100s of kites fly for national unity
View(s):A recent ‘national unity’ initiative has resulted in multiple gatherings of people flying, in unison, hundreds of kites encompassing different shapes, colours and sizes as a symbol of the equality, diversity and unity deserved by all Sri Lankan citizens.Spanning seven coastal areas, in Colombo, Batticaloa, Galle, Hambantota, Jaffna, Mullaithivu and Mannar, this National Kite Festival was organised by Sri Lanka’s Ministry of National Languages and Social Integration, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Volunteers (UNV).
Speaking at a July 19 event, UNDP Resident Representative Razina Bilgrami highlighted the Ministry’s sustained promotion of “much needed social integration steadily across the country”. She further commented that this kite-flying programme “indeed stands out amongst the range of initiatives undertaken by the Ministry during this past week, marking the Social Integration Week. The design and adoption of an innovative tool; kite flying, a simple outdoor recreational activity undertaken and enjoyed on a daily basis across this beautiful country by people, irrespective of their ethnicity, caste, religion, gender, age or socio-economic status, highlights the Ministry’s willingness to find new ways to ensure its engagement with the people of Sri Lanka”.
Additionally, she also noted that this was the very first time in Sri Lanka that a National Kite Festival was held to promote the message of ‘National Unity through Social Integration’, with that the UNDP extending its support to the festival through its ‘Programme on Strengthening Enforcement of Law, Access to Justice and Social Integration’, and the UNV helping with its conceptualisation and island-wide deployment.
“We are particularly pleased to note that in the lead up to this (event), the Ministry reached out to all communities through district level workshops to draw attention to the pressing need to acknowledge unity in diversity, to respect equality, understand one’s role of belonging in and responsibility to society, the importance of language learning and the age old tradition of volunteering for the betterment of the people. In fact, especially through the selfless support extended by volunteering as individuals or as groups, mutual knowledge and understanding is enhanced, goodwill created and social integration fostered,” according to Ms. Bilgrami.
(JH)