After 60 years, moving forward??

This has probably been the longest (in terms of length) blog I have written.  I had originally sat down in the last week of January/first week of February to write this blog reflecting the  symbolic period surrounding Sri Lanka as well as the region.  The end of January witnessed the 60^th anniversary of the death of Ghandi and the beginning of February saw the 60^th anniversary of the Independence of Sri Lanka.   Maybe it was me, but I seemed to sense some sort of hope and anticipation in the air.  In India, the second freedom struggle to end poverty and the caste system had just been launched at the appropriately named Ghandigaram (The University founded on Ghandi’s teachings).  In Sri Lanka, much of the media carried in various forms, articles on Ghandi and what he said and did.  It did not take much to see the inferences that were being made.  Perhaps after 60 years of independence and 20 years of ethnic strife, there was an expectation that people in Sri Lanka would perhaps move towards this change as it seemed to be happening across the waters.

As the 4^th of February rolled about, the official government celebrations took centre stage under a shadow of the threat of suicide bombs.  Most people escaped to the beaches down south taking advantage of the long weekend.  ‘Independence? From what?’ remarked some of my friends when I asked them what they were planning to do for that day.  My next remark to them on ‘how independence meant freedom from the yoke of colonialism and the working towards a new Sri Lankan identity whose people would wear with pride free from oppression and injustice, and how there was still a way to go for Sri Lanka to truly achieve this despite setting it in motion 60 years back’, received even more cynical remarks.  ‘You are just some romantic idealist Amjad! That’s the job of the government! Never going to happen!’

And so it was, 4^th of February rolled around and people got ready for the actual defining big event, Valentine’s Day.  As the 14^th of February grew ever closer, shops started stocking the cards and heart shaped chocolate boxes; radio and TV stations started advertising special ‘Valentines Night’ and hotels started to promote their special offers.  The shocker was a five star hotel which was promoting a special valentines night offer all inclusive for couples that would cost $2000.  If this was not shocking, then what was even more disturbing was that there were people who had actually bought the package.

And so for me, some expectation for possible change at the beginning of February suddenly fizzled to disillusion.  How could people spend that much on a silly concept night when people are suffering from 24% inflation?  How could people be so insensitive to the sufferings of people in the north and east?   Of course I knew that this was the work of  the ‘Colombo Crowd’, that rare species of established and nouveau rich, that roam around Colombo in their Perspex carriages and live in ivory towers, completely oblivious to reality (a species found in many other developing countries).  Yet I told myself, I could not comprehend that even these people would be able to be so indifferent, insensitive and oblivious to their neighbours’ plights

The sad reality is that it is this apathy displayed at the most basic and inhuman manner by the ‘Colombo crowd’, that is symptomatic of a bigger disease in Sri Lanka.  The lack of giving a damn that means that Sri Lanka can never really progress from the abyss it found itself 60 years ago.  My disillusionment has been reinforced by the fact that when you ask most people in Sri Lanka, what they are proud about.  Their response is normally blank or they say, ‘I was born Sri Lankan, so I have nothing to be proud of, I just accept it’.

With this type of attitude how can the country move forward?  I reflect on my experiences when I first came back to Sri Lanka. Coming back to ‘discover’ Sri Lanka was always going to be a challenge.  ‘So Amjad, you are an engineer from Imperial?’ had been the common question followed by the next question that i know comes into their mind: ‘So what the hell are you doing back here in Sri Lanka?’  Sometimes the question goes even further ‘What is an educated person like you doing working for an INGO?  Are you on some personal crusade for redemption?’

These have been the common questions that have been posed to me.  The main quandary for them is that they cannot really understand why i would seemingly ‘sacrifice’ my life in the UK to come back to Sri Lanka.  When people are desperately trying to leave the country or to send their children abroad it is strange that someone should be making a strategic choice to come back.

