An Inter Community Exchange programme for youth from Tamil, Muslim and Sinhalese community was organized by Caritas EHED under it’s Peace / SJ&SP programme and was conducted at Fatima Pre-School premises in Ingniyagala after having briefed them at St.Ignatious Church, Ampara.
Selected 51 youth from the Tamil and Muslim communities from Kallady -Veloor, Kattankudy, Arayampathy, Kirankulam, Dharmapuram and Kaluthavalai took part from Batticaloa and later joined by 25 Sinhala youth from Ampara at the St.Ignatius Church in Ampara.
The purpose of conducting this exchange programme for youth from different communities was to bring them together in order to rebuild the intimacy what existed 30 years before within the said three communities which was shattered by the internal civil war which took place in the North-East of Sri Lanka. This internal war created a very strong feeling of disliking towards each other within communities in the break down of brotherly affection and in promoting enmity among the communities.
With the cessation of the internal war during year, 2010 and with the prevailing peaceful environment in the North-East, it was found to be conducive to promote sustainable peace among the youth belonging to different communities who are to be the future generation of Sri Lanka.
This programme began from the St.Ignatius Church in Ampara on 15.06.2011 morning around 9.00 A.M. with prayers conducted by youth belonging to Catholic, Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim religion followed by a short introduction to this programme by Mr.T.Manokaran, Project Officer of Caritas EHED. This followed with a talk delivered by Rev.Fr.Christy Fernando, Parish Priest of St.Ignatius Church, Ampara which talk gave a clear picture on how the three decades of Internal Civil brought enmity among the three communities who were living as members of one family and thereby in isolating them from each other in the breakdown of brotherly affection and intimacy. He also said, the time was running out and it was the responsibility of the youth from the three communities who have gathered here to forget the past and to open up a fresh chapter by joining hands with other youth belonging to other communities in rebuilding ever lasting peace in this country for the betterment of them.
In order to promote peace through games, Mr.P.K.N.Moorthy and Mr.M.Robinson took charge of the gathered youth and divided them in to five groups before being taken to the grounds of Fatima Pre-School, Inginiyagala where the full day programme was conducted until 4.00 P.M. The divided five groups comprised of Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala youth were briefed on how ‘Peace Model Villages in their locality ‘ could be constructed in paving the way for families from different communities to live in the ‘Model Peace Village’ peacefully. In order to build ‘Peace Model Village’ in their locality, basic materials were provided to the five groups.
On completion of building ‘Model Peace Villages’ by the five groups, respective Leaders from each group explained the necessity of constructing important buildings in the ‘Model Peace Village’ in highlighting the value of having buildings of Worship related to the three communities, Peace Secretariat, Police Station, Post Office, Schools etc; in enabling them to live in Peace and Harmony.
From building the ‘Model Peace Villages’ by the five groups and having evaluated the outcome from the explanation provided by the five Group Leaders, it was clearly made to understand from the five groups that they have gained awareness on ‘Peace Building’ and they were in favour of rebuilding ‘Peace’ within the three communities.
Mr.M.Robinson thanked Rev.Fr.Christy Fernando and the youth who have taken part in this exposure programme on behalf of Caritas EHED for having made this programme fruitfull.