Dear all,
THEY NEED YOU!!
Let's give you a bit more background on the Jaffna region, Karainagar and Oori. This area is situated at the very north west of Sri-Lanka. Most people in the north are Tamil (as opposed to Singhalese in the rest of the country). The main difference between Tamil and Singhalese is first of all the religion. Tamil are mostly Hindu, Singhalese are mostly Buddhist. Secondly, Tamil and Singhalese speak a different language. There are many more differences in Tamil & Singhalese history & origins but we won't go into too much detail here.
In Sri-Lanka, there are about 70% Singhalese and 20%+ Tamil. There are about 7% Muslim and 3% Christians. Tamil are mainly based in the North as they come from East India, which is less than 40km away.
Sri-Lanka suffered a civil war until 2009 between the LTTE (Tamil tigers) and the SLA (Singhalese Army). We understand the Tamil tigers are a minority of extremists who decided to unite their forces against what they perceived as unfair treatment of the Tamil population from the government (i.e. official Sri-Lankan language became Singhalese from one day to the other with all official papers in Singhalese for everyone in the country). The Tamil tigers started long series of terrorist attacks to defend their cause. They also put bombs in strategic places like in the Buddha's tooth temple in Kandy which was the greatest religious pilgrim for all Singhalese. To respond to all these attacks, the Singhalese Army fought the LTTE through ground attacks first, but they also air bombed most of the North area of Sri-Lanka. Needless to say that many civil people died during this war. The LTTE was officially beaten in 2009 and the Singhalese army is now controlling the north of the country. In Jaffna, there is one military for 9 inhabitants. There are check points everywhere and we had to go through a kind of border (with passport to show and a form to fill in) before heading to the Northern area.
In the middle of the civil war, the tsunami on 26th of December 2004 heavily hit Sri-Lanka with more than 65,000 casualties...and the North was also impacted! Oori in Karainagar is populated with mainly fishermen. They couldn't go fishing during the war as the Army took possession of the Sea for the Navy. Most of them had to leave the village to find another job somewhere else. They came back after war about 4 years ago an after the Tsunami...they had nothing left and had to start a new life from scratch.
Most people in Karainagar and around don't talk much about this bad time, however we were lucky enough to discuss this with a few people who clearly support peace and want to live their life peacefully. They also stressed the need for justice to be done on both sides. For example, we understood people who actively participated in the war and could be sentenced for crime against humanity, are now part of the current government...
Despite all these catastrophes, kids at school seem happy with what they have. However they have never travelled outside Karainagar. Some of them have been to Jaffna at most. When we taught them the vocabulary for 'The House', we drew a house on the board with a living room, bathroom, kitchen, stairs, bedroom...etc but most of them live in a single room house where they all sleep on the floor.
Kamal and the school teachers are aiming to raise enough money to take the Oori kids to travel to Sri-Lanka for 4 days to get them to see life outside the North and understand different cultures and similarities as well with Singhalese. They need about 600 euros in total for bus, accommodation and food...and we were thinking that if some of you are touched by this testimony and would like to contribute to this school trip...please let us know and we will organise a fund raising to help the kids discover the outside world...
Thanks!!!
PS: As promised,we just added a few more pics and videos in the three usual sections "Sri Lanka", "Portraits" and "Foodies".
THEY NEED YOU!!
You may have already seen a few pics and videos regarding our life and volunteering mission in Karainagar/Oori, where we taught English to kids from 5 years old to 16 years old. However we would like to bring to your attention that those people from the very north of Sri Lanka need you and any help that you are able to give.
If you, your friends or any of your family members would like to go there for 1,2,3 weeks or even a couple of months to teach English for example or to do something else that can be helpful to them, please do not hesitate for a second! It is a fantastic experience and they want to welcome more people! Contact Kamal who was our host and coordinator in Karainagar. Kamal is working very hard to make things change for Oori population and especially the kids. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me or Agnes, or contact Kamal directly on:
Kamalcacm@gmail.com
Let's give you a bit more background on the Jaffna region, Karainagar and Oori. This area is situated at the very north west of Sri-Lanka. Most people in the north are Tamil (as opposed to Singhalese in the rest of the country). The main difference between Tamil and Singhalese is first of all the religion. Tamil are mostly Hindu, Singhalese are mostly Buddhist. Secondly, Tamil and Singhalese speak a different language. There are many more differences in Tamil & Singhalese history & origins but we won't go into too much detail here.
In Sri-Lanka, there are about 70% Singhalese and 20%+ Tamil. There are about 7% Muslim and 3% Christians. Tamil are mainly based in the North as they come from East India, which is less than 40km away.
Sri-Lanka suffered a civil war until 2009 between the LTTE (Tamil tigers) and the SLA (Singhalese Army). We understand the Tamil tigers are a minority of extremists who decided to unite their forces against what they perceived as unfair treatment of the Tamil population from the government (i.e. official Sri-Lankan language became Singhalese from one day to the other with all official papers in Singhalese for everyone in the country). The Tamil tigers started long series of terrorist attacks to defend their cause. They also put bombs in strategic places like in the Buddha's tooth temple in Kandy which was the greatest religious pilgrim for all Singhalese. To respond to all these attacks, the Singhalese Army fought the LTTE through ground attacks first, but they also air bombed most of the North area of Sri-Lanka. Needless to say that many civil people died during this war. The LTTE was officially beaten in 2009 and the Singhalese army is now controlling the north of the country. In Jaffna, there is one military for 9 inhabitants. There are check points everywhere and we had to go through a kind of border (with passport to show and a form to fill in) before heading to the Northern area.
In the middle of the civil war, the tsunami on 26th of December 2004 heavily hit Sri-Lanka with more than 65,000 casualties...and the North was also impacted! Oori in Karainagar is populated with mainly fishermen. They couldn't go fishing during the war as the Army took possession of the Sea for the Navy. Most of them had to leave the village to find another job somewhere else. They came back after war about 4 years ago an after the Tsunami...they had nothing left and had to start a new life from scratch.
Most people in Karainagar and around don't talk much about this bad time, however we were lucky enough to discuss this with a few people who clearly support peace and want to live their life peacefully. They also stressed the need for justice to be done on both sides. For example, we understood people who actively participated in the war and could be sentenced for crime against humanity, are now part of the current government...
Despite all these catastrophes, kids at school seem happy with what they have. However they have never travelled outside Karainagar. Some of them have been to Jaffna at most. When we taught them the vocabulary for 'The House', we drew a house on the board with a living room, bathroom, kitchen, stairs, bedroom...etc but most of them live in a single room house where they all sleep on the floor.
Kamal and the school teachers are aiming to raise enough money to take the Oori kids to travel to Sri-Lanka for 4 days to get them to see life outside the North and understand different cultures and similarities as well with Singhalese. They need about 600 euros in total for bus, accommodation and food...and we were thinking that if some of you are touched by this testimony and would like to contribute to this school trip...please let us know and we will organise a fund raising to help the kids discover the outside world...
Thanks!!!
PS: As promised,we just added a few more pics and videos in the three usual sections "Sri Lanka", "Portraits" and "Foodies".