Therein is the crux of the issue.  In recent years the brain drain has been evident and intense.  Whilst one can make a case for people leaving the country to seek better fortunes elsewhere, it is also true that now more than ever Sri Lanka needs its people to remain behind. ‘Why?’ is the question someone would ask.    As a development / humanitarian worker, we are engaged in trying to influence a change.  A change in people’s lives, an improvement in their economic status; a change in the attitude to allow respect and acceptance. For me with Sri Lankan roots, it is even more personal.  It is about showing that bringing peace and development to Sri Lanka is the duty of its children regardless of caste, creed and religion. How can we do this when the rest of the people are apathetic?  

One of the greatest spiritual teachings is that ‘change can happen when people set themselves up to be part of that change’ and Ghandi elaborated this so well when he said ‘If you wish to see change, then be that change’.  If people are not interested in this change so why should we be so bothered? 

Peace from the People

There's something rather strange about hearing "Frosty the Snowman" belting out on a loudspeaker when it's 90 degrees outside, or seeing a skinny Santa dancing to the tune of Baila (local Sinhalese music) at one of Colombo's shopping centres.

Over Christmas, TV and radio stations played Daniel O'Donnell Christmas classics or Boney M's "Mary's Boy Child". Hotels were festooned with elaborate decorations; some of the largest resembling Santa's grotto. One of the most romantic festive images was the lights glimmering in the trees beside the majestic Galle fort as the sun set over the Indian Ocean.

Christmas is quite a big deal in Sri Lanka - a strange paradox considering that Christians account for only around 8 percent of the population. Everyone seems to enjoy shopping and putting up decorations. The question is whether this is a sign of the deadly clutches of globalisation or something else.

For a country that's sometimes classified as racist, the privileges afforded to the main minority communities (Muslim and Christian) speak well of historical tolerance and acceptance. You only have to look at the various places of worship and public holidays given for different religions, not to mention traditional attempts by the establishment to engage and include minorities. But somewhere along the line, this tolerance has been skewed and abused.

Reflecting back on 2007, I remember a December seminar in Colombo entitled "The Aceh Story: Insights". Here representatives from Indonesia - members of the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), academics and Aceh Monitoring Mission personnel - shared their experiences of the Aceh peace process with members of Sri Lankan civil society, in the hope of deriving lessons that could be applied here.

It was the first time in a long while that grassroots groups representing all the island's religions and ethnic configurations had came together under one roof with the aim of building peace. Buddhist monks from the south sat side by side with Tamil social activists from the north and Muslim farmers from the east.

They argued and deliberated for two days to identify some action points for moving forward on a path of peace, respect and understanding. One monk told me at the end: "We have to work together and support each other in order to make this a reality. No one can afford to give up this responsibility and miss this opportunity."

Looking back at 2007 and forward to 2008 - the 60th anniversary of Sri Lanka's independence - there are undoubtedly mixed feelings. For some there is despair, and for others hope. But for the majority, there is uncertainty.

Uncertainty because there are many factors clouding the prospects for a prosperous Sri Lanka: the rising cost of living; deteriorating security; increased corruption; and the growing arrogance of politicians who seem to feel they're beyond the remit of the law. In one recent incident, a minister tried to show his might at a national TV station by attacking the news director for not broadcasting his speech.

There's despair because, despite all the New Year messages of peace, 2008 started with a political assassination, a bomb attack and the straw that broke the camel's back - the annulment of the ceasefire, which could lead to untold suffering.

But there is still hope if you consider the people at the grassroots, like those at the Aceh seminar. They've been on the receiving end of the conflict. Yet they're increasingly waking up to the failures of leadership in addressing pressing issues, not to mention the corruption, abuse of power and lies. And they are becoming aware of their duties.

It is not the elite in Colombo, nor those who claim to represent the people, nor those living safely 'in exile' out of the country who must shoulder the responsibility. It is the grassroots movement that needs to work for peace.

