Young Peace Ambassadors, Vavuniya
 

24th – 27th November 2009

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The third stage of the Young Ambassadors Peace programme got underway with 30 participants attending a three day workshop. The venue for the programme was Sewa Lanka, Vavuniya from the 24th to the 27th of November 2009.  The participants comprising both ethnicities traveled by Yal Devi from Colombo to Vavuniya, the last stop.

The programme started on the 24th night with the Team Leader of the Alliance Development Trust (ADT) from Vavuniya giving a brief introduction of the work carried out in Vavuniya. The next morning the programme officially got underway with a refreshing time of worship and reflecting on Scripture. The first session was conducted by Sanjeewani Lokuge. She spoke on ‘How to understand youth in conflict/trauma’. She spoke on the following topics:

• Concept of psychology
• Factors of influence
• Rights of a child
• Conflict
• Psychology of war affected children
• Psychology of combatant children
• Our role
• Discrimination of mental well being
• Survival, development, protection and participation
• Skills/tools
• Knowledge gaps
• General do’s and don’ts
• The kind of person you need to be.

The facilitators included many interactive methods to get their messages across to the participants effectively.  For example, group 1 was asked to avoid eye contact with group 2 and act as if they did not care what was said by them. While group 2 was instructed to engage in conversation with Group 1. At the end of the day, the members of each group had formed their own misconceptions, and attitudes to one another. The exercise was conducted to determine how quickly people jump into conclusions.
This session was conducted to prepare the participants for the next days’ visit to a children’s camp, where all the children had gone through different trauma situations.

‘Reconciliation and Conflict Transformation in a Post War Scenario’ was the next session. The speaker was Lakshan Dias. During his session, he spoke on how the ethnic was started in Sri Lanka. Lakshan then divided the participants into two groups by ethnicity and asked both groups to make a timeline and note down the significant events which took place in the political history of Sri Lanka. Subsequently both groups compared their findings to determine what may have caused the ethnic conflict.
This exercise enabled the participants to understand clearly what each ethnicity found significant in the history of Sri Lanka. A trust building game was also conducted to teach a valuable lesson that each one of us as individuals should be responsible in helping another when they are facing a crisis.  Our differences in ethnicity should never be an excuse not to help one another during times of trial.

In closing Lakshan said, “To work towards reconciliation, first we must change our way of thinking. We must be like a flowing stream and not stagnant in our perceptions. We can’t simply ask God to take care of the reconciliation process and wash our hands. We have a duty to act our faith out, with our actions”.

Next Rahulan Abraham (ADT team leader in Vavuniya) gave the audience a brief description of the work carried out for the Internally Displaced Peoples. “During the time of the exodus, when an influx of humanity thronged Vavuniya while fleeing the fighting during the end days of the war between the LTTE and the government forces, they came without hope. On the way to Vavuniya by foot they had seen so much of horror and pain – the future may have seemed unstable as they left all their belongings behind. When I first saw them it was difficult for me to begin to comprehend the magnitude of work involved in restoring normalcy back into their lives,” said Rahulan.

“Our hearts broke. I saw with my own eyes as children were trampled to death under the stampede of hungry men and women. At most camps where the IDP’s were kept they were only provided one meal. We have watched people weep when food ran out. One meal is all they got and one meal is equivalent to a spoonful of rice dished out into their palm. This they would take, sit in a corner and with tears in their eyes eat it. It was heart rendering to watch people suffer so deeply.”

“Our burden was to feed them. We provided all three meals to three thousand IDPs. We determined within ourselves that as long as these people were in our care, there would never be a time when they would beg for their meals. Their meals would be provided on time and they would never be in hunger. We also provided the children with an education. To provide three meals for three thousand people, the vegetables are purchased at four in the morning and the last meal is served to the people at 12 midnight”.
“The task ahead was colossal, but the Lord enabled us to step up to take the challenge. For the past several months, we have lived as they lived; we have been by their side and understood their hopelessness. The Alliance Development Trust is committed to stepping into and transforming their lives.”

On the last day of the workshop, the session was on designing a community based Peace Building Activity. It was conducted by Thoumiyan. The topics which were presented under this session are as follows:

• Key features of a project
• What can a project achieve
• How to meet a goal

After which the participants were placed in groups according to the respective regions and asked to design a community based programme which they could implement in their own communities. The workshop came to a close with a time of testimonies where the participants shared what they found useful during the three day workshop.

“During the three day workshop I realized I must have a love for God and a sincere determination, a goal to carry out the message of peace and reconciliation.” – Mohan Peter from Rathnapura.

“I thank God for the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka for giving us the opportunity for the YPA workshop. We all have personal problems back home but when during these few days, I forgot all my problems and was able to share my faith with others and encourage one another.” – Arichandra from Haputale.

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