here

Miss Universe, Brook Lee will grace the 7th Rotary District Conference which will begin next Friday. The Conference will bring together the 42 Rotary Clubs in the country for a three day sessions at the BMICH.

Visiting the country, for the occasion are, Past Rotary International President M.A.T. Caparaz and Special Representative of Past District Governor, Sushil Gupta.

Rotary in Sri Lanka has 1400 members. The most significant project undertaken by Rotary worldwide is to eradicate Polio by the year 2005. In Sri Lanka the club has incurred as much as US $ 2.4 million in immunization projects undertaken in the last four years.

This year too Rotary will fundamental humanitarian projects in Sri Lanka.

Three principal projects will be the improvement of the Blood bank, Self Help programme for rural villagers and Maxillo Facial Surgery project.

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