These true people's representatives must push for the respect and understanding of differences and diversity that could move Sri Lanka out of the ideological cesspit and political stalemate of the last 30 years. Those who are genuinely interested in the welfare of others and can work on the basis of a unified community need to raise their game.

Therein lies the challenge for many of us in the humanitarian community. Instead of preaching from the moral high ground or adopting naive political positions, it's high time we got more involved with the grassroots. Why don't we find out what Sri Lankans think rather than assume we know what they want?

The Aceh seminar taught me that, for most Sri Lankans, peace is about greater economic empowerment, better health care and education for their children. It's also about understanding and accepting culture and diversity, alongside equality and freedom of expression.
How do we translate this into practical action? Should we support more inter-cultural programmes to bring communities together by solving waste problems, or boosting alternative energy or microfinance? Is it about organising sports matches for youth and then channelling their energy into community projects? Or is it simply about establishing a platform for people to share ideas and work out how to put them into practice?

What's clear is that Sri Lanka needs some answers pretty quickly. You could describe the situation as a rubber-band effect, in which the country has been stretched about as far as it can go, and the only options are to snap or go back to the middle.
Either way, 2008 has to be a turning point, with Sri Lanka's people taking measures to sort out their own problem. The future is no longer "out there", but in their hands. They've been bitten on too many occasions, and it's high time they bit back.

The Real Stories

As I sat down to as is custom to think about my next blog, I felt reluctant to touch on the security situation in Sri Lanka as perhaps would have been expected, because I felt that enough seems to be said about it without the need for me to elucidate further.

I reflected on a conversation that I had with an old friend of mine who had called from the States to find out ‘whether I was ok?’, since she had heard the situation in Sri Lanka was really bad.  For a moment I lost track of the conversation and assumed that she was talking about how bad Sri Lanka had played on the first day of the first cricket test against England before I realised she was talking about the recent spate of bomb attacks and security situation.

I think the sad fact is that increasingly one becomes desensitised to these unusual occurrences as they become part of every day life.  The mere fact that there are more police and army on the streets of Colombo, more checkpoints, more stop and searches has really not done much to dent people’s enthusiasm to shop or go out to eat, two of the favourite past times in Colombo. 

Whether it is the incredible resilience of people who have seen the highs and lows of this now 24 year old conflict or whether, it is apathy or weariness, one thing is for certain, people will not change their routine.

‘Why should I change?’ remarks Thushan, a manger who works in one of the most security conscious parts of Colombo, the fort, close to Colombo Port, the President’s Office, the World Trade Centre. ‘I can’t change my routine.  It means that those intent on disruption have won.  It takes me longer to get to work because of the security risk, but that’s the price we pay’

Of course those in the north and east would perhaps feel that they have gotten the raw end of the deal with increased security concerns preventing them from free movement.

There is no clear explanations to situations like this.  It is obvious that the losers in all of this are the civilians not only in places like Colombo and the North and East but also elsewhere in the country.

People often say that the south and the west of Sri Lanka are unconcerned with the conflict.  Perhaps not directly but indirectly, issues of poverty and lack of investment also mean that the south (mainly) suffers from malnutrition and extreme poverty.  Vital resources are either diverted for the defence budget or to support re-election campaigns.

In my travels around the country I have been amazed at how many times I have come across the direct contradiction to the assumption that Sri Lanka is a middle income country ‘except in the north and east’

It is this misnomer mainly given by donor governments and development agencies that has meant Sri Lanka for a long time to come will continue to receive skewed funding.

In the meantime, Murali, perhaps one of the greatest cricket players in the world, has taken his world record 709^th text wicket and Sri Lanka have comprehensively romped home to defeat England in Kandy (ironically the last stand of the Sinhalese King against the British colonial rulers).  For a brief period, all of Sri Lanka (without exception) in that quirky and unique Sri Lankan manner (when it comes to cricket) would have united to rejoice this achievement in some way.  Murali (and the cricket team) to some extent represent what Sri Lanka can be: united in all ethnicities and religions where you are judged and rewarded on your merit, your diplomacy and what you can deliver on the field, not who you are or what ethnicity you represent.

