Journey Of Peace

Fall 2007

2007-10-14T20:08:00.000+05:30

The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes from within our souls when we realize our relationship, our oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when we realize that at the centre of the universe dwells Wakan-Tanka, and that this centre is really everywhere, it is within each of us. This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. The second peace is that which is made between individuals, and the third is that which is made between nations. But above all you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is first known that true peace which is within our souls.

Black Elk
Oglala Sioux Holy Man 1863-1950

This past year has been mostly about the first peace- within for me. I spent three months with my mom as she journeyed through her last days of life. While we have child birth coaches, I think coaching support on the exit end of life is as significant as coaching support for entering this life.

My mom was not only a mom but my friend, a great story teller, rememberer of events, the one to gather the family together, the one to speak her mind, read 3-4 books a week, and watch the news and stay informed. Mom's final three months and final days reminded me of transitions in child birth. During transition in child birth, I remember announcing to the birthing room people that I was done. I was leaving. now. not going to have a baby. Everyone smiled knowingly, knowing the babe was ready to appear.

Transitions at the end of this life can have some interesting twists and turns. I have had the opportunity to attend several people's last moments, and so felt more comfortable supporting mom's last days. I wonder if the souls experience of life is a continuity with each life as just one chapter in an unending book.

As I hear my grandma's thoughts in a change room, wondering if I need another pair of navy blue slacks, I think we are all energy, sometimes in form, sometimes not. Perhaps that is what Black Elk means when he describes the first peace in our heart and soul when we realize our oneness with the universe and all its powers.

For about 6 months after my mom's passing from this life, I felt the 24/7 open heart feeling continue and it left me exposed and vulnerable. I am taking Qi Qong classes as I want to stay open hearted and at the same time less vulnerable. I am thrilled to be back in Calgary. Our 318 days of sunshine is a welcome change from 318 days of rain in Bradford.

I am happy to reconnect with my blog, with new access to it I can keep it more current. I look forward to your experience with the transitions of life, and peace within.

Martha

"We must be the change we wish to see in the world."

2006-08-31T08:35:00.000+05:30

Gandhi's quote asks us to be the change we wish to see, and for me the change I wish to see is one of peace and harmony in relationships, community and in the world. Internally, my relationships with family and friends invites me to contribute to harmony and love between us.

When we think of harmony, in music it is not a single tone but a combination of intruments and voices, differences which create the beauty of the piece. Listening to 'In the Heart of the Moon', by Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate, the instruments,the joyful laughter, the diversity of cultures...all come through. Likewise harmony in community and relationships is not about all sounding the same but often in impromptu creativity building on each other and growing into something new and unexpected.

Harmony is not only about the people in our communities we relate to, but harmony in the world as well. I have gathered this past summer with other Canadian peacemakers in a conference with Interaction (in Winnipeg) and in Calgary IPRA (International Peace Research Association) and i was struck with the level of commitment of people to move beyond the process focus of conflict resolution (negotiation, mediation, facilitation and consensus building) to engage in critical reflection about broader issues including Canada's peace and conflict resolution report card.

This current government has been given an F (failing) grade in a poll of Canadians and a look at the direction this government is taking betrays any of the positive leadership of our past. Kyoto is not longer the intention of this government. Harper did not speak out about the extreme violence of Middle East action in southern Lebannon, and finally, our government actively worked against human rights legislation for aboriginial communities. Is it enough for us to speak to each other concerning our dismay or does our critical reflection about our government's behaviour necessitate action?

Paulo Freire says that praxis means not just reflection but action. I have begun a writing campaign to make sure my government knows my disproval of their actions. I have written on behalf of Amnesty International for those whose human rights are being denied. It is time to call our leadership to account. The Green Party in England is strong and I intend to offer my support here in Canada. Canada has ridden on its positive reputation from World War II. Canada now appears to walk with Bush with simular neo conservative retoric. Canada needs to step up to the world political stage with a positive voice toward peace and harmony.

I have had an opportunity to travel in Argentina in July and I listened as two Argentinian economists separately described USA economic situation as simular to theirs before the economy collapsed. I am looking at the ethics of my investments, speaking with my community and my country; and now I am speaking with you.

I look forward to hearing your ideas on how we can be the change we wish to see in the world. What opportunities do you have in your life to live with congruence of belief and action?

In the past 6 months I have been in UK, Kenya, Congo, Rwanda, Argentina, USA and across Canada. I hear people speaking of a deepening saddness at the violence which fills the world's news. yet there is also a balance of hope, hope for a successful coming together of people in community in Congo, hope for economic recovery in Argentina, hope to be heard as David Suzuki and Stephen Lewis and others speak out about envirnoment, aids, debt forgiveness and aid.

I look forward to the hope we can bring to each other as we bring forth the change we wish to see in the world.

How to stay grounded as we also reach to social and political change?
This morning on my walk to the river with Abby (13 years old) and Woody (6 month old visitor for 6 weeks) both golden retrievers, we saw three Canadian gees supporting 4 young ducks (I did not know there were second hatchings after spring) ABever slapped its tail several times as Woody chased sticks. Then we could hear cracking of sticks up in the picnic area. Two men with their shopping carts (to collect bottles to claim the deposit of a few cents (info for you non canadian readers in congo, sri lanka, romania, argentina, columbia, where bottle collecting for money is not an option, not in uk either, come to think of it)...
anyway, back to these two men, they built a fire to roast hotdogs on a stick (at 6:30 am!) and then proceeded to play baseball in the ball diamond next to them. They had a couple of found tennis and baseballs and rocks and a nice sized stick to bat with...They were laughing and remembering childhood ball games. I thought about friendship and community as my dog companions and i walked home.

I had the opportunity to be with many communities this summer. my family as we all gathered to see my brother Mark's investiture as a judge. My friends in North Western Ontario as we shared great meals together, and my friend here in Calgary, reconnecting with food, walks, books, coffees, and always good times. I met up with friends and folks I had not seen in many years, at a class reunion. Surprisingly, we could stil recognize each other after so many years. Son Rob and i shared a wonderful family and community time at the wedding of Ximena and Martin in Rosario, Argentina. Life is beautiful!

We in North America do often focus on our individual lives, individual goals, and individual futures; yet that sense of community is what grounds us and reminds us of who we truely are.

I listen to my mom, who is in her later years, and it is relationships and adventures (trips with grand children, travels with family) which are the reflections of life that matter. I hope you are blessed with community to fill your heart and create great memories too!

I wish you joy, and harmony as we come in to fall.

Peacefully,

Martha

2006 update

2006-02-13T23:19:00.000+06:00

Up date 2006

From Bradford

I have been enjoying teaching classes with Mount Royal College on the internet. What is unique about this experience is the opportunity to listen to each student as they respond to the material, exercises and reflections with material.

As each student interacts with concepts and materials, I have the opportunity to hear from students from around the globe. Sri Lanka, Japan, Germany, Canada, UK…all areas and people not otherwise accessible in week end courses in Calgary.

My research is going well with my PhD. I am focusing on Transformational Learning in Peace Studies: Reflection and Cooperative Learning Processes.

I am part of a teaching team with an Undergraduate course in Introduction to Conflict Resolution. What is exciting is the opportunity to work wit 85 students and work in a cooperative teaching group as well. At Mount Royal College with the ‘Pay It Forward’ group, Colombia and in Romania, I have had the opportunity of teaching and learning together with fellow instructors. It provides a meaningful process for reflection, unlike the more singular process of being a lone instructor in a course or training.

When you think about your work and reflection on learning, is it a systematized consideration or more of a hap hazard effort to reconcile with the things that keep us up a night? I have been reading about reflection, reflective practice, reflexivity… many names for similar practice.

Reflection also described as reflexivity, involves individual reflection of new or different ways of considering something. “Reflection is the process of critically assessing the content, process or premise of our efforts to interpret and give meaning to an experience.”[1] This refers to the work of Jürgen Habermas, German philosopher well known for his work with critical theory.

For example: One might be reflecting on the suitability of a job. The content reflection looks at the details of salary, hours, and such. A reflection on process might include how one has made decisions about work in the past, has that worked well? Might there be a different way to work through the process of decision making? The third focus of critical reflection is on the premise. There is a difference between problem solving and ‘problem posing’.
In fact one would reflect on whether a job is needed; or renewed focus on studies is the priority. Or perhaps whether it is better to spend less, than to focus on needing more money?

Reflection looks at past patterns and future focus as new learning is integrated with previous experience and beliefs that have been held in an uncontested view in our lives. Learning is often triggered with those teachable moments in our lives when new, different or challenging concepts and views invite reflection.

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
Socrates- Greek Philosopher 470- 399 BC

“And how is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive?”
Homer Simpson

Whether Homer or Socrates describes your reflective process, I look forward to hearing your process and learning. I am also interested in hearing any thoughts you have on cooperative learning. A major method of instruction here in the UK is lecture. Research describes 16-18 minutes of concentration before the mind wanders, ‘Do I have the right change to do the laundry?’ ‘I must remember to call so and so.’

Cooperative learning provides process of engagement with diverse experience and active participation with theory and practice. Central to the theme of conflict resolution training is an emphasis on context. One would not walk into a community of Blackfoot, Romanians, or Sri Lankan Buddhists all with the same off the shelf material. Cooperative learning builds on participant’s knowledge and experience and honours the diversity of background, ethnicity and experience within a group.

These are all things that I am considering in my research. I welcome any dialogue with you who read this blog.

Set aside June 7-10th for a conference in Winnipeg. Conflict Resolution Network Canada. I will be presenting in two sessions working with trauma and resilience with traumatized communities. I am also doing a session on Whether Peace Education is succeeding in doing what we are trying to accomplish. Here is the conference link:

http://www.crnetwork.ca/conference/index.asp

This is the only group where I maintain a membership; with their excellent source of books, updates, research sources and truly fine people!

