So they say the war is over in Sri Lanka.  After over 30 years of fighting, the Tamil Rebels are no longer holding a hundred thousand people captive as human shields. The thousands of children that had been recruited as soldiers have been released.  Everything is back to normal.  Or is it?

Over 250,000, people have been displaced and are in need of shelter in disease ridden refugee camps where there is limited supply of food and clean water.  Over the years, there have been thousands of documented cases of recruitment of child soldiers, who must learn how to feel safe again. After having been trained in heavy artillery and bullied into carrying cyanide tablets and grenades with orders to blow themselves up instead of being taken captive by the government, some find it difficult to blend. Go figure. Families, who live in neighborhoods where the only buildings left standing are latrines, are left to rebuild their lives.  Children are trying to find some semblance of normalcy in attending schools that were used as base camps.  Fields, where water supplies had been cut off by the Tamil Tigers, such as at the water gate near Mavil Aru, must learn to produce food again.  Bridges that were destroyed to prevent the Army from coming to the Tamil Tigers’ camp, and other roads must be rebuilt.  How does one get used to meeting a new person without first inquiring if he is Sinhalese or Tamil or Muslim?  What will lasting peace look like if it is even possible?

Like any other change, return to normalcy will take place one person at a time, one attitude at a time, one project at a time, one day at a time--for a long time.  It will take people willing to give, to go, to learn, to listen, to understand, to implement changes.  It will take more people like Labugama Narada and some friends and colleagues who took initiative and worked with the local Army to help relieve some of the suffering.

Rev. Narada is a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk, living in Japan.  He joined forces with the Seishouji Temple in Tokyo, his friend, Wajira Buddhi, a monk in Sri Lanka, Mr. and Mrs. Kamal Harischandra, a Sri Lankan businessman and his wife, and an immigration officer in Sri Lanka by the name of Prabhath Alutge.  Mr. Alutge is the new and first Head of the Human Trafficking Department in Sri Lanka.  With the Sri Lankan army providing access, this diverse group drove 10 hours from Colombo to visit schools between Kantale and Mavil Aru, staying overnight at the Army camp, a trip which took another 2 hours to travel only 24 kilometers! They took school supplies, such as notebooks and drawing books and colored pencils.  The delivered these things to elementary schools and secondary schools where the kids were delighted with their new treasures.  Umbrellas, slippers, water bottles were distributed, as well as soccer balls, volley balls and nets, and cricket equipment. 

Even though education is free and compulsory, with uniforms provided, in Sri Lanka, many children do not have shoes and other necessities.  Other children found it difficult to even get to school at all due to the danger of being caught in crossfire, being recruited along the way to be a soldier, fear of landmines, or just needing to help the family with work, usually in agriculture or fishing.

Rev. Narada said that, “We were just trying to make happiness for the kids.”  At another school, he donated computers and microscopes that he brought from Japan.  He explained that in most cases the people are really very innocent.  They didn’t care if he was a Buddhist or Hindu monk, they just needed someone to talk to and confide in.  They have been traumatized in so many ways:  hunger, fear, trauma, death.  He said that they talked to the children about living a good life and the basic principles of their faith, such as reverence for life and honesty.  One of the schools, Vigneshvara College, Kovilgama, was a Tamil school the children did not speak Sinhalese; however, at another school, Suriyapura Vidyalaya, Alla, they did.  Rev. Narada said that in the future, as a practical step toward reconciliation and peace, the schools will teach both languages as well as English.

He thinks that the best hope for Sri Lanka is to establish a lasting peace by promoting understanding and communication.  The best way to do this, he thinks, is through good education and learning about the world.  On their way home, he and Wahira Buddhi planted King Coconut trees, which offer both food and water, to symbolize hope and to plant that hope in the hearts of the people.

To view photos of this trip, go to www.marianneclyde.com/photo_album.php

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