Staring into Uncertainty

Steven Covey once wrote that ‘A week is the normal lens that gives us the most manageable perspective’.  What he meant was that a week is a sizeable period in which one can plan and schedule the week and get a better idea of what is to come.  However looking back at the week that has gone by, it seems that the week  is a long time during which a lot can happen.

As people within the humanitarian community worldwide grasped the reality of the old definition of globalisation ‘when the west sneezes, the east catches the cold’, as details of the  Chad Orphans case unfolded, on Friday the 2^nd of November, the humanitarian community within Sri Lanka braced itself  fearing the worst as news broke that the political leader of the LTTE had been killed  by Sri Lankan Airforce attacks.

Whatever the outcome of the case in Chad, the repercussions will be felt for a long time to come.  Firstly the already negative perceptions for humanitarian organisations will not be improved one bit.  The events in Chad will only serve to reinforce the suspicion that humanitarian agencies (particularly those based in Europe and the States) have a hidden agenda with regards to the developing world.  The sheer arrogance and naivety with which members of ‘Zoe’s Ark’ went about the ‘adoption of orphans’  is nothing short of an intelligently challenged  mindset towards those less fortunate than us.  The fact that it was done to those members of society with the weakest voice, the children, is reprehensible.  Robbing a nation of children rather than empowering and educating them in order for them to build their own country smells like the old colonial stench that was present in the 18^th, 19^th and beginning of the 20^th century.

The fact that these were done by so called volunteers casts a serious shadow on the nature of humanitarian and charity work.   It is important for observers to differentiate between those engaged in humanitarian work delivering a real product and service and those engaged purely as a way of redemption of their past sins.  Volunteers are always a part and parcel of the existence of non profit organisations however this should not exempt them from their responsibilities towards the communities that they serve.  Humility is always the key when dealing with people who are less fortunate than those bringing the help.  To think otherwise is to tread a very narrow line.  Here in Sri Lanka, especially after the tsunami, one has often witnessed the emergence of similar ‘mummy & daddy’ (as they are fondly called) organisations with a lot of good will and very little else.  Whilst good will is important, it can only go so far before inexperience and immaturity give rise to serious mistakes.  There is no denying that in Sri Lanka, a lot of good has been done by these agencies, as the lack of procedures and overheads has often meant that post tsunami reconstruction has been faster than established humanitarian organisations.  However what has been noticed is that these same agencies have often not followed  procedures or standards and there is very little means to hold them accountable for mistakes, particularly in the long run and in particular a lot of them have also originated out of a faith background with no impartiality towards other religions and cultures.  Hence prostelisation has been on the rise and what this has meant for those of us who are in for the long haul, there is often a double challenge when doing our work.  Are you converting people to your religion?  Why are you helping us?

If this was not enough to worry us in Sri Lanka, the death of Tamilselvam cast a shadow of uncertainty into the future of Sri Lanka.  As the news broke, text messages were sent across displaying security notices and warnings to remain vigilant.  The immediate thought was that retaliation from the LTTE might be deadly and swift.  Security checks were tightened in Colombo as the President urged civilians to be vigilant.  ‘What does it matter?  Peace needs to be obtained whereby there is not only an absence of war, but is about people living in this absence of fear within one nation’ reminisced Madumanthi, a social worker based out of Matara in the south of Sri Lanka.  Whilst her thoughts might be unique for someone out of the south, there is increasingly a sense amongst people out of the north and east, that the solution for Sri Lanka’s problems does not rest in a military solution.  This is an increasing silent minority and in fact can be evident from the muted public response to the death of the LTTE leader.  Whether this is weariness from a conflict that has sapped the physical, financial, intellectual and moral energy of a nation or the realisation that injustices of the past need to be corrected, only time will tell.  However what is certain for the near future and if all analysts are correct, there will be a tough time ahead.  Within the humanitarian community, it is probably business as usual, but probably with more security consciousness as well as the expectation of a greatere number of displaced people.  As one colleague from another organisartion mentioned ‘ We will probably go back to the way we were operating pre 2002’.  If this is the case, then this would be a sad reversal of the fortunes of a country that experienced great joy and sorrow over the last 5 years.

Whatever happens, the incidents of last week will undoubtavle thorw challenges to our work.  These can either be problems or these can be opportunities.  It depends on how you see the glass.

A New Concept for Peace

        

There is an old saying in Malay ‘When you grow, grow like rice for as rice grows, it bends forward, do not grow like grass, for as grass grows, it grows straight’.  The essence of this saying is that humility is key to development.    Being part of a reconstruction process of a country devastated by natural and man made disasters can often colour the lens with which you view the situation.  Often the mistake that one makes is that you think that you have all the answers / solutions for all problems faced.  There is often a danger of a sense of arrogance of purpose with which one carries out his duties.

I was recently reminded of this danger when I attended a seminar on bringing peace to the country organized by civil society organisations which had uniquely assembled participants of varying age groups from the grass roots, from different ethnic, religious and territorial backgrounds across the country, including representatives from the Eastern and Northern provinces.

‘The problem that you have Mr Amjad is that you have only one perspective of the peace process’ said Azar, a social activist from Trincomalee, during an initial ice breaking session at the seminar. ‘The problem that  many INGOs like yourselves and the international community have  is that you have a  basic assumption that peace in the country will be restored once the LTTE and the government can place respective signatures on a document under the watching eyes of the international community’

This seminar was certainly different than anything that I had ever attended before.  Apart from the fact that the three commonly used languages in the country were spoken and simultaneously translated for the benefit of all, the discussion seemed to identify that at the grassroots level, there was a lack of consultation with people which meant that there was a lot of apprehension about what was being ‘hatched’ within the political circles as regards current national crises particularly about on-going peace efforts. 

Hence answers to the  current crisis with regards to the peace efforts which were  seemingly confined to the political chambers without any consultation with the common people were not met with much support since it was felt that there was a lack of recognition in the  role that the grass roots play in determining  whether there is peace or not.

What I understood from the discussion was a sense of real frustration at the increasing polarization along ethnic, territorial and religious lines, and  what was very evident from the discussion is that absence of hostility is not peace, with the  prime example being the Ceasefire Agreement that was  signed between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE in February 2002, which was considered a prelude to a total reduction of militancy in the country, but which in fact did not help in building bridges of trust and understanding between communities. In fact as we see in hindsight now, the deterioration of trust between all communities has become even more stronger and the parties are at loggerheads more than ever what with repeated violations and disrespect for the agreement particularly in the phase of the post-tsunami need for humanitarian assistance.

What I began to understand from the discussions was that  there could not be peace until trust and confidence among the different communities were restored.  You can only have acceptance of one another when you understand each other seemed to be the theme of all deliberations.

The workshop felt that the spirit of belonging to this country should be allowed to take root and the spirit of sharing and caring for each other (as humans) should be allowed to prosper so that no citizen of this country will be alienated on account of religion, ethnicity or territorial affinity. Only by bringing back such values into the lives of the people of this country could there be peace, and this could only happen only if people were encouraged and allowed to “ … as matter of urgency ….take charge of their destiny and control their politico-economic environment”.

I sensed a lot of tiredness amongst the workshop participants.  Tiredness at listening to a lot of rhetoric from all sides with very little positive action.  Tiredness of experiencing on a daily  basis of abuse of power by parliamentarians, their siblings or their cronies with impunity. Tiredness of a lack of freedom of thought and expression as journalists are harassed and organized gangs with the backing of political parties oppress the innocent masses. Tiredness of continuous struggle against the daily grind as the cost of living goes up.  Tiredness of losing loved ones to a fight that has long lost its purpose and reason of being. Tiredness of discrimination.

As the seminar wound to a close, one could sense amongst the people a reawakened enthusiasm to grab the controls of the peace train and drive it towards a new direction, one that would create a new environment ensuring equality and justice towards freedom of thought and expression; upholding and protecting individual and collective rights and dignity, in order for one to pursue life goals and contribute to national development.

If this was the sense of purpose which emerged out of the workshop, then there is a huge timely role for the grass roots to play within the whole peace process of Sri Lanka without repeating lessons of the past.

                        

A New Partnership

As I browsed through the news items on Sri Lanka these last weeks, looking at familiar headlines around the victory of the army in the east versus the chilling warnings of reprisals by the LTTE. I could not help but think that peace as a whole seems a distant reality.  Having just got back from the UK where I spent the last couple of weeks, it is evident that now globally, no one is immune from the threat of terrorism and no one can be spared from the lessons of mother nature.

As the Sri Lankan army juggernaut push forward with the inevitable reprisals promised by the LTTE, one thing is for certain.  It is the innocent civilian that will be caught in the middle. And it is not just limited to the Tamils but the Muslims and Sinhalese will also get affected in a dramatic manner.

In these very desperate times, it is easy to lose all sense of reason and to think emotionally.  It is easy to see these times as a clash between cultures and religions and it is easy to play the blame game or the victims card.   It is easy to blame the Tamil people for what the LTTE has done and it is easy to blame the Sinhalese for the actions of the Government and the army.  Whilst it is true that there are people from either side who have their support for the various actions, there are equally if not more people who genuinely are striving for peace and justice and equality.  In this light, the heart’s relation to truth should never be allowed to turn into emotional, passionate blindness: reason must always be called upon to analyse the situation, temper one’s reaction and help establish an attentive coherent relation to the other’s truth.

Hence my recent visit to London was quite symbolic it was to witness a significant occurrence which has deep reverberations for  a country like Sri Lanka.  On the 26^th of June, a historical partnership was signed between UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) and Muslim Aid to come together to work on the sole aim to build peace and help relieve poverty jointly.  Critics may ask why is this partnership  so unique?  After all many agencies have come together before....

It is about a  unique partnership between faith based organisations from two different faiths, going beyond the rhetoric and doing work on the ground having started this partnership in Sri Lanka during a time when it is indeed such differences that had caused the displacement of civilians mainly Muslims from the north eastern town of Mutur in the Trincomalee District.

 “We want to create a model for other religious and non-religious organisations to follow, to demonstrate that people of very different, and sometimes conflicting, backgrounds, faiths, and cultures can work together to help humanity,” says the Rev. R. Randy Day, General Secretary of Global Ministries, the parent organisation of UMCOR
“Our partnership with UMCOR reaches out beyond our own religious communities to benefit people in need, no matter what their religious faith,” says Farooq Murad, chairman of Muslim Aid. “Muslim Aid and UMCOR have already proven that we can work together and will continue to work to establish healthy, open communities where trust can flourish.”   
.  “The world desperately needs that kind of hope and this is a chance to create a new peace building paradigm.” 
None needs that chance more than Sri Lanka.  Because what this partnership is about is not just sharing of resources or funding each other to do work, but it is about a very genuine joint effort to combine strengths and relationships to work on a since common issue: serving the humanity in need.  Having this partnership grow out of Sri Lanka is not only symbolic but it shows the opportunity for people from different faiths and cultures and ethnicities driven by their own interpretations of spiritual obligation can work together for the common good.
This is the real crux of what can be one solution for Sri Lanka.  Whilst analysts talk about a political or military solution, real progress can only be made when people on the ground talk about it and more importantly push for it driven by one common agenda.  That agenda is the right to live in peace with one’s neighbor in a just  environment where one’s kids can grow up free from hate and violence.

This is the ultimate utopian dream but it can be achieved by the small steps of man.  There are and will be problems in emerging economies like Sri Lanka.  However out of every problem lies an opportunity and it is the responsibility of all those to see those opportunities and to exploit them.
It is high time now that partnerships develop and are maintained for as a wise man said

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

Reflections

I had originally sat down to write this blog to complement my fellow blogger, Glenda Cooper, who had submitted her piece on Alertnet last month on the perceptions of NGOs in Sri Lanka as fat cats. 

Whilst largely agreeing with that particular blog, I felt that I had to also contribute some of the positives of the NGO work whilst highlighting something of the challenges faced in an attempt to give the ‘other side’ of the picture.

The incidents of this week highlight in no uncertain terms the challenges that are faced by NGO workers in Sri Lanka, particularly national staff.  As I write this, I have mixed feelings. 

I feel a sense of disbelief at the mere fact that such an incident happened not on the ‘field’ so to speak but in Colombo, the capital and possibly by supposed policemen.  Whether or not this turns out to be true is another case, but what this reinforces is the sense of dread that set into the NGO community last August when 17 of our colleagues were murdered in Mutur. 

Have we become the next targets?

Has our sense of ‘neutrality’ now been compromised? 

These are questions that will undoubtedly haunt our work and may even affect our response.

I am angry because these incidents serve to illustrate the dangers that people in our line of work face, yet all people can do is criticise us for wasteful spending (which I agree does exist like in any other industry) without taking heed of the challenges and pitfalls of development and humanitarian work. 

The lay man does not realise the amount of challenges facing aid workers and at the top of the list is looking after their families.  Most people are in this ignorant bliss that aid workers or NGO workers are charity workers, who must by default work for free and not charge anything and so by default are ‘fat cats’ when they do.   

These observers who are comfortable in their cushy jobs can not even fathom an iota of what it means to be working out on the field, often in very unbearable circumstances (ask those who work in Darfur).  For these apathetic armchair ‘development experts’,  their compassion and commitment stretches as far as their air conditioned cars will take them on the smooth roads of Sri Lanka. Doing ‘their bit’ for charity is to give out a sewing machine or the most laying a foundation stone for some building.  Ask them to do anything else and the usual response is ‘Batticaloa?  Isn’t that dangerous?  Isn’t there a war there?’  or my personal favourite ‘do they have electricity there?’.

I am disgusted because there is possibly an element of truth that is in some of the rumours doing the rounds in Colombo.  These victims were not targeted because they were Red Cross volunteers but that they were targeted because they were Tamil.  If this is the case, then there are some serious issues arising out of such a scenario.

The abductions of civilians in Colombo from mainly the Muslim and Tamil (but also Sinhalese) community have intensified over the last couple of months with many being held for large amounts of ransom or being killed.

I feel sad because the abduction and death of these two volunteers is another tragic chapter to a sad story of abductions in Sri Lanka as security and human rights conditions deteriorate.  Had it not been for the fact that these two also worked for the Red Cross, their fate would have been confined to the middle pages of the newspapers and an item in the news headlines. However, as is usual in these instances, their fate has allowed the international community to understand what hundreds of nameless civilians are facing on a daily basis in Sri Lanka.  With this tragedy comes opportunity.

I grieve because I know that this is another nail in the coffin of peace in Sri Lanka and those that will suffer are the innocent civilians.  From the perspective of the humanitarian agencies, the reaction I know will be to rethink security procedures and programs to ensure safety of workers.  An unfortunate but necessary response perhaps in the light of the last 10 months where we as well have also been at the receiving end.

One can remain positive and live in the hope that this does not happen as the suffering civilians will be the ultimate losers.  From my perspective, such tragic incidents have only reinforced ones commitment to meet all the challenges that we will face and to redouble one efforts for those in need.

Dedicated to the  memory of our colleagues  from ACF and Red Cross who died in the line of fire.  May we all work to ensure that your sacrifice to serve the needy was not in vain.