I have been negligent in keeping up my blog so I can imagine a few of you no longer check in. I will be more consistent in keeping this site updates. It promises to be interesting as I will travel to Calgary in March, Great Lakes Region and be in Rwanda and DRC Congo for election monitoring and I hope to see the mountain gorillas as well. In May I shall stay put in the UK as we complete our teaching. June will see the conference in Winnipeg. July will be exciting with two weeks in Argentina at the end of the month.

It seems my lads have caught the global travel interest as Michael spend much of his educational time in Kenya, Rob has been in Morocco, Spain, Norway, Europe. And now Ross is about to head out for a two year contract flying in Cameroon.

As I sit here writing this, four PhD students share this office space; JuJin is from Korea, Jai is from Japan, Tunde is from Nigeria and Mari is from Croatia…

I look forward to hearing from all of you. My email is marthamcmanus@hotmail.com

[1] Mezirow, Jack (1991) Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, p.104.

Cheers!

2005-11-11T17:14:00.000+06:00

Wind in the sails and moving forward!

Thank you to those of you who wrote about 'becalmed' experiences. It is an uncomfortable state for a sailor, but provides valuable time for reflection.

It is an interesting experience for a practitioner, working with people in conflict for so many years, to now be a part of the academic community who use language like "problematizing the hegemonic discourse of modernity".
I must confess that when someone first said I was pragmatic, I wanted to deny it, not totally sure of what was meant. It can feel a bit like the discomfort of having a leg on either side of a fence as I live each day between the practitioners and academic worlds. Perhaps better than the fence is the bridge, allowing two way traffic and communication.

As I write this I am also given the opportunity of bridging communities. My CKUA radio station plays online and it is 3 am in Alberta. I am emailing to a colleague in Sri Lanka who is working with children in a peer mediation program I am involved with, and I am messangering with a colleague and friend in Romania. We are both celebrating our friend Romeo Crow Chief (who was in Romania with me) who has had a big birthday.

It is November 11th and so the white and red poppies show a rememberance of those who gave their lives, both in war and work toward peace. I wish to honour all those who gave their lives...as I strive for a world where differences are resolved without war.

I will honour those who died in human violence, and I also think of the loss of life daily due to malnutrition and starvation. Whether driving across the Canadian praires and seeing the reaches of wheat and soybean fields, or going from Colombo to Batti and seeing the rice fields; I am struck with the world's capasity to feed all living beings.

Current reading:

John Paul Lederach (2005) The Moral Imagination
Linda Tuhiwai Smith (2001) Decolonizing Methodologies
Jack Mezirow(1991) Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning
James Frey(2003) a million little pieces

What are you reading?
What are you reflecting on?

I look forward to hearing from you.

m.m.mcmanus@bradford.ac.uk
or marthamcmanus@hotmail.com

Take Care,

Martha

If you are an able letter writer, please email me and i will forward you the details as human rights organizations persist in demands that the rape of a 14 year old Sri Lankan girl is delt with in the courts.

Long time away

2005-11-03T17:10:00.000+06:00

Can you love or respect the people and assist their/our inquiry without imposition of your will
Can you intervene in the most vital matters and yield to events taking their course
Can you attain deep knowing and know you do not understand
Conceive, give birth and nourish without retaining ownership
Trust action without knowing outcome
Guide by being guided
Exercise stewardship without control…

(Interpretation of words attributed to Lao Tzu, c 550bc)

I have been remiss on writing my blog for a while now. I apologize for that. I will update things now and be a bit more regular in monthly contributions (or even more frequent writing.)

These past few months I have been in Canada, USA, Spain, and UK, and I have had the opportunity to work with city of Calgary officers and staff, Blackfoot mediators, and some family mediation in my work.

I am now here at the University of Bradford enrolled in a direct PhD program. Yesterday a friend gave me a word for how I feel, becalmed. This is a nautical term for sailing ships with no wind at sea.

Perhaps becalmed is the right time for mending nets and such, yet I am challenged by the stillness. I race up the pole to the crows nest looking for wind, or search the innards of the ship for paddle, motor, engine room…relaxing into the stillness is the challenge.

Sure, meditation, walking, reading, good food and good sleep all help; and so I am doing better than only keeping my head above water. I write about this because those of you who know me know me to be a raging optimist. This sadness, aloneness and becalming in new to me. What is interesting as I have shared this with others is how many others are feeling the same thing. How are you feeling, dear blog reader?

When a ship is going down, rats leave it (I do not know if this is true but in keeping with nautical metaphors at least!) and as well, all the animals seemed to feel the coming tsunami (and earth’s crust shifting) and responded by heading in land. Perhaps some humans also feel the earth’s shifts as mother Earth is going through hard times? (Hey, I am the year of the rat so perhaps that helps?)

The Earth is erupting around and whether it is the feeling of pain when Baghdad was bombed, or Earth’s internal turmoil; like Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars who feels the destruction of Alderan (planet), I feel it.

I have some questions for fellow peace builders about our work, (education vs. training) (theory and practice), and will share more of my research with you in the future. For now?

Becalmed,

Martha

June Blog

2005-06-27T15:32:00.000+06:00

The unpredictable gifts of jet lag are not having a clue what time it is, or caring. I began my 2,000 kilometer drive to visit my mom going through Medicine Hat, Swift Current and Moose Jaw. By Moose Jaw it was past midnight and I thought it might be wise to stop as the deer were beginning to appear at the side of the road.

The Northern lights lit the sky from East to West with fuchsia, green, red, purples… all shooting in wild exclamation and subtle waves. Cassiopeia sat in full repose atop it all. It became impossible to miss out on this wild and spectacular light show so I eventually passed on a Motel 6 for a gravel road east of Moose Jaw with sleeping bag (always with safety kit for blizzard survival) in a field.

Canada, north lights, loons calling, spring run off with floods in a town called High River. (Might think the name would give a clue…? I am just saying…)

Monkeys on the roof and monitors moving along the road way…unfamiliar to North Americans…I expect my Sri Lankan blog readers will find North Lights as foreign to them.

And now, still June, I am writing this from Madrid. Ximena is in Nice, France at meetings with Cafod, Caritas and many relief organizations. Martin is at work and I will write my blog thoughts before heading to the pool. I am here in Europe for a Hindu wedding between Jai (whose family are coming from India) and Aya (her family are Japanese). (Ximena, Jai and Aya are all friends from Bradford days.)

Within a month’s time I have been providing training in peer mediation in Sri Lanka, and teaching officers with the city of Calgary in dealing with challenging situations and facilitating an online course in Conflict Resolution reaching across several continents. I do not know if anyone out there is still following along with that is blog now that I have left Sri Lanka, but if so I will keep you updated on this journey of peacemaking across the land.

If you have an interest in participating in piloting the online courses, email me at marthamcmanus(at)hotmail.com. Sorry. I can not figure out this Spanish key board. ¿Quien puede ayudar me?

Adios!

Vesak

2005-05-21T14:43:00.000+06:00

Up and down the streets on Nugegoda, stalls are cropping up with people busily constructing bright coloured lanterns on bamboo frames which vary from large to small, with tails like kites have…and Buddhist flags are seen everywhere. This very festive and brightly coloured time is a celebration that has a three fold importance. This full moon, Poya day in June marks the birth of Buddha, his attaining Enlightenment and his passing into Nirvana.

The 23rd and 24th will be a time of reflective prayer as every home will have illuminated lanterns and roads will fill with processions as people go to temple to hear monks read stories from Buddhist texts.

Street theatre and mime, free beverages and large boards called Pandles, decorated with lights and depicting various stories of Buddha’s life are created by communities together. I have some wonderful photos of preparations and will look forward to this coming Monday and Tuesday, Vesak, to take more photos to share with all of you.

I will be in Hikkaduwa on the 23rd, where AHIMSA is involved in providing psycho-social workshops to support local community members who want to be involved in healing and support with their community, so deeply impacted by the Tsunami. This Buddhist temple was the place I spent my first day when I arrived in Sri Lanka many months ago. The place was filled with people who only had the clothes they had survived the Tsunami in and were still in a state of loss and shock that seemed to lack words and description. Monica, Angie and Indika built relationships with this community from as early as the 27th when they were there providing lunch packets and water. This relationship building is at the very root of relief, development and psycho-social work.

There are communities who feel under siege with all the various INGOs and NGOs starting programs, and there are other places where organizations have been involved with the community for years.

I know I had real hesitancy when invited in initially to do a week of training. I knew I would not be at all able to work with an understanding of the context of the communities, so very diverse across this country. I am not sure that after many months I am any more able to know in any detail the unique contexts of the various rural, urban (poor neighbourhoods a block away from high rise buildings with swimming pools being built) agrarian, fisherman, corral miners, tourist, law enforcement, politicians and various military presences which participate in this complex society

In North America, to ask, “Where are you from?” is not culturally sensitive. (You are not white, you must not be Canadian?) Yet here the question happens all the time. My fictional reading has expanded immensely with no TV or radio; I have lots of time to read. The God of Small Things, My Forbidden Face, Running in the family, the Kite Runner… have all brought me to places and times, continuing to expand my learning. On occasion I think I could really do with a nice coffee, or just eating a ginger- sesame salad and sorting through all my learning. I expect many of you will be willing to join me as we share our learning on our various paths.

I listen as Paul (new staff who will be central facilitator in this peer support and peer mediation program) struggles to get his head around the differences between his experiences as a youth worker and a member of a three person mediation board (working with adults) and the differences in working with helping peers (young people) learn to mediate with each other. We confront issues of parent role, children’s freedom, advising, and authority and so it goes. Some times he shuts his eyes and I am reminded of the far side cartoon where the student has his hand in the air asking, “Can I be excused? My brain is full.” Paul sometimes feels his age catching up on him and I only hope that others can look at me and see, ‘If this woman is still learning at her age, I can too.’ And so it goes. Another week in Colombo.

13 May, 2005

2005-05-13T14:22:00.000+06:00

Two new additions have arrived at AHIMSA. Mai is from Vietnam and a visiting student from Brandeis University. Paul is a new staff member from Colombo who has experience as a mediator these past 10 years and he will be one of the facilitators who will be working to offer the Peer Support and Peer Mediation program to young people across Sri Lanka. (Paul speaks Sinhala and Tamil as well as English.) It is exciting to finally complete the writing and undertake the training of trainers so this program can begin. The process includes working with three separate children’s clubs and groups of young people including Tamil, Sinhalese, and Muslim communities.

We have a draft of materials which will be adapted, added to with Sri Lankan examples, and finally be translated into Sinhala and Tamil languages for use across this country. The concerns about ‘western ideas coming to Sri Lanka’ and neo colonialism are challenging in the same sense when delivered by Sri Lankans and grounded in the rich Buddhist and Hindu teachings of peace. A powerful base for this program comes from the months of research with young people across Sri Lanka who shared their ideas and experiences of conflict and resolution with Angie Hermon and other AHIMSA staff. There were seven separate programs with groups of young people of various ages and Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, and Christian faiths. Over 280 children participated in total.

I remember my first experiences in the far north of Canada with peace and conflict resolution when my colleague here from the UK, Jacky describes Sri Lanka as raw in many ways. No white bread, this place, but a rich texture of sounds, smells, colours, energies and peoples. As my trishaw weaves in and out of traffic, buses race with each other to get to the next stop first, and two buses, a car, a truck and a cow are all going one way down a two way road there is a sense of living on the edge.

What translates from Calgary to Chabougamo, Quebec or Batticaloa, Sri Lanka? My colleague, Monica, is reading a Sri Lankan book on psychology. (She is working in a psycho-social program with Hikkaduwa this week end.) She and I had a good laugh as someone had written about ‘Italiana Syndroma’. Are you familiar with this syndrome? It seems that the author writes about what happen to families when the father goes to work abroad, in Italy. Translation and the authoring of Sri Lankan material is essentially about grasping concepts and meaning in a culturally sensitive context. There is not only a conflict sensitive approach to programs and processes but a culturally sensitive context which is broader that the conflict.

Rather than adapting western approaches to Sri Lankan context it is an inside-out approach which asks, what is intrinsic to communities here and how does that grow and develop from within?

My work with writing, developing, and training in peer support, conflict resolution, and peer mediation is coming to an end. The next tasks for AHIMSA staff will be to inclusively continue to develop the material with the input of the young people involved in our field testing. I will be available from Canada, or the UK to connect and help with co-creating a unique program for this place and this time.

I can not describe the excitement of watching the development of people, programs and processes as we work together toward a peaceful place. Sometimes a negative peace occurs as there is an absence of war; people are just tired of it all. The positive peace, built between people in homes, communities, schools is growing. The seeds are growth, people move from survive to thrive, and peace happens one relationship at a time.

The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes from within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the centre of the universe dwells Wakan-Tanka, and that this centre is really everywhere, it is within each of us. This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. The second peace is that which is made between two individuals and the third is that which is made between two nations. But above all you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is first known that true peace which is within the souls of people.

Black Elk
The Sacred Pipe

Conflict abound. Three projects approaching the same thing, work in one community, and none communicate with each other. Conflict resolvers struggle within their own groups. Discussion about the ethics of programs, the directions of organizations... it all happens. Conflict is lively, sullen, challenging and at times destructive. Yet also there is good will and the willingness to leap into peace with all its risks and problems. I am honoured to be a part of it.

A day in the life of an NGO

2005-05-04T17:19:00.000+06:00

Go to web site www.ahimsa.lk to check out all the various programs and people I work with here at AHIMSA.

It is easy to tell who is in the office by the sandals at the door, entering AHIMSA’s office which is on a road of homes (the one across from us has also become an office). Our building is an open plan so you can sit at our large table and see the balcony upstairs as well. Our main floor has a large open area, a kitchen, bathroom, and resource library. The second floor has three bedrooms and three bathrooms, which are offices with computers. And upstairs on the third floor is a loft type room which opens onto a balcony. All of our computers are networked and on broad band.

There is a wall around the whole property and to enter AHIMSA’s garden and building, one must ring the bell, which sounds like birds chirping. I have answered the gate very often when the birds chirp sounding much like a bell. There is actually a bird here that sounds like tweet, tweet!

Kassapa sleeps here at the office and Monica sleeps in a room here when she is not at her room in the boarding house. Monica is building a home and it should be completed by October-November. She plans to bring her parents and sister to Colombo to live with her then. Monica's 5 cats are the other full time residents of 18A Pelawatte Mawatha. All are female ginger and multi coloured and related to each other. (And all are fixed.)

Wasantha is one of the first to arrive at the office. He keeps the place clean, takes care of the plants and garden, and is very skilled with computers, organizing office needs, and brings tea at mid morning and mid afternoon every day. He is indispensable, taking orders & collecting lunch packets (rice curry) every day. He can also give cats medicine and offer help in too many areas to list.

Kassapa, Monica and Indika are the directors of AHIMSA; you can see their pictures on the web. Staff include Sureka and Himali with interns: Subha and Inosha completing projects for their degrees (focusing on Micro finance programs for low income communities). Jacky has been here for a year and is a Volunteer Service Overseas (VSO) from the UK who works with capacity building.
My work is primarily focused on Peer Mediation, a program where AHIMSA is partnered with Save the Children in Sri Lanka.

Fans keep the air circulating and cool a bit; the best cooling is after a rain storm when there are perhaps a couple hours of respite from the very hot and humid weather. Lots of water is drunk here and tape water is good here so no need for bottled or boiled.

AHIMSA began work as a conflict resolution NGO and now has expanded into relief and development programs. The conflict resolution work done here is mostly about self awareness and leadership skills with an emphasis on theatre techniques and activities. As the central aspects of ADR such as negotiation and mediation have not been aspects of their work in the past, we hope to bring on new staff as I provide training and material in support of these areas.

‘Neo Colonialism’ is the sense of a country that is once again seeing western ‘developed’ countries ‘showing the way’. It is not only the JVP political party that is hostile/cynical about the arrival of those from away. It is fair to ask ones self about the usefulness of ones work. I was invited to work here before the Tsunami relief workers arrived in growing numbers. My work is about working together with Sri Lankan staff in creating material that is context sensitive and to co-create facilitated workshops lead by Sri Lankan staff. Sinhalese, Tamil and English materials and training are provided with words which do not translate easily among the three languages. (There is no distinction between cold and cool in Sri Lankan languages, and why would there be?)

As the only white person I see on my 20 minute walk to and from the office, I wonder whether my work is seen in the same neo colonial view as all westerners are painted with the same brush. I feel very comfortable and safe here and I am happy to be working with young people who will learn new skills in their lives. I am still very aware of the capacities of Sri Lankans who have lived and worked with conflict and peacebuilding for many years now. There is a push-pull inside me as I question what I have to bring to people with a lived experience, I can not fully realize.

I feel humbled by the strength and courage people have in meeting the challenges of their ever changing context. Our day has a nice combination of relaxed visiting, writing (material, proposals, reports) meetings, work, and for some the day ends around 5-6. Some work week-ends and nights, as there seems to be a never ending possibility of work. Monica has received several invitations for training and work with other organizations. How does she balance her work with AHIMSA and all the work else where?

The sky is darkening, and there seems to be frequent rain at the end of the day. Sri Lanka’s climate changes are making the usual weather, unusual now. The storm will often shut down our power and internet so I best end this now.

I think of the huge learning curve I experienced with work in First Nations communities in Canada. Initially I spent most of my time trying to connect members of the first nations community to refer the community to, when they
Invited me to their communities. I feel a similar humble inability to meet the needs of a community that I need years to get to know in any depth. It is my hope to bring something to others which offers support for the work Sri Lankans do. Sometimes I think I would be best off serving tea.

cup of tea or coffee?

Martha

scattered random me

2005-04-27T17:33:00.000+06:00

I was not on a bus or train that met with an accident. Sometimes it seems that the world news covers things with the adage ‘If it bleeds, it leads’ so I thought I should update my blog with the information that all of us here at AHIMSA are alive and well. (I will go check out whether blood donors are needed though, as I am an O+ and pretty universal donor.)

A few updates from past blogs:

I have identified 4 of the 7 different birds in the morning choir greeting the dawn at my window. Not being a bird watcher, with no book to refer to, I have weird identities such as ‘brown bird, black head and strange red behind (under tail feathers)’ and ‘sound of water bottle filled to top’ … however they are all quite splendid and one day I may get to know actual names and descriptions of sounds. (Once doing training in Romania, there was an exercise to get in pair by making a given animal sound. Romanian chickens do not sound like Canadian chickens and the same can be said for Sri Lankan chickens!)

I may take up a hobby of tree watching as the trees do seem to stay put a bit more than birds. (and I do get some bird sounds mixed up with squirrels and monkeys and even AHIMSA’s bell at the gate) Tree watching is just as diverse as the birds with king coconuts with a climber in sarong netting the coconuts to get them down. Have you noticed how sunflowers turn their heads to follow the sun? well some of the trees seem to respond to the sun here and it may take many years to sort all that out.

The clapper at this moment is quiet, seems he must be napping in the hottest part of the day. Otherwise he claps for as long as 14 hours, from early morning into the night. (I will often stay late at the office to email and avoid walking home in the extreme heat, which lasts until evening.

My work with peer mediation: I have completed most all my initial writing for peer support workshop (facilitator’s guide) and peer mediation manual, brochure, and work on anger, and supplementary materials. I look forward to completing the training with AHIMSA staff, once the new people are hired. The next steps are field testing and final revisions to work. Then translation to Tamil and Sinhalese and then printing and binding.

I told about the young man who lost his life, trying to help resolve a conflict with a stolen gold change? I was in that community on Thursday for New Years Party for children. The house where the family lived who was driven out of the community is still gutted and mostly smelled like a community toilet. The young people who were working to organize the new years celebration did a wonderful job. One young man in his early 20’s helped a special needs girl about 6 years old. The game was to blow a balloon until it popped then run to the finish line. There was Anthony grabbing the young girl’s hand and racing to the finish line! The look of excitement and success on her face was beautiful!

The women competed in grinding coconuts, and weaving mats from coconut leaves. It was so wonderful to see all participating from very old to very young. The final events included a tug of war with women against the men. The women won the first round and the men challenged to go again. When the men won next, the women announced that the men had worked hard so they let them win. Competition was fierce with men and women, boys and girls all joining in. There was such a lot of laughter and Karunawathi, who is the president of the community, was a leader in the organizing. I learned that when the crisis had happened with the boy the girl and the gold necklace; this woman had kept many men in her home and would not let them leave to go fight. The extremely poor neighbourhood has such a sense of togetherness. They have seen violence involving so many families, and they have such a capacity for peace.

Much of our peace and conflict resolution in the developed world focus on individuals. This person has a conflict with this other person, or organization or school… The impact of community and extended family is so strong in both positive and negative ways, how do we include that in our work? Also, how do we offer young people skills when the adult community around them will not know such skills or necessarily support their efforts?

I believe that the whole community must be involved in the learning of these peacemaking and third side roles. Even with the first programs in Calgary in 1987, it was essential that parents as well as school staff had at least as much training as the children. How can this happen when working with children’s clubs where parent involvement is not easily accessed? How can teacher/admin/staff adults in schools get this training when only a few get professional development and there is not the vehicle for whole school, whole community approaches?

Resilience: ‘The wrong thing for the right reasons’ There is such a ground swell of people wanting to help with people who have suffered trauma. The compassion that motivates is profound and beautiful. The methods are inappropriate and in some respects damaging. I met with a woman who is a practicing clinical psychologist here in Colombo and she said they call all the trauma experts ‘The second Tsunami’. The flavours of the month seem to be EMDR, (an eye movement thing, look it up on the web if you are interested) and other one to one, quick ways to change a traumatic memory.

On the week end, I attended a couple of hours of a trauma counselling two day workshop. Once I learned it was scientology I was going to leave, but decided to stay with an open mind. (Reminds me of the time we invited carpet cleaner sales people and Jehovah’s witness into the group home so the kids could see a hard sell and determine what was real without getting roped into a new set of knives, a fancy carpet cleaner (to be paid for in 40 easy instalments) or a new faith.

The slick presenter, a German man, who did his best to use Sri Lankan examples, sold the approach as science, facts and went at great length into the ‘technical workings of the brain’ NOT. Although I did not ask any questions, and left at lunch break (which came sooner than planned as there was no electricity for video and PowerPoint) I was left with a sickening feeling in my gut to imagine the two day trained folks off trying their skills at rewiring traumatic memories with their family and friends.

The psychologist and I had great conversations about supporting people as they get their immediate needs (home, security of shelter, livelihood, etc…) met and she wants to go do research on resilience at a University in Scotland or Australia. The term ‘second tsunami’ describes how the people in camps feel, as others come in to disturb schooling, and their day to day living with a desire to be photographed providing trauma counselling.

What must we do? We who feel a profound since of compassion for those who have lost so much? On a large scale, to those much is given, much is asked. How can we mobilize our own governments to forgiving debts? How can we shift this 1/3 world with all the financial wealth while 2/3 world has not? I look forward to some of your big picture thinking….

On a smaller scale, I want to introduce you to Nilani.

Nilani has worked for 24 years in social work, with Save the Children in Sri Lanka for seven of those years. On December 26th she lost her only son, Sidath, who was 5 years old. Nilani has begun a foundation to provide scholarships to children in her son’s name. Some of us in Calgary are planning to raise funds to support this scholarship. If you are interested in supporting this effort, email me at marthamcmanus@hotmail.com/ . Sidath was a very special young lad, he said he wanted to grow up and work for Save the Children, because he believed in working to help others. The Tsunami took his life but his vision goes forward.

Well, this update has been scattered, but I am happy to hear from all of you who are following along with this blog. I look forward to your input, and it feels like a community effort; my work here. I brought many things (drugs, supplies, books, well wishes and donations) with me and they keep on giving. A 1000 Rupee donation went to support the New Years party for children in the poor village where the money helped buy balloons and eggs for the egg toss. Thank you all for being there.

Happy New Year!

2005-04-19T16:59:00.000+06:00

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

4 April Back from Bangkok

2005-04-05T10:06:00.000+06:00

When I was researching trauma and resilience for my MPhil I read reports of trauma workers coming into Kosovo to work with trauma. International NGOs talked with people about their trauma at the same time the community was reeling from war and asking for help and support as they worked to reclaim their lives. People described a need for safety, housing, work with an income to support their families… and the trauma workers were prepared to provide psychological support for trauma. Many of Kosovo’s people described feeling further victimized as funding programs came in to address their trauma while the real needs of safety, shelter and meaningful work were unaddressed.

My research with resilience looked at the often quoted view that the majority of individuals who experience trauma are resilient and move through the experience from surviving to thriving, even in the face of man-made trauma of war and natural disasters such as tsunamis, earthquakes and hurricanes.
Van der Kolk has spoken about the insights he gained from Hugo. Not a person but a hurricane. After hurricane Hugo, psychologists came to support the survivors. The survivors were working to repair their homes and instead were asked to meet and discuss their trauma. In fact, van der Kolk says that exactly what the people were doing was their best treatment for trauma.

Do not sit around and talk about what you have experienced, but rather get on with recovery. Resilient folks carry bricks from destroyed homes to build in a new spot. Resilient people work together to support each other in rebuilding their community. In Hikkaduwa, a group of five families were sharing pots and a few spoons as they cooked their meals in a common area and did their best to clean debris and re establish some routine. Routines such as bed time, breakfast, school, work, caring for the home. Resilience means we need to feel that we are doing something; we are actively making life better.
A young child sweeps the step for an old woman who can sit and hold a wee one as the baby’s aunt carries bricks and water jugs. Little children can gather clothes which may not be useable as clothes but can be torn up to make rugs. One group of young girls made tea for the community youth who were removing dead trees and clearing land of bush that had not survived the salt water tsunami waves which destroyed not only homes, but vegetation. (It seems many palm trees survived as salt water is not a problem for them.)

Van de Kolk noted that physical activity and actual body movement through trauma is essential in recovery. I have noticed communities in the East who know not to depend on the government and are working together to repair and recover their homes and lives in their own communities. They have learned in the violence of war that their survival and ability to thrive depends on their own momentum. And so they work.

In some communities in the south, there is perhaps less experience of war and more shock response to this tsunami. They wait on the government which has not been forthcoming with allocated land, money to build homes and the delivery of promised aid. Their dependence on the government and belief that someone will provide has in fact caused them further trauma as many still are located in shared tents, with few resources and minimal relief.

When I first arrived in Sri Lanka, my first month, I longed for a bath or shower. (I got very used to bucket for bathing, and I lost 20 pounds as the people who provided a room for me did not eat until well after the TV dramas from India, with loud shrieking, distressed actresses who seemed to get hit a lot and found their men always yelling and leaving them. I am not a watcher of North American soap operas so I am not able to compare these dramas from India. I do know that I would collapse in bed shortly after bucket bathing, tuck my mosquito net around me and my exhaustion helped me sleep and I was oblivious to the shrieking actresses.

My acclimatization to developing country food, heat, bugs and all was not however the biggest challenge for me. My biggest challenge was a sense of uselessness. I had all this willingness and capacity to work yet the organization I came to work with, AHIMSA, was caught between funding challenges with a funding NGO. Peer mediation, resilience and trauma, all essential areas of focus and interest according communities were things I could work with; yet I could do nothing for the first month as AHIMSA dealt with challenges between funding and organizational conflicts.

I have had the opportunity to provide training and mediation to groups such as this when conflicts occur. In these roles I have been trainer or an external consultant, facilitator and mediator. This time I was on the inside of the conflict. Bill Ury’s third side work (see www.thirdside.org ) describes many roles for third side resolution of conflicts and there is very real benefit to applying the various third side roles, even from my position as sort of inside-outside. I am pleased to say that things are proceeding ahead now, and I have lots to do. What felt disabling to me was my inability to do anything. Just sit and wait. Perhaps my meditation practice helped somewhat, but I am struck with how the ability to sit and ‘be’ in the present moment is very challenging with the ‘do’ way of life when there is so much to do.

I look forward to learning about all these teachable moments in hind sight. A bit like looking across a mountain of switch backs and colourful Larch trees after one has trudged up the canyon and switch backs and climbed the rocky riverbed boulders in the Canadian Rockies. I am writing now from the vantage point of a rest house on a switch back as I have just returned from a holiday in Thailand. Food, shopping, snorkelling, beautiful beaches, air conditioned hotel with swimming pool and serious bath, and a wonderful time with a friend have all contributed to my refreshed, rested and relaxed take on life. Films: A Long Engagement and Hotel Rwanda, books: Kite Runner, Blind Assassin, and Jack Kerouac all contribute to my ‘be’ing -‘do’ing living.

I am interested to hear your thoughts on ‘be’ and ’do’. How does that work in your life? And can you live in the day? And/Or do you want something to look forward to? Or perhaps are you a bit of both?

I am curious about all these things and this blog offers me an excellent way of writing and hearing back as you share your wondering and wandering. Next week starts the celebration of Sri Lankan New Year so most everything closes down; shops, offices, AHIMSA, etc… I look forward to doing a bit of writing, and also so work- training as well.

In Sri Lanka, I watch in the newspaper as the government discusses 100 meter zones (where not to build) and yet does not actively deliver essential needs such as housing and land. NGOs can help with some things such as listening, and providing material for school uniforms, but the listening can even aggravate as people see helpers coming into offer support and listening and the money for these programs does little to put a solid roof over their heads. People’s anger and frustration are elevated. No only those who are in tents, but Sri Lankans who are there to care feel the increasing frustration as they put a bandage on an internal wound, offer a drink of water and pain relief in the form of psycho/social support to much deeper hurts of poverty, lack of work to get ahead and lack of shelter to protect families.

Programs like Habitat for Humanity mobilize families in the construction of their own homes. People are ready to use their energy to actively rebuild their homes, communities and their lives; the resilience they bring to the task is best spent in active participation in change. The sit, watch and wait, they are currently experiencing is further disabling them.

Another storm is moving in as I write this. It is roaring across Colombo as the storms, earthquakes and continued natural disruption in the weather and environment cause people to wonder about the bigger picture of Earth. Initially, there was a sense of reassurance, that life would return to normal in Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, Malaysia and all the areas impacted by Tsunami. These events such as quakes and tsunamis are rare, and will never again occur in a lifetime. Now earth quakes and the changing patterns of waves and tides, make assurances seem hollow and ill-conceived.

I was visiting with a young man in Thailand who asked if the weather patterns, storms and natural disasters were changing in Canada too. Instead of seeing these events as one-off occurrences; perhaps resilience is about swimming lessons, knowing the signs, building dwellings with different knowledge; no just whether your boat is visible from the window. What resilience skills does this changing world need?

I have to send this off and close down the computer as our internet connection is in danger when big storms and lightening strike. Hey, I just noticed, the clapping neighbour has stopped.

25 March- Poya Day and Good Friday!

2005-03-23T17:59:00.000+06:00

"well, once again I am blocked. i have this wonderful synhalese writing and it seems I can not paste it on this page! I have followed all the directions in blog and hello with no luck. stay with me and I will eventually get this sorted. Wouldn't it be simple to cut and paste? NOT!" sorry, technology challenges- martha

Happy Poya day from Sri Lanka in Sinhalese

I must tell you that no true Buddhist would wish you Happy Poya Day as it is a day of calm reflection at the temple, not a joyful celebration. I am not sure that Buddhists are big on celebration at the best of times. I am not sure there is a happy Good Friday either. What is good about Good Friday? I do not think I am very well verse in any religious traditions, but I am learning.

Does it seem like some serious holiday time happens here in Sri Lanka? The other side of the coin is that many people work a seven day week, so the holiday times do not reflect actual off-work time.

Some of you have asked for more personal information on this blog, so here is my learning from the night.

It is wise to wear slippers when you get up at night, and it is also wise to turn the light on. Cockroaches make a seriously uncomfortable crunch under bare feet in the dark!

The deal about cockroaches is, they somehow get flipped over on their backs and die there. Then they are really gruesome to step on.

March is the hottest month of Sri Lanka’s continual tropical weather, and so my 15 minute walk to work feels much like the inside of a sauna. (I was going to sat furnace, but that is dry heat). My computer hard drive does not like the heat and has seized up, taking with it music, photos, and documents, etc… some was saved as the thing went through a series of death throws before finally giving up completely.

I will not be updating this blog for the next 11 days as I am away in Bangkok, city and then beach…I look forward to swimming, air conditioned room, and all those delicious food treats I expect. I have also learned that gin and tonic is very helpful in a medicinal preventative way to ward off Malaria. I with therefore medicate, preventatively!

On a serious note, I thank the many of you who have offered to send money in support of people here in Sri Lanka. One village describes going from 2 NGOs to now as many as 58 NGOs and they keep coming. The challenge is this. What people need, want and are getting increasingly frustrated in receiving; are HOMES. They do not need temporary homes constructed in areas where they will once again move.

On example is a Muslim community in the South. They need 43 homes, and they used to live in the 100 meter area which is now off limits. They want to live as a community, in a group, and where would they find land for this? And who would fund it? There is money in bits and pieces for programs and some aid, the frustration they feel is toward their government who is not delivering the money for homes. And where would the homes be? Fishermen wish to be close to the sea, not too far in land.

In Kosovo, there was a lot of frustration at people coming from away to offer psycho/social programs when people had immediate needs of home, shelter and safety. It is the same here. We can get funds for fishing line, school books, and the like, and that helps. The bigger need is for homes. Capacity building is about hearing people’s needs and helping them to advocate for homes and becoming settled in their homes.

So I appreciate the offers of funds and support. AHIMSA continues to do the work they have been doing for seven years in Sri Lanka. We will be offering programs including peacebuilding and psycho/social programs in Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim communities in the coming months. We are not the house builders or the ones to coordinate millions of dollars for the kinds of home building initiatives that are needed. We do peace work.

In the event that in July, we increase our work and need help funding peacebuilding and psychosocial programs, we will certainly invite your help. At this time, we appreciate your kind thoughts and interest in Sri Lanka and AHIMSA’s work.

In the next few days, our web site should be up and running. Look for us at www.ahimsa.lk

It is not fully operational now, but should be soon!
We had a wonderful chocolate cake and celebration at the finishing of student project programs, peer mediation manual in draft, and the web site ALMOST done.

Have a peaceful and joyful couple of weeks!
Martha

17 March, 2005

2005-03-18T13:46:00.000+06:00

Here is Sri Lanka!

Ah, technology!

I am pleased to show you the map of Sri Lanka so you can get a view of the places I have talked about.
(I have put a map on this blog, but it is not cooperating in showing up.)

AHIMSA is working in Hikkaduwa with a Youth Centre and Buddhist temple which supports a Tsunami relief camp for people who lost their homes. While the distances are short, the trip is over three hours along Galle Road with three wheelers, buses, cars, trucks, oxen and the like filling the road of honking vehicles that are rarely on the right side of the road. They pass on the left or the right and their primary mode of communication is honking.

Our trips to Batticaloa take over seven hours with traffic challenges as described and the added challenges of gravel and dirt roads disrupted with continual presence of military, young boys with weapons, and look out spots along desolate open areas with nothing more than buffalo , egrets, and the rare group of elephants appearing in the hot, dusty daylight.
I am the mum to three sons and have to imagine how these young lads spend their days in uniform, with a weapon, in all the boredom of long hours and days with very little relief or fun.

Children are supposed to play. Older Children should have access to work that they choose and furthers their learning. Children are supposed to have futures to look forward to. As I read the report of a colleague, Angie’s research discussion children’s views of conflict in 7 communities across Sri Lanka, I am struck by the harshness of children’s lives here.

The UN convention on the Rights of the Child speaks to children:

Article 3: In all actions concerning children the best interest of the child should be the primary consideration.

Article 6: The state has an obligation to protect a child’s right to life, and to ensure that children are able to develop fully.

Article 12: Children have the right to express opinions in any matter which concerns them, and their views given due consideration in accordance with their age and maturity.

Article 29: The purpose of education is to develop children’s personality and talents, to prepare them for active adult life, to foster respect for basic human rights, and a respect for the child’s own culture and those of others.

Sri Lankan children are often forced by family to stay home and work in the home instead of attending school. I remember a similar 11 year old girl with dark circles under her eyes in a Calgary school. Her parents, new Canadians, cleaned office buildings at night. So this little 11 year old had been up all night as she cleaned her home and looked after a sick baby who had a fever. She had trouble staying awake in class, let alone learning.

Sri lankan children when asked about conflict , described alcoholism, violence and abuse, witnessing their mothers being hit, and a lack of support for children in homes and communities. There is no 800 number to call here, there is no one who knows where to report abuse if a child does tell. And where would a child go to be safe? Police, staff who look after children, are not a sure protection. One child care worker said, “I think you have an expression- ‘out of the frying pan, into the fire’?” So there is a silence around here, and speaking up could in fact bring more danger. Life is so very painful some times.

I asked a little girl how all the dogs know how to stay safe when the traffic is so bad on the roads (I do not see dead animals struck by vehicles here). She told me that dogs and children know how to keep alert to danger, because there is so much of it. “You are always aware of danger.”

Tonight, tuck a little one into bed, or look with compassion at that young lad who is trying to break into your car; and know that life can be hard for children… everywhere. Lads do not take up a weapon and join militant forces, or children do not turn to the streets for excitement; the fact for the majority of these young people is that life is full of pain at home. We, who have a meal, a bed, safety and health, it is we who must speak up for the children.

On Maha Sivarathri Day

2005-03-11T15:28:00.003+06:00

A Hindu holiday on Tuesday, March 8th is the celebration of Shiva.

We traveled to Rakwana on this day as on the 9th, we listened to the presentations of student projects by A level students who have worked with AHIMSA staff over the last year.

It is true that Sri Lanka celebrates many holidays with the diversity of people and faiths here. Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist and Christian holidays make for many holidays in any given month.

Hindu faith is rich with diversity and colourful kovil (temple) are full of bright statues showing many different deity and their various modes of travel from a rat for Ganesh who resembles an elephant, peacock and a lion. Hindu faith is as diverse as its many gods and goddesses, estimated at over a million!

Here are some of the basic beliefs help by the majority of Hindus.

• The three-in-one god known as “Brahman,” which is composed of: Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the Preserver), and Shiva (the Destroyer).
• The Caste System.
• Karma. The law that good begets good, and bad begets bad. Every action, thought, or decision one makes has consequences – good or bad – that will return to each person in the present life, or in one yet to come.
• Reincarnation. Also known as “transmigration of souls,” or “samsara.” This is a journey on the “circle of life,” where each person experiences as series of physical births, deaths, and rebirths. With good karma, a person can be reborn into a higher caste, or even to godhood. Bad karma can relegate one to a lower caste, or even to life as an animal in their next life.
• Nirvana. This is the goal of the Hindu. Nirvana is the release of the soul from the seemingly endless cycle of rebirths.

At the same time, Hinduism teaches that all living things are Brahman in their core. In other words, all living things are Brahman, or god. Enlightenment is attained by becoming tuned in to the Brahman within. Only then can one reach Nirvana. The release from the wheel of life that allows access to Nirvana is known as “moksha.”

Hindus recognize three possible paths to moksha, or salvation.

The first is the way of works or karma yoga. This is a very popular way of salvation and lays emphasis on the idea that liberation may be obtained by fulfilling one’s familial and social duties thereby overcoming the weight of bad karma one has accrued.

The second way of salvation is the way of knowledge, or jnana yoga. The basic premise of the way of knowledge is that the cause of our bondage to the cycle of rebirths in this world is ignorance. According to the predominant view among those committed to this way, our ignorance consists of the mistaken belief that we are individual selves, and not one with the ultimate divine reality – Brahman. It is this same ignorance that gives rise to our bad actions, which result in bad karma. Salvation is achieved through attaining a state of consciousness in which we realize our identity with Brahman. This is achieved through deep meditation, often as a part of the discipline of yoga.
The third way of salvation is the way of devotion, or bhakti yoga. This is the way most favored by the common people. It satisfies the longing for a more emotional and personal approach to religion. It involves the self-surrender to one of the many personal gods and goddesses of Hinduism. Such devotion is expressed through acts of worship, temple rituals, and pilgrimages. Some Hindus conceive of ultimate salvation as absorption into the one divine reality, with all loss of individual existence. Others conceive of it as heavenly existence in adoration of the personal God.
My blog is a chance to share the many diverse faiths and I appreciate those of you who have written to share your thoughts and experience.

I asked about who you turned to in times of difficulty as an adolescent. Thank you for your responses. It seems that many people speak with their peers, whether it is a sibling of similar age or a friend who is also a young person. The reason I asked this of you is that I am currently working with a peer mediation program here at AHIMSA. There is a culture of silence in that children do not often s[peak of abuse or difficulties to adults. If this program is to train peers to mediate they will be the front line for learning of much which is difficult and abusive in children’s lives.

I have pre-empted the peer mediation program with training for the whole group of young people in peer support. Peer support teaches skills to just what it says, peers support each other and learn listening and speaking skills and problem solving as well. I will describe one children’s club which shows how children fear getting adults involved because of their potential over reaction.

A young boy takes a girl’s gold necklace. The father threatens the boy who took the necklace. Another boy goes to the girl’s home to see if he can help work things out. The girl’s father, uncles and brothers attack this boy. He dies of an axe wound to the head. The various families on the girl’s side are burned out and driven out of town. Eventually an uncle serves time for the murder.

Children are wary to tell adults for fear of their strong reactions, and youth taking a third party role may not be well received. There are complicated issues in providing skills and support to children to support each other and at the same time understand the complexity of family and community roles in Sri Lankan society. The child who went over to try and settle the dispute over the gold necklace was not involved in any mediation training, or going with any particular training and support.

We will be heavily involved in field testing this program in diverse and also more homogeneous communities. Batticaloa is largely Tamil, and both Hindu and Muslim populations have fairly separate schools. Down south in hill country, in Rakwana, where we were this week, the population is mixed.

Monica grew up in Rakwana and as we met her family, she shared stories about hiding in the forest during 1971 riots. The riots found JVP forces attacking Jaffna Tamils, and Monica’s father was a Jaffna Tamil who was overseeing tea plantation workers. Monica said her father brought the families special clocks and the clocks made noise in the forest. Monica’s mother was raised in a Hindu family and there are ten children in Monica’s family. Monica met some of the teachers who she remembered as fellow students when she was in Rakwana. It is powerful to see so many girls in white school uniforms speaking with Monica. Monica was invited to Kennedy school of Management at Harvard to speak as a founding member of women waging peace and she has gone through out the world as she seeks to learn more about peace and share her experiences as well. It is true that many people leave Sri Lanka for education and work and immigrate to other countries, not to return. Monica will never leave Sri Lanka, she is as rooted here as the ancient Bodhi tree in her village. One of the young people’s presentations was about the Bodhi tree which is 200 years old in Rakwana. It grows just outside the rest house where we stayed.

This has been a bit of a wandering blog, without much structure. For the young person who wrote about various animals I have seen so far, I saw two crocodiles (not together) making their way across the road between paddy fields on the road down to Rakwana.

March 8th was International Woman’s Day, as we observed all the Tamil women carrying tea leave harvest on their heads down the hill to the factory. We gave a couple of women a ride up as we drove up to into the forest to a retreat centre. I am very sure that very few of the Tamil tea pickers had ever heard of women’s day. I expect they would have had a good laugh as they got up before dawn to get their children off to school and end the fast of Shiva’s Hindu holiday. Shiva is one of the God’s one would connect with for fertility. You can imagine all the interesting adornments to celebrate his holy day! As a Tamil tea picker I think my prayers would be the reverse of fertility!

So another blog week in Sri Lanka ends with crocodiles, tea pickers, children’s presentations, and the homey touches of fresh lime juice at Monica’s family home. I send you all my greetings and a special note to the Canadian woman sending home-made bears, I will let you know when and if the first brave 10 bears make it through the duty and excise taxes without getting confiscated by the government. If they make it, the other 350 can come!

Peacefully,
Martha
marthamcmanus@hotmail.com
(My email at Bradford is closed now, so please use this email address.)

On Maha Sivarathri Day

2005-03-11T15:28:00.002+06:00

On Maha Sivarathri Day

2005-03-11T15:28:00.001+06:00

On Maha Sivarathri Day

2005-03-11T15:28:00.000+06:00

March 3rd

2005-03-03T19:53:00.000+06:00

It is very hot and I am happy that it is not only me but native Sri Lankans are also feeling the heat. It seems my computer is as well, and the hard drive has seized up twice. Each time it cools down and goes back in the computer it gives me a brief time in order to copy files to cds so all is not lost. I wrote a blog, saved it on disk, and now the disk tries to convert it to Turkish language so the computer, disks and all seem to be feeling the heat with me.

If this works (different computer, different disk, and same writer) I will gratefully head for my flat in the breeze that has come up. I wrote about the dilemmas I am having concerning training we are invited to do in the East at Batticaloa, in ten days. We will provide a week long training trainers program in facing fears. The people requesting this work are finding it very difficult working with children and adults whose fears, post tsunami, seem to spread into fear of going to bed, to school, on the bus, or away from family. They want tools for working with fear.

My fear, I guess based on past experience, is that once one opens the doors to fear and trauma, many things come pouring out. Research describes a culture of silence, concerning abuse, yet it has been there in community and camps and can suddenly move from silence to spoken pain.

I remember when I was first teaching in a Northern mining community in Canada. If you had asked whether any of the students in our little school were abused, I could have answered with a confident and naïve, ‘No’. And I found out during my first teaching year on the total lack of awareness we all had, as a young girl came forward with her sexual abuse in her home. We helped her move to a residential centre for youth and she was the first of many people who spoke of the abuse they experienced. I do not think that a culture of silence around family violence and child abuse is unique to Sri Lanka, but a silencing well known in many communities.

I do not know whether communities, support workers or anyone has the capacity or facilities to handle the likelihood that fears have now awoken in once silenced children.
I look forward to the opportunity of working with a group of committed people who are making it their life work to be there for their community in the difficult times. My belief is that together we can share our experiences of what works, helps and how we can stay in touch as our learning curve builds.

At the same time AHIMSA works with psycho/social issues, we are developing our ADR materials and program with peer support and mediation. This blog can provide a participatory component as I have a question for you.

When you were (or currently are) an adolescent, who did you turn to, to speak about the difficult times you had?
Can you rank in order please: mom, dad, other adult in family, sibling, friend, school counselor, teacher, other?
If it depends on the topic (please include that distinction)

I look forward to hearing your responses: My email is marthamcmanus@hotmail.com
Oh, I believe I have lost my Bradford address, so please write to hotmail.

This week-end I met Sister Nidoshini. She is under 5 foot tall, yet the power she generates is huge. Her grey hair is stuffed under her blue nun’s habit, and she laughs to learn that there is a wine named after her. Sister awoke all her fellow nuns at 4am on December 26th and dragged them out with much resistance to catch a bus from Matara to Colombo, so they would have mass there. Their bus arrived in Colombo just before 9:30, when the tsunami waves hit. Sister says she must have been a snake in her past life as she, like the animals, felt the earth’s tremors before the waves came. Sister has a joyful laugh, the strength to move mountains and the ability to heal in her hands. People come from great distances for she heals wounds both visible and invisible. We are blessed as she comes to AHIMSA to rejuvenate. As we sat telling stories she invited me to come and sit with her as the people come to be healed. She and the master teacher who taught her have both spoken of my healing work in my hands. At the current moment, my hands can not heal my computer, but we continue to work as best we can. Sister and I enjoyed gin and tonic and shared great laughs. All is not hard as the joys are here daily as well.
Sister said if I wrote about her, she would want to thank all of you whose financial donations brought musical instruments to her school as they replace their band instruments. A flute, guitar, violin, and Kandy drums all make the band better. I had thought to invite you to send your used instruments here; only now the government is heavily taxes things and is even taking things to distribute on their own.

It must be getting cooler outside as the clapper (neighbor I mentioned in previous blogs) is now clapping. The heat slows him down a bit.

22 February- Navam Poya Day

2005-02-23T12:13:00.000+06:00

Poya Day

This morning I woke to the chanting and ceremonies of another Poya day.

Sri Lanka’s population are 69% Buddhist, 15% Hindu, 8% Christian, and 7% Muslim. (From the back of my A-Z Street guide with important facts of Sri Lanka) With my quick math skills, I guess that leaves only one percent of us to be none religious. The streets, normally filled with cleaners, sellers, stall owners, travellers (on foot, bike, trishaw, car motorcycles and bus…) and children in white uniforms making their way to school; are very quiet today.

Here is some information from a web page on Poya days:

The average Sri Lanka Buddhist visits the pansala (temple) four times a month on poya days, which equate to the phases of the moon. The full-moon day is most important and a monthly national holiday in the Buddhist tradition of this island nation -- a day of reverence for the faithful and a relaxing day away from work for those of other faiths. A tray of flowers is offered at each of the three places of worship, small oil lamps are lit (to represent wisdom and enlightenment), and incense is burned (to symbolize purity).
Poya day ceremonies are conducted from dawn until dusk at all temples. This includes Dharma sermons, meditation classes, pujas (offerings), administration of the precepts, and pirit-chanting of protective suttas (discourses).
Merit-making (punya karma) is considered to be the cornerstone of lay Buddhism. By following the Dharma and the precepts, by striving for compassion, equanimity and wisdom, and by performing meritorious deeds -- such as dana (almsgiving), pilgrimage and worship, and paying homage to elders -- one can assure oneself a more advanced rebirth on the spiritual ladder toward nibbana.

It was on a Navam Full Moon Poya Day that Lord Buddha appeared before the ascetic Deeghanakha at the cave named Sukarakathalena in the vicinity of Mount Gijjakuta:

“Easy to do are things that are hard and not beneficial to oneself;
But very, very difficult indeed to do is that which is beneficial and good.”
Dhammapada: 163

The influences of Buddhist tradition are significant and interesting to me. The Buddhism that so many have learned about through the books of the Dali Lama is different from what is practiced here. (As there are so many different practices of the other religions as well. It is hard to see a similarity between a Christian Quaker and an evangelical Baptist, I expect.)

I have been working with training trainers in resilience and trauma and there is no regularly used word for trauma in Sinhalese or Tamil language. It is more about difficult times, and resilience is more about overcoming difficult times and feeling happy again. I remember of the wonderful variations of language in Ojibwa. Also, holidays are more about natural phenomena. I remember speaking with a young boy in Chabogamou (Northern Quebec- First Nations community) and he was telling me about ‘Goose Days’ when they would have time off school, and I asked him which date that was (calendar thinking me). He looked confused by my question for a minute, then replied, ‘Miss, it is when the geese fly back from the south.’ The first to spot the geese, tells others. I guess the geese do not use a calendar!

Some of you have asked for more personal update on this blog as well. On Monday, I enjoyed a wonderful concert with Susheela Raman (music sharers will remember her Salt Rain) and the whole thing was a wonder, as the moon rose behind the stage (late start as British Council equipment had problems) and the phenomenal musicians with her. Carlos Djanuno, can that man sing! And guitar and percussion! Samuel Landell Mills (guitarist), Hilaire Hega Penda (bass guitarist), and Aref Durvesh (tabla player). The music, the heat, the moon, the audience, it was all so wonderful. (and it was a benefit for tsunami too.) They are laying down tracks for a new cd, and one song, ‘the same song’ (or something like that?)… anyway…it was awesome.

I saw Malcolm X (Spike Lee film) at a free series to recognize black heritage week in the US. Such a film, and I found myself missing others to talk about it with.

Ok, it sounds like I am just totally involved in entertainment? Well, I have finally moved into my own flat so major cleaning underway. (I will spare you the details, but for those of you following the past, I now have shower (it is so bloody hot here, I shower three times a day!) but still nothing that flushes!)

It looks like we will be going back to the East to provide training trainers work in trauma and resilience in the next month. It is not only the tsunami impact that produces traumatic events. Imagine losing one’s family, boat, home… and living in a camp. Many are turning to gambling and drinking in the camps in boredom. (With little relief- home-livelihood in sight.) and some of the young (some very young) females are raped and molested in the tight living spaces with no safe place to be. (and perhaps no one to protect them.)

Sri Lanka’s IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps had the highest suicide rates in the world, particularly during the war. Sri Lankan’s have such skills, capacity and compassion; they are working hard to provide for basic needs of safety, food, and shelter. It is less about restoring safety, for many it is safety for the first time…

Take a quiet moment on this full moon time, where ever on earth you are, and reflect on loving kindness. And tonight if you sleep in a safe place, with full tummy and clean water to drink, be grateful to be so blessed.

‘I wept because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet.’

Gratefully,
Martha

Dawn comes exuberantly upon the land

2005-02-14T13:00:00.000+06:00

14 February

This morning I woke before dawn and instead of opening my eyes to sunrise, I let my ears take it all in. I have watched and heard a rainstorm move across Lake Nydia in North Western Ontario, with the light rain, wind, birds calling, and finally a growing crescendo. The dawn this morning could be heard a ways off, and so many birds, insects and animals announced the dawn. I could hear way off in the distance the hum of birds, all, gathering in volume as the sound grew louder, and the individual sounds became distinguishable.

And so dawn comes on quickly and in an increasing volume, with the only people sounds, a call to prayer. Finally people noises, sweeping, trishaws, coconuts breaking, fill the din of Colombo morning active with children off to school, people to work and the normal array of big city noises.

Sunset is very sudden. Between the time the tip of the sun hits the water, until it is disappeared, is only seven minutes. Angie and I stood at Galle Face to watch the sun go down and it is much as in Kenya, close to the Equator and moving from day to night to day very quickly. I am remembering my time in the far north, where I tried to stay awake until the sun had completely set in Alaska. When finally I gave up and went to bed at 3 am, the light was still visible on the horizon.

Buddhist be-ing here with out doing seems to be my experience in this moment. I have read 8 books, purchased and distributed notebooks, pens and school supplies, and other personal supplies, and travelled through-out this country in my time here. Over the month’s time, I have met many people in the middle of a tumultuous time. Over 30,000 people lost their lives in a day, while 62,000 people lost their lives in a war over 20 years. The extent of loss and change to affect families, communities, livelihood, environment, government are experienced in psycho/social, spiritual, economic, educational and political realms.

Today’s paper describes 18 bodies found 2 kilometres in land from the Southern location where a train was derailed at Hikkaduwa. And so recovery, reconstruction and healing are happening while the traumatic events continue. As much as there is a profound sense of good will and support, a rush to build temporary housing, relocate communities, and address trauma, needs to take a deep breathe, and listen to people as they say what they need.

AHIMSA has been invited in to work in the South with psycho/social community needs and we will look forward to supporting this community’s resilient capacity to move ahead and create its own future.

8 February-

2005-02-08T11:54:00.000+06:00

Sri Lanka- a national holiday of independence

The Independence Day celebrations (last Friday) were less about celebration and more about marking a countries commitment to mourning its losses and momentum for a strong recovery. How will this work? I have real fear that the world may arrive to create a future, which might have little resemblance to Sri Lankan’s hopes for its own future.

Picture a small village on the coast. In December there were two NGO’s working with community capacity. One month later, there are 53 (International None Governmental Organizations (INGOs) from 18+ nations. In Ampara, people are falling over themselves to find housing, vehicles, food, and such a huge outpouring of good will, perhaps enough to overwhelm the community?

What I fear are getting missed are local groups, such as AHIMSA, who sit in a meeting with others discussing psycho/social work with children who experienced trauma. The California facilitator could easily be replaced with Monica who has lots of experience and training and with Sri Lankan children. She does not need to ask, “What is the equivalent of a hamburger and fries in Sri Lanka?” as she lives this life, these are her people. A large INGO is funding a new program in ADR. They bring in a trainer who begins with discussions of “What is conflict?” Monica and AHIMSA produced such training and had it published, funded by this same INGO, in 2003. Why is the training not provided by AHIMSA?

Well the answer to that is that this INGO amalgamated with another organization under the same larger INGO, with upheaval of staff, projects and organization. Now, 7 more organizations are coming on board. 180 new staff will mean focus on peace education and conflict transformation will take a back seat to relief. What happens to Peace and Conflict Transformation in the overwhelming out pouring of funding for relief?

I wrote of our visit to Batticoloa last weekend. We saw wild elephants, monkeys, eagles, egrets, king fishers and storks and this is a beautiful land, striving to grow and integrate the diversity of its people, landscape, livelihoods, economic conditions and environmental challenges. This moment of time when the world is focused on Sri Lanka and other Tsunami damaged countries, can Sri Lanka hold on to its vision of a future, its possibilities and options and not let others take over?

I have been asked several times, which groups are being helpful and effective in contributing to the countries well being and recovery? I have been told three times about Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) the Canadian military’s program, which has the capacity of making fresh water for countless villages and communities. So I will highlight them. On a smaller scale, I know AHIMSA as a group who work together with communities on the ground to provide real support to children and families.

In the East, there is the fear that children may be taken as child soldiers, and those who recruit them, can easily make the point that there is nothing there for the children. Perhaps a back pack with notebooks, pens, mathematical sets and school supplies will not be enough, but it is a concrete example of a real need being met, in real time. And it is the beginning of longer term community building toward a deeper relationship and peace and conflict transformation skills.

Several of you have tried to connect with the blog and asked for an email address. Please email me at marthamcmanus@hotmail.com I look forward to hearing from you.
The wonderful world of three-wheelers and flying around holes in the road and squeezing between trucks, white relief vehicles and buses is increasing challenges with more traffic. Also for those of you who were here before when I was in 2003, the hotels we stayed at for 35$US last time are now 95-120$US/night. (Out of reach in rupees, US dollars and forget Canadian conversion!) I went with three VSO staff to a bar and listened to a lovely voice, sounding just like Ella Fitzgerald, and band. The singer was a short pony tailed young Sri Lankan man, with a wonderful voice. I look forward to more nights of Lion beer and this amazing voice plays unplugged on Mondays!

Batticaloa

2005-02-01T18:47:00.000+06:00

We have just returned from Batticaloa which is a city on the East Coast of Sri Lanka. When I expand my blog skills I will try to include a map.

I have described trips to the South and Hikkaduwa which was very severly damaged by the Tsunami. It seems that one of the reasons they were so badly hit was because of their work. Many people in the community were involved in breaking corral, and so most of the corral reefs have been destroyed. Any hope that nature had of protecting the shores with the reefs is not possible around Hikkaduwa with the corral breaking. The industry is gone, the shores were too exposed and the area is extensively damaged.

Batticaloa is a largely Tamil community with mainly Hindu and Christian faiths in Batticaloa and communities primarily Muslim just south of Batti.

People tell of the snakes that gathered in large groups under the singing fish bridge. (Singing fish, like dolphins are said to be seen in the area, hense the name of the bridge.) The snakes had massed in such large numbers that crouds came to see them and there were beacons into the water so the mass of snakes could be seen at night. Again the snakes appear to forshaddow the Tsunami.

The first waves stuck the community as many were going off to places of worship. It seems that the second and third waves did the most damage and people tell stories of heroism as soldiers (previously unwelcome LTTE) going into the water to save people, and the family member watching then as the soldier lost his life in the water.

One couple got married this Sunday. They had their engagement party on the 26th and of the 23 family members gathered, only 11 survived. The couple got married with less than half their families, no dowery or special clothes, but a strong commitment to celebrating the marriage as they mourn together as well.

Batti seems a very strong community as they do not appear to wait for government support or funding. This is not likely to come with any great speed, or past record as the sinhalese government does not have much presence in LTTE areas such as this. The communities have formed their own neighborhood action commitees and have a strong voice.

They speak of building real homes, to replace those destroyed, not the rows of tin houses with no windows and which function more to roast those who dwell there as opposed to providing a home. The community speak about the bigger picture. 'We each had different homes, and we will have different needs now too.'The fisherman speak in practicalities,'How can I live so far from my boat?' and other fisherman do not wish to return to the sea just yet, and it seems there is little market for fish with the locals.

What AHIMSA is concerned about is encouraging children to return to school. It is easy to bring people into child soldiering when it appears that there is nothing. We are doing a double effort as we are bringing notebooks and school supplies and also making notebook covers which have peace quotes from various faiths. We have also added ideas on anger (STARR) perception (the blind wise men & the Elephant) and also cartoons about conflict resolution with interests and options.

We are translating all these sections to include english Tamil and Sinhalese.

It is important for us at AHIMSA to work with all the populations of the island, and it is long term work to help children get back to schools (and even first those who are homeless must leave the schools where they live now in Batti.) We are creating relationships in communities from which peace work and resilience will follow.

Thank you to all of you who have supported our eforts and I appreciate your interest. I hope you have had a chance to read about Sri Lanka else where on the web, and even seen a map. I am now getting eaten alive by mosquitos so i will close now until next week.

Peacefully, and bitten,
Martha

“A man finds no justice if he carries a dispute to violence. No, he who knows right from wrong, who is learned and guides othe rs- not by violence, but by the same law, being a guardian of the law, who shows intelligence: He is called just.”

The Dhammapada- Buddhist scriptures

“If you want to see the brave, look at those who can forgive. If you want to see the heroic, look at those who love in return for hatred.”
The Bhatagavad-Gita - Hindu scriptures

“Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
The Gospel of Matthew- Christian scriptures

“Shall I not tell you what is better than prayers and fasting and giving alms to the poor? It is making peace between one another: enmity and malice destroy all virtues.”

Words of Muhammad- Islamic Tradition

Happy Poya Day!

2005-01-24T18:23:00.000+06:00

Poya Day is a national holiday marking the full moon in Buddhist tradition. The last full moon was on the 26th, the day the Tsunami hit, so this day is very special both for mourning, rituals of the full moon and the nation's marking of the Tsunami.

This evening, Monica and I will meet at a Japanese restaurant with Yukiko who is here with a Japanese relief NGO and leaves tomorrow. It is amazing to see people from so many parts of the world and connect in person as well as on the web.

A special thanks to all of you who so generously donated finances, medicine and supplies and so many things to the people effected by the tsunami.Yesterday we from AHIMSA went as part of two bus loads (school bus type) of workers to a village to help with cleaning and repairing a house, inside and out, for use with the orphans of the community. The home the Orphans had lived in previously was destroyed in the Tsunami and many of the children were lost then as well. The neighbours reported to us that three waves hit. The first one came in and then receded. They had fled but returned when the water went back, to recover some of their things. The second wave was 30 ft high and did not recede and the third wave added power and caused the buildings to collapse and many of the people who lost their lives were caught injured in falling buildings and the force of the second and third waves.

I think it is easier for those who are not part of the community to do some of the repair and clean up as one old woman came by and recovered a small purple shoe, about the size of a three year old girl... and she took it silently and held it to her heart. I do not know the story and not only because I do not speak sinhalese but also because some just can not find words to speak of all that they have gone through.

I saw two separate homes with snakes and I heard a man telling another one of the cleaning group that snakes were the first to notice the danger as they felt it. So many people think a snake might serve as an alert if future waves or earth quakes happen. There are four houses with some rooms still standing where they share the kitchen utensil's together. They collect a spoon from their neighbour and cook in the open area between the houses as no one's kitchen survived.

The neighbours were all amazed at 75 people cleaning, and came to watch some of our efforts. The group were a whole factory of workers who work to pack tea and fruit and vegetables for export and donated their day's labour (and supplied food and many tools) AHIMSA provided transportation, tools, cleaning supplies, masks and such... The neighbours were helpful with sharing what they had and provided tea for us at the end of the day. We cut down trees and bushes dead from the salt water, cleared out debris which lodged itself in places inside the house and garden when the water receded finally. The water reached higher than two meters and stayed there for days.

We are talking with various groups about psycho-social programs and I am finding that all my work with trauma and resilience is important in all this. The Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu people are not at all happy with USA Baptists who have come in to provide relief and are handing out Bibles. They have been told to stop; they did not listen and continued. Kassapa approached some US Army personnel who were bulldozing standing walls in partial houses. Kassapa was with the team who were gathering bricks to recycle in rebuilding the houses. The military agreed that recycling would make sense, but they had their orders to bulldoze. In order for them to stop, they would have to get that order from their commander, and he would not be back until the end of the day. By then they needed to completely bulldoze the area.

I have been accepted into the PhD. program for September and feel a pull both to trauma and resilience and to conflict resolution training focusing on ethics, decision making and conflict resolution training with peacekeepers as well. I have this feeling that even thirty years from now my lifetime addition to learning will keep me picking up books by Gergen as relaxing reading.

I think I mentioned the man who claps next doors. (I understand that he does not speak.) He seems to clap in tune to a new CD mix (June 04) from a friend. The horn music is great and I think his clapping is in rythum with that piece, (maybe just my immagination!) music can communicate to be sure. I will find away to bring music to our next work with the community. This village we work with is the same one that is also part of the Buddhist temple community. We are getting to recognize them as they recognize us.

This is all for now. the three wheeler is waiting.

Greetings from Sri Lanka!

2005-01-17T10:12:00.000+06:00

This is new for me, so I hope it works. This 'blog' is a weekly update from Sri Lanka as I work in Columbo and around the Island with AHIMSA. AHIMSA is a small NGO (Non Government Organization) working with psycho/social programs for children and adults in peacebuilding areas.
I initially contracted to work here with a program in peer mediation with youth, and the tsunami has changed things quite a bit. Another aspect of psycho/social work which will be most applicable in the immediate future is my work and research with trauma and resilience. Trauma and resilience were the focus of my MPhil degree at the University of Bradford as a nice integration of previous MA in Counselling Psychology and MA in Peace Studies; yet I did not know what a real application it might have in my work until now.

I will write on this blog weekly updates of life and work here. Through the eyes of a Canadian woman with at this moment more heart and soul and less head insights into working with people in camps who have lost everything. I arrived here on Thursday night (just a bit of Jet lag as Calgary, Alberta home to London is 7 time zones away, and London to Columbo is another 5!).

Friday we went south to a camp with tents for people on the land of a buddhist monastary. We brought books and supplies for 80 children, hoping to start school (the school is gone, but they will meet in a building that was not destroyed) on Monday.(just told new update- they hope to find a place for school to start by the end of the month.) We brought underclothes needs for women, as the AHIMSA group had asked for specific needs. The donated clothes of course do not include such basics as underwear. Once the word went out that we were there with such things, a large group from the villiage as well as the camp were all the exact size of our limited supplies. We will go back on wednesday next with many more supplies. One woman who is 8 months pregnant was hoping to fit a size 32 bra, but better than nothing.

I brought medicine and supplies from Calgary donations (my family doctor and the travel clinic staff) and the Chinese doctors were most grateful as they had run out of supplies the morning before. at some point it is mostly about cleaning sores and providing relief as there is very little in terms of serious medical care one can do in a tent. The doctors are a team from China, and the tents in this camp were provided by the King of Saudi Arabia. There is a tremendous out pouring of relief from so many nations. It is very appreciated and at the same time complex.

One child's drawing had blue water drawn over everything. The boy lost his whole family and is now with extended family, but his dog came back. small things like panties, or a package of crayons and a notebook make a smile come to some who have had very little to brighten their lives for a long time.

The road was packed with traffic as this was a long week end and many around traveled to see the site of the train which was destroyed and over 1000 lives were lost in that one spot. the train is off its rails and pushed a great distance from it's place, and large fishing boats (the type for 8 people or more to stay at sea (not small dingy types) have been washed up to beyond two football fields from shore. There are still people wandering the wreckage of pieces on wall and houses and total destruction, looking for a piece of fabric from their loved ones clothes, I suppose hoping in vain for someone alive...

Life back in Columbo has a necessary balance as Monica (My friend and colleague from Bradford and AHIMSA founder) and I went to dinner with Yukiko who was also a fellow MA student at Bradford and is here from her usual work in Jordan to do preliminary work in setting up a relief office with her Japanese NGO. It is a wonderfully small world to share such good times with friends!

As i write this, I am listening to a man next door to this office who claps his hands all day. He has had a stroke and now spends most of his days clapping. i will plan to go and visit him, and I am not sure if he is interested in music or has the capasity to play cds. if so, I will bring him Keith Jarrett and some of my music.

Music fills the soul and sort of centres one.These are transition times for me, with sleep, eating, heat, lifestyle and all in a state of flux. I am living with a family of another AHIMSA staff and finding my way there as well. By the time I fall into bed at night I am barely 2 minutes before sleep takes over. Dreams full of flight and fun so my wild times seem to be sleeping expeditions and connecting with friends. See you there!

Take care, all of you.
Peacefully,
Martha