Happy New Year!

Sinhalese and Tamil people celebrated New Years on the 13th and 14th of April, and AHIMSA’s office was closed for the week. April is the hottest month (and I was so impressed to have survived the heat of March!) and so the celebrations are a wonderful time to be with family, celebrating the rituals of the New Year.
I noticed many people finishing tasks (painting, cleaning gardens, road repair) as the ear end was approaching.
The stalls in the streets were full of special offers for clothing as most people get new clothes. Traffic of people, cattle, buses, trishaws, trucks and all was down to a trickle during the new year and a couple of days following and virtually all the stores and stall and shops were closed so people could be home with family.
Following the New Year, there are auspicious times to begin new things. Time (ie 6:47 am Friday) to make milk rice, attire (wear light green to prepare meals) and activities as well (return to work on a certain date). There are auspicious times for new relationships, projects and possibilities.

On the 22nd of April, the Muslim holiday, Milad-Un-Nabi, honouring the Holy prophet’s birthday is followed on the 23rd with a Poya Day (full moon reflection time).
We will soon be hiring a new staff member who I hope will be working closely with the Peer Mediation program I have been focusing my attention on. AHIMSA is also involved in Psycho-social programs in communities across the country. Psycho-social programs are more inclusive and recognizing of the broader social and community context of well being of Sri Lankans. At dinner on Sunday night I listened as a clinical psychologist described all the masses odf well meaning experts with their EMDR techniques, excited to address trauma. She and I talked at great length about resilience in experiencing traumatic events and she is looking for funding to do her PhD in the area of resilience. The labels ‘traumatized’, ’victim’, ‘PTSD’ and the various diagnoses related to stress are all capable of causing their own trauma in what are the normal coping and adapting behaviours following a natural disaster. While this is all the reality my research on trauma and resilience centred on, it is still so very disheartening to see the rush and onslaught of ‘trauma experts’.

In actual fact, the communities are doing quite well on their own with community based psycho-social support people who help the whole community adjusting to new changes of living and loss. Community approaches empower people with awareness for the long term or adjustment and when the minority may need more support. An auntie, cousin, or family member will be around for the long haul, while the care givers offering short visit ‘expertise’ have limited roles of any.

My last blog discussed the being vs. doing approach in events that come unexpectedly. I thank all of you who wrote with your own stories and experiences and there were so many thoughtful responses, I think that topic may show up in my PhD work in the future. Some of you wrote about doing the basic tasks of life in times of trouble. Even playing the odd game of solitaire in these times are the moments when the minds focus can take a break from realities of life. Sometimes a change is as good as a rest. Thinking and decisions to ponder can some times sort themselves out while a person is busy engaged in other none focused- thinking tasks. (Laundry, cleaning, sorting, games, music...)

It occurs to me that those who are creating their own dwellings, trying to get themselves settled, and working to develop a new livelihood as their previous work is gone; these people are coping differently than those who sit and wait. Collapsing tired on a mat to sleep, the time to be traumatized is minimal. When life catches up in the thinking and reflecting times, much of the experience will have settled.

Last evening, I was riding in a trishaw with Uncle as the water came down in torrents and filled the streets. He is my age and drives a trishaw starting before dawn and ending at midnight. He has a wife with diabetes and she had a heart attack. He provides a care giver in the home for his wife, and works long hours to provide schooling and tutoring for their two children. He wants them to have the education opportunities that he never had. Uncle has one hand and very little education, yet he is so wise in common sense. His English is self taught, and his rich humanity is the stuff of a life of compassion. I listen to the hardness of life for so many people and as Uncle and I consider converting the trishaw into a boat (or perhaps an ark?) and we enjoy each other’s company; I am humbled by the courage people have to not only survive but to thrive in life.

I wish you all well and a Happy New Year with auspicious beginnings. The power is about to go out as another storm has moved in.
Peacefully,
Martha