Acting up in SriLanka

just another week

The assassination of a leading Tamil politician on a busy street in broad daylight in Colombo last week; a UN envoy claiming there is 'real and credible' evidence that factions of the SL Army are complicit in assisting the Karuna faction in recruiting child-soldiers(used to be part of the LTTE but now come onto the side of the government with their own political party); and the SLA bombing a school where IDPs were sheltering -the SLA claimed that the LTTE was using them as human shields,  but I fail to see how that justifies it - approximately 20 people disappearing in the Jaffna peninsular and over 15 in Batticaloa......it's just another week in Sri Lanka.  Actually the number of people killed since the beginning of the year and the level of disappearances rivals Afghanistan (3,300)- but this is supposed to be a functioning democratic state.

Last Sunday all the roads around the city park opposite the road where my flat is were closed off for the Remembrance Sunday parade. Many cars also have poppy wreaths on their bonnets. I didn't realise what it was initially and was slightly phased when walking out of my flat with Becky and Lucy to see heavily-armed soldiers every 20m and buses closing off roads - but relaxed when I realised what it was - so we continued our walk down to a hotel where we had a swim and Sunday lunch and when we walked back all the buses and soldiers had gone.  However, Becky and Lucy did go to  a beach resort near the airport for the day on Monday as there was a big march carrying the coffin of the slain politician and protesting against political assassinations.  We didn't want to risk them being delayed and missing their flight home.  It turned out it was a good decision as they met a Canadian who had taken over 3 hours to get to the airport and been stopped as several checkpoints.

This next week I'm away visiting projects in the East (southern part where there's no fighting!) and Hambantota with members of ACT who are supporting the appeal.  We are going in convoy with staff from the Methodist Relief and Development Society who regularly visit.  In fact we'll be visiting areas that I saw just after the tsunami so I'm really interested in seeing the difference.  Aragam Bay is/was a major tourist area for surfers and was badly hit.  Many of you who saw my power point presentation of my stay here last year will have seen photos of that area.  I hope I can show you the changes that have been achieved.

I get back to Colombo on Thursday, and have a day in the office meeting the Gen. Sec. of NCCSL to discuss and plan with him  the timetable for a review of the work to be done together with the beneficiaries - probably in March 07 -  and attend the monthly staff meeting.  My plane leaves for Manchester at 2am on Saturday ..... so I'll have a couple of days to see Aisha and Zac before going to Geneva for meetings with ACTCoordinating Office.  I fly back to Colombo on December 3. So no blog for 2 weeks...

The question is - will my plants survive? 

Children in Need

Apologies for being late with my blog this week.  I have been entertaining Becky (VDO area and youth worker in the North West) and her sister Lucy for the past week.  They've been guinea pigs for me as I sent them off on a four day trip to the 'Cultural Triangle' to see how it worked out.  My mother, brother, sister and daughter are all planning to come out for Christmas ... well, it's more than a plan as they've all bought their tickets,  so I need to find things for them to do!  Actually, if I'm honest I can't blame Becky and Lucy for the delay  - I just feel that I don't want to keep giving you bad news about the situation here.  I was talking to Wayne Clarke on Radio Merseyside yesterday and the news is bad but it is also true that the majority of people do just keep their heads down and try and get on with their day to day lives, as they do in any country in the world.  And in the south and parts of the east tsunami houses are still being built and livelihoods restored.

But as this week in the UK people raise money for Children in Need my heart goes out to the children here - the ones who were bombed by the government forces while they stayed in a school which they had fled to with their families to escape the fighting.  The army said that the rebels had fired rockets from the area of the school and so they were 'justified' in firing back.  So at least 23, and maybe many more innocent people, many of them children were killed.  Children who just want to study and get their 'O' levels and 'A' levels have been forced to leave their homes and their schools to escape the violence.  In fact much of the support  given by ACT through the Jaffna Christian Union is to offer children supplementary classes so that they can catch up on the classes they've missed.  Originally as a result of the Tsunami but now because of the conflict too.  The determination of these children to get their education is inspiring - they know that the only way that they can achieve anything in life is by getting the best education they can.  So they will attend extra classes, give up their evenings and their saturdays so that they can get good grades.  But as the conflict continues and the economy suffers I wonder how they can all achieve their dreams - and what they will do if they don't.

I'm getting lots of beans and pakchoy  but the tomatoes aren't doing too well. Still no sign of any bees!