The journey south was interesting – bussing it down the A-9, they met soldiers, policemen and also Sinhala and Muslim civilians.
With one voice, these people they met along the way encouraged them and showed them warmth, echoing the feeling that traffic between the north and the south must take place unceasingly.
Soon they were in Colombo and it was five days of “new experiences” for them.
It certainly was a first for all of them. They had never travelled very far even beyond their villages in Jaffna and never to this strange place called Colombo.
So Colombo it was for them, with children and teachers from different schools opening out their arms in welcome and giving them memories to be treasured long after the finer details become hazy.
It was the pizza that 12-year-old Doreen Celestine from Illavalai was thrilled with while yana (elephants) amazed her as well. “We haven’t seen places like this before,” she smiles in wonderment as Anton Vincello Jettroat, 14, from Chundukuli vows to come back again.
The seal slipping in and out of the water displaying its skills with a ball it was what enthralled 15-year-old Sathyaseelan Nidarshan of Allapitai.
While conceding that the common language they heard was unfamiliar but the “Tamil Akkas at HFC” made them feel at home and sign language was good enough for communication with everyone else, they were happy to show their prowess at singing and acting at a joint programme at the New Kathiresan Hall before they bid goodbye to Colombo and their new-found friends.
Spadework done by the Inter-Congregational Women’s Desk, the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation (CPR), Jaffna, Hindu Women’s Society, Muslim Women’s Action and Research Centre, Education Commission of the Good Shepherd Sisters and the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka under the ‘North-South Linkage for Reconciliation’, resulted in 37 boys and girls in the age group 10 to 15 years from “vulnerable” villages in Jaffna coming to Colombo not only to take in the sights but also intermingle with children here.
The Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, Jaffna, has been working for peace among schoolchildren and also villagers, said Fr. Praveen Maheshan, OMI, who led the group of children and 15 volunteers. “We’ve been working in ‘vulnerable villages’ where the war has taken its toll in the form of abductions and killings. Every year on September 21 which is International Day of Peace we gather in one badly affected village and hold joint cultural programmes,” he said explaining that they are working in 20 villages.
This year’s programme was held in Kaithady where six years ago at a similar function a shooting took place.
 |
| Doreen’ s smile tells the whole story. |
It was at this year’s celebrations that the visitors from Colombo suggested that we should come down south, he said.
Arrangements quickly made and clearance secured, when the group arrived in Colombo, the girls were given comfortable lodgings at Hindu Ladies College along with all sundries such as towels and pillow-cases and the boys at S. Thomas College.
“The warmth of the hosts in Colombo and those who showered them with gifts was great.
They had a wonderful time with Holy Family Convent, Bambalapitiya taking them to Ratnapura to visit a temple as well as a tea and rubber factory,” said Sr. Immaculate de Alwis of the Inter-Congregational Women’s Desk and Convener of the programme.
Then it was the turn of Ave Maria Convent, Negombo, to show them the airport, where the authorities had taken them on a tour of every nook and corner and finally S. Thomas College, Mount Lavinia to wow them with a trip to the Zoo.
Many were the people and organizations who helped make their visit to Colombo an extraordinary one, stresses Sr. Immaculate.
At the culmination of their visit, during the half-day programme where the Jaffna children depicted the sufferings of the people due to the ravages of war through drama and singing, the need for “samadhanam” reverberated across the New Kathiresan Hall.
Not only HFC, STC and Ave Maria but also St. Bridget’s Convent, Hindu Ladies College, Devi Balika Vidyalaya and Ramanathan Hindu Ladies College went on stage with items showcasing the need for peace and reconciliation.
With friendships that will last a long time forged among the children from the north and the south, in an environment where those from Jaffna felt completely at ease while tucking into their biriyanis on this final day, Fr. Praveen’s dream is gradually coming true.
As Sr. Immaculate puts it, someday soon people will not say, “I am from the south or I am from the north”.
Then truly we will all be one, holding close to our hearts the true essence of peace and reconciliation. |
E-mail