The Island Profiles Inaugural LankaCorps Fellows

October 17, 2012

The 2012 LankaCorps Fellows, left to right: Sabina Martyn; Seshma Kumararatne; Sahani Anne Chandraratna; Sivashankar Krishnakumar; and Ann Selvadurai.

Below is an excerpt from an article published in Sri Lanka’s The Island that profiles the first five fellows to participate in The Asia Foundation’s LankaCorps, a new volunteer program that gives young professionals of Sri Lankan origin the opportunity to contribute to the dynamic, multi-ethnic nation’s post-war recovery through six-month fellowships at various host organizations.

For Sivashankar Krishnakumar, an electrical engineer from California who is placed with the Foundation of Goodness, organizing the Murali Harmony Cup was a stimulating experience, opening vistas hitherto unexplored. Born in Jaffna, Sivashankar left for the U.S. with his family as a young boy and graduated from the University of California at Riverside. Prior to his involvement in LankaCorps, his only direct exposure to Sri Lanka was during the ceasefire. “Today I see a totally different nation devoid of war,” said Sivashankar, whose extensive travels in many parts of the island including Seenigama, Trincomalee, Mankulam, Vavuniya, and Jaffna, has widened his horizons. “I learned many things about Sri Lanka which I would never have learned through a textbook or parental input.” Organizing the Murali Cup was an enthralling experience that gave him an opportunity to be part of the North-South reconciliation process. “LankaCorps has given me a one-of-a-kind opportunity to experience this wonderful country personally and professionally. The impact it has on me is so profound, so much so I intend to return to Sri Lanka to help develop the country.”
 

Commending Sivashankar’s contribution to the Foundation of Goodness, Founder and Chief Trustee, Kushil Gunasekera said, “Shankar’s placement was very timely considering our on-going humanitarian work in the North. He is to be admired for wanting to help in a concrete, hands-on way. At his age, very few will come back for six months, giving up a lucrative IT job to serve his country, which to me is a real eye opener for those who are watching things happen as opposed to Shankar who is making things happen!” The Murali Cup matches were held at five venues in the North similar to a mini cricket world cup for school boys. Gunasekera said: “I cannot adequately describe the role he performed to make this historic event a great success. His passion to work at the grassroots level and his coordination of the logistics were outstanding.”
 

Quite different to her previous short visits to the country as a tourist, LankaCorps has enabled Sabina Martyn, from Canada, to immerse herself in day-to-day life in Sri Lanka, through work and in her leisure time. Sabina, a water engineer by profession and graduate of the University of Guelph, had relied mainly on the media and her parents’ stories and memories to shape her ideas of Sri Lanka. “LankaCorps has challenged me to develop my own perspectives and seek my own experiences. I have also been able to explore my heritage. I visited Jaffna, which I had not been able to do in past visits because of the war. It was a surreal experience to walk the same streets that my ancestors had, and to feel so closely tied to a place I had never even visited before. The opportunity to work in Sri Lanka has been an invaluable complement to my previous Canadian work experience and education. My placement at the National Water Supply and Drainage Board has been a rewarding experience and helped me to comprehend and apply my skills to the complex environmental, financial, and social contexts surrounding the implementation of water supply projects in the country,” said Sabina, who also had the opportunity of interacting with high school students from across the country as a weekend volunteer at a youth leadership conference organized by Sri Lanka Unites.

Read full article 

The Asia Foundation Launches LankaCorps

 

 

The 2012 LankaCorps Fellows, left to right: Sabina Martyn; Seshma Kumararatne; Sahani Anne Chandraratna; Sivashankar Krishnakumar; and Ann Selvadurai.

The Asia Foundation Launches LankaCorps

San Francisco and Colombo, October 19, 2011 — Sri Lankan expatriates invited to apply for post-war volunteer program

The Asia Foundation, the premier non-profit, non-governmental organization working to promote reform, development, equality, and prosperity in Asia, today announced the creation of LankaCorps, a new and unique volunteer program for young Sri Lankan expatriates who want to contribute to the dynamic, multi-ethnic nation’s post-war recovery in Sri Lanka. U.S. citizens of Sri Lankan heritage between the ages of 21 and 30 are invited to apply for highly competitive, six-month fellowships in the public, private, and non-profit sectors to begin April 1, 2012. Asia Foundation staff will assist LankaCorps Fellows throughout the program; roundtrip international airfare, a monthly stipend, expenses, and health insurance coverage will be provided as part of the program. Extensive experience in Sri Lanka and local language skills are not required for acceptance.

“Sri Lanka lost significant economic ground during the war and must heal social divides,” said Nilan Fernando, The Asia Foundation’s Colombo-based country representative and creator of LankaCorps. “Many public and private organizations are open to an infusion of skills, leadership, and fresh, international perspectives.”

Mr. Fernando was born in Sri Lanka and raised and educated in the United States. He is a published expert on Sri Lankan politics and decentralization. He blogs on In Asia about LankaCorps.
He added: “Motivated and curious about their heritage, LankaCorps Fellows are uniquely positioned to contribute to the island’s long-term recovery. Fellows will participate in local social and economic initiatives and organizations, as well as have an opportunity to explore and discover their heritage, ultimately gaining a deeper understanding of contemporary Sri Lanka.”

LankaCorps builds on The Asia Foundation’s long-standing commitment to exchange programs that encourage understanding between Asians and Americans. Of note, the Foundation oversees The Luce Scholars Program, unique among American-Asian exchanges in that it is intended for young leaders who have limited experience of Asia and who might not otherwise have an opportunity in the course of their careers to come to know Asia.

The Asia Foundation is an active partner in Sri Lanka’s post-war development and has maintained a continuous in country presence since 1954. The Foundation’s local staff of development specialists seeks to strengthen democracy and access to justice; support post-civil war healing; promote greater citizen participation in policymaking and governance; and create an enabling environment for economic development, especially in lagging regions.

Candidates can learn more and apply at: http://www.lankacorps.org/. The deadline to apply is January 31, 2013. Updates are available on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/AsiaFoundation and on Twitter at: @Asia_Foundation. Candidates can use the #LankaCorps hashtag.

Read more about the Foundation’s work in Sri Lanka. For media inquiries, please visit the Press Room.

Ann’s Blog

The Best of Both Worlds

Breakfast at the WIN office



 

I think of my time here for the past two months, and it’s extremely difficult to encapsulate everything that we’ve done and seen.  From adjusting to the work life to strengthening our stomachs, it’s been a cultural experience to say the least.

I am the only half Sri Lankan of the batch; my mother is American born and my father holds his roots in Jaffna. Before I met the other fellows, I was of course expecting a similar story or a fellow with a similar shade of color. That wasn’t the case. All of us come from completely different Sri Lankan experiences. Here I am going to a place that I had only visited twice, and of those times only once I can remember. I didn’t speak a word of Sinhala or Tamil growing up, and yet here I am learning both languages. I’m meeting some family for the first time, among them the eldest great grandchild (I am the youngest) of our great grandfather in Jaffna. Aunties and Uncles who I don’t know somehow get ahold of my number and yell at me for not ringing them beforehand, which is somehow very comforting when I thought this place was so foreign to me beforehand. Sri Lankans don’t really say “yes” or “no,” so you can end up never really knowing what will happen next. At times, I’ve wanted to rip my hair out of frustration, after for example, getting taken around in a trishaw for way longer than necessary because no one will admit that they don’t know where you want to go. This goes for work too. Their notorious head wobble, or whatever you’d like to call it, can be perceived as whatever you want it to be—most of the time it means that whatever you say won’t get done and their going to forget what you said in the first place anyhow. The first word I learned from listening to my coworkers talk was the Sinhala word for “later.” Ha, language is culture, right? 

New WIN office in Jaffna

Regardless, my work at Women in Need (WIN) gives me an environment full of passionate and professional Sri Lankan women. It is the only NGO that provides free counseling and legal services for women and children who suffer from domestic violence. In post war Sri Lanka, women’s issues have soared in the media and headlines. Actually, as I sit and write this I’m listening to a presentation given by WIN about women’s violence and abuse conducted completely in Tamil in Jaffna, just meters away from where ancestors walked. There have been hundreds of thousands of women in the north and east displaced after losing their husbands to war. Plenty of women in the north have to walk miles alone and take care of their entire family with no income. Situations like these that are particular to women has brought about an uprising of other organizations focusing their attention to women’s needs, such as the Family Rehabilitation Center (FRC), which draws their attention to mental health needs in Sri Lanka, and the Foundation of Goodness (through their donations of bikes to women).

 WIN gathering in Jaffna to discuss domestic violence

Just weeks earlier, I was again in Jaffna mentoring youth for a hope and reconciliation organization called Sri Lanka Unites (SLU).  500 students of all ethnic backgrounds came from around the country to partake in team building activities and workshops to promote unity in the country and for the next generation after a three decade long war that tore the country apart. This was the first organization that I had witnessed that actively promotes unity across all races and backgrounds. Additionally, they have a program entitled SHOW (Stop Harassment Of Women). SHOW focuses on putting an end to the harassment of women on buses and other forms of public transportation.

I guess there are a lot of interesting disparities and hypocrisy here when it comes to women’s issues. Yes, there are movements and organizations where women are standing up for themselves, but when walking into a gathering hall at any time, I can assure you the men and women will sit miles apart if they could. Women are, more than ever, scared to go out at night and expect a man to escort them at all times. How can equality really be achieved if we still have to cover ourselves up and refrain from talking about “sex” and other “scandalous” topics? Also, when will the men stop looking at us like we’re aliens (and then awkwardly touch us) whenever we hop on a bus? Sri Lanka is considered to be a matriarchal society, but this doesn’t really exist anywhere outside the home.

Despite many ingrained cultural behaviors, I think, absolutely, that Sri Lanka, in this post war state, is reaching equality on a number of levels: race, gender, and ethnicity. It’s already changed so much since I was last here in 2004. We are halfway done with our fellowship, and we’ve all seen and experienced so much. It’s exciting to be in Sri Lanka during this time when there’s such a focus on revitalization and rehabilitation for this prosperous island.

 Ann with a portrait of her grandfather - the first principal of Jaffna Hindu College

 

Ann Selvadurai

Sabina’s Blog

How I Met my Mother-Tongue: Language, Identity and the LLRC

A student team at the Sri Lanka Unites conference. Photo credit: Indika Yapa (Sri Lanka Unites)

*smack!* “You must learn to speak your mother tongue!”

Unfortunately for my arm, it wasn’t the first time I had been admonished in this way by a Sri Lankan disappointed that I was not fluent in Sinhala or Tamil. Although my first spoken language was Tamil, as a lifelong Canadian, English is the language I am most proficient in. This made me wonder, if a person is unable to speak a language, how can it be considered their ‘mother tongue’?

Is a mother tongue:

          • Your first spoken language?
          • The language of your ancestry or ethnicity?
          • The language you express yourself most comfortably in?
          • The tongue spoken by your mother?

And by extension, was I expected to have certain beliefs or allegiances according to what my mother tongue was determined to be?

Personal identity is inextricably linked to language. Collective history, societal customs, idioms, culture:  all are woven into language and passed from generation to generation. And in every language there are concepts and nuances that just cannot be translated. Identity, therefore, is defined to an extent by linguistic boundaries.

“Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about.” -Benjamin Lee Whorf

While in its latter stages the war in Sri Lanka was labelled as a war on terrorism between the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE, the conflict was sparked by the division between two ethnic groups speaking different languages, the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority. The obstacle that the language barrier presents to the reconciliation process was recognized in the 2011 report produced by the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC). The report, which itself was initially released in English and only became available in Sinhala and Tamil languages in August 2012, includes the following recommendations:

9.243 The learning of each others’ languages should be made a compulsory part of the school curriculum. This would be a primary tool to ensure attitudinal changes amongst the two communities. Teaching Tamil to Sinhala children and Sinhala to Tamil children will result in greater understanding of each other’s cultures.

9.244 The proper implementation of the language policy and ensuring trilingual (Sinhala, Tamil and English) fluency of future generations becomes vitally important. A tri-lingual education will allow children from very young days to get to understand each other.

            

Women’s Textile Cooperative in Jaffna

But what action has been taken? Political will, commitment and investment are required to achieve these goals. In a nation where coverage of a news story may vary depending on whether you read the English, Sinhala or Tamil newspaper, knowledge of more than one language provides a wider perspective and a larger platform for dialogue.

Over the course of my past two months in Sri Lanka, I have witnessed firsthand the undeniable value of multilingualism in this nation. In August, when meeting with a women’s group in Batticaloa, I was amazed by the instant trust and ease in the women’s demeanors when I switched from speaking to them in English to conversing with them in their native Tamil tongue. A few weeks later, as a volunteer at the Sri Lanka Unites ‘Future Leaders Conference’ in Jaffna, I saw high school students from across the country come together to learn the skills and build the relationships necessary to lead Sri Lanka as a unified nation. As the students completed each activity, it was clear the advantage that the bilingual and trilingual students had in expressing themselves and relating to their diverse peers. Multilingualism was something that the students came to value and strive for.

Students at the Sri Lanka Unites Conference identifