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“I never thought that I would get a chance to spend two days with
Sinhala girls here [in Trincomalee]. I don’t know Sinhala and they don’t
know Tamil but we were able to communicate very well. Now I can even
speak a little bit of Sinhala!”
said a young Tamil woman from Trincomalee
Forty Sinhala youth from the South and forty Tamil youth from the East
met together in the town of Trincomalee from the 14th to the
17th of May.
This peace expedition was
part of the “Give Peace a Chance” programme of the Alliance Development
Trust - the Relief and Development arm of the National Christian
Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL). The ongoing Peace and
Reconciliation initiatives of NCEASL are aimed at building bridges of
friendship, understanding and forgiveness between the two ethnic groups,
so that peace in our nation will be a meaningful reality.
The Sinhala youth hailed from the southern towns of Galle, Hambantota,
Avissawella and Katharagama. They were all introduced to their Tamil
counterparts in Trincomalee. A young Sinhala man from Galle said “Even
though Trincomalee is part of my country, this is the first time I have
been here. I never thought that I could come and see this beautiful
place and
make Tamil friends.”
The
youth, both Sinhala and Tamil, went to an elders’ home where they got
together and held a “shramadhanaya” – cleaning and clearing the
premises. They also visited a school for deaf children. Later on, they
went to see some
historical sites of the area and the Sinhala youth got an opportunity to
experience the Tamil culture. The Sinhala youth also
 witnessed
the current security situation and were much agitated when heavy
artillery fire broke out around them on their first night.
As the youth gathered together to pray they sought forgiveness for their
mistakes and prayed for reconciliation amongst their communities. Just
like Jesus humbled himself and washed the feet of his disciples, the
youth washed each other’s feet as a symbolic gesture |
