One country, one book

By Deshabandu Jezima Ismail

What do I like about it?

* Concepts both positive and negative such as prejudice, stereotyping, understanding and unity are sensitively expressed, more through the implicit method rather than explicit definitions.

* The historical rendering of events is skilfully presented in a narrative fashion and would appeal to all ages. 

* Values such as respect, tolerance, concern and care are so blended with the text that the focus on them is indirect.

* Unity in diversity - which is the foundational principle in the fashioning of national integration is brought out skilfully in both words and pictures.

* It can be used, both as a supplementary reader and a handbook for preparation of materials, for the classroom.

I am glad that I am writing the review at the reprint stage, having read and evaluated it. I have used it in many situations with students, teachers and colleagues. 

To quote instances - at a peace camp of three schools, it was an excellent source book and a presentation on national integration too the book was cited as one that could effectively convey the message sensitively.

The presentation of the visuals and the calligraphy are complementary in the sense that one does not overwhelm the other. The cover which depicts a dove is a familiar enough symbol but the difference is the dynamism of peace created by the liveliness of the girl's gesture. 

There are sketches of people and children but not being used to reviewing art, what I am saying maybe a trifle obscure. However, I will make an effort to do so. There is a twining together of both nature and environment both natural and man-made, with the creations that somehow lend a naturalness and a smooth flow to the content within the book.

What I suggest to the readers is: use this book with the young and the adult. The teacher in particular who is looking for innovative methodology to deal with the subject of harmony and understanding, here is a book that lends itself in a very simple fashion to all skills - listening, reading, writing and speaking. A little thought and you have a lesson, both informative and interesting for children of all ages. 

My advice at the end of this review is simple - just get the book, use it and set it on a shelf accessible to hands of varied lengths, because its use cannot be exhausted, especially in a teaching, learning situation.

Window to widow world

By Ananda Galappatti

Rebuilding Lives, I feel is an important contribution to the relatively limited pool of publicly available records of programmes in the field of psychosocial intervention or 'so-called' rehabilitation in Sri Lanka. In the rush of implementing projects under difficult circumstances, few humanitarians take time to formally circulate the details or processes of their work to their colleagues in the field. Sometimes, within particularly contested spheres of activity, they also lack the conviction to do so - which is perhaps why workers within the humanitarian community have had to re-invent the wheel so many times in the past.

From this perspective, Rebuilding Lives is not only a gift, but a typically humble offering from Gethsie and Save the Children Norway (SCN) that is "intended to serve as a guidebook for efforts to alleviate distress both psychologically and financially. Alternatively, it could simply provide a basis for other non-governmental organisations and support groups to evolve fresh initiatives for this purpose".

Let me preface my comments on the book with a quick overview of its contents. Distilled from nearly 12 years of reports, Rebuilding Lives charts the progress of the SCN war widows programme chronologically from its beginnings in 1988 - when Redd Barna, as it was known then, linked up with Fr. Paul Satkunayagan to try and address the needs of women in Batticaloa who had been widowed by the war.

ln the years since the launch of the programme, we, in Sri Lanka, have become increasingly sensitised to the particular difficulties faced by women widowed by war. Even if many of us cannot truly empathise with them, we have some sense of the enormity of the grief too many women still bear, some vague idea of the hardships of sudden changes of material circumstances and societal expectations, an awareness of the frank dangers of being a single woman in brutal patriarchal contexts - all these being present on the east coast, in the deep south, the far north or central portions of this island. The widespread evidence of systemic oppression and suppression often seems to mesmerise and demoralise us - many of us who are simply observers on the periphery.

Gethsie's book, however, avoids wallowing in the suffering and often tragic circumstances that widowhood can bring. This is not to say that the book minimises the losses these women have faced. Instead, it brings to the foreground the immediate material concerns of the women, echoing the voices I've heard of women, from Moneragala, Hambantota and Vavuniya, who often relegate their grief and existential dilemmas to a secondary or more private place.

The book describes the process of providing carefully interwoven care, support and structured assistance to widowed mothers and their children in Chenkalady, Batticaloa. The book provides an overview of the process clearly and states its constraints frankly. In the course of the overview, details are given of activities, games and exercises that the facilitators, the mothers and their children used in their work to strengthen themselves and their supportive networks. These details certainly evoke strong impressions of the very different idioms and ways of discussing or 'making meaning' that are appropriate in that world that lies far, far away from our own limited frameworks. Exercises that compare stages of child emotional development metaphorically to familiar fruits like mangoes or pomegranates reinforce the alien nature of concepts like 'psychosocially protective factors' or 'mental health and well-being' or that most distancing of words - 'rehabilitation'.

It is certainly an asset that this book was compiled from reports during a long, time period. There is an immediacy and a certain type of detail to the overview of a lengthy process that would have certainly been lost if the entire thing was written from hindsight 12 years after the first stirrings of the programme. We seldom have the luxury of consulting documents kept over such a period of time - as keeping records over periods of months, let alone years, doesn't appear to be one of our strengths.

As a commentator, I have a few queries about the contents of the book. For example, I have questions about the section pertaining to advice on how to deal with feelings and reservations about the use of value-laden terms like traumatised as a descriptive category. Even if we do make very clear disclaimers that we do not intend to confer a debilitating victim-status upon the person being described as traumatised, I would caution that sadly we cannot hope to redefine the meaning of such terms that have been unleashed globally through the world of sensationalist media and humanitarian reporting. The best we can do, perhaps, is search for new words that might better express our meaning. But these are quibbles.

As I read through the book, I did find myself wishing I could 'listen in' on the sessions to have more detail for greater insight into how difficult discussions were handled, and how the facilitators and participants in the programme challenged and supported each other. To this end, I wished for transcriptions or approximations of individual sessions that could have been an additional asset to someone like myself.

However, Rebuilding Lives provides an extremely useful overview of the war widows' programme. It is certainly not swamped with detail. There has been a very judicious culling of information by the author and editor to effectively convey both the process and spirit of the programme within the context of a very accessible book.

At first glance, Rebuilding Lives may seem a slim book that can be read and digested quickly and easily. However, it does call for careful and repeated reading, for the seemingly simple language is still heavily laden with nuance and embedded with layers of meaning and information about the author's approach to work. Gethsie's unwillingness to prescribe (as in a recipe) how others might follow in her path puts the burden of confronting the issues involved squarely on the shoulders of the reader. 

And I sense that maybe this is the point she is most interested in making.

To me, Gethsie represents the rare worker who never gets tired of negotiating that tension between universal principles and field context. Throughout our many conversations, I have been astounded at her capacity for constantly critiquing her own work and that of others with the most generous of spirits. For all her years of experience and demonstrably sound judgement, she still remains devoutly open to re-thinking and re-examining her ideas at all times. And she would have absolutely no fear in diverting the course of a workshop or session if her re-thinking told her it was the right thing to do. It is this sensibility, I believe, that informs Rebuilding Lives - and it is with this in the forefront of your mind that I urge you to read it - so that if you choose to follow Gethsie's guidelines, you will actually be creating a new programme, one that is appropriate, honest and real.

I was both personally touched and rather surprised when Gethsie asked me if I would speak at the launch of her book . Over the past couple of years, I have had the good fortune to work with her on a few occasions - and have developed a deep admiration for her sensitivity, experience and commitment to her work. However, knowing her as I do now, I also know it is typical of her to invite and be interested in comments on her work from someone like myself - a novice in the field in comparison with her. Thank you Gethsie, for the book.

The writer is a Programme Officer, War-Trauma & Psychosocial Support Programme of the International War-related Trauma and Humanitarian Intervention Trust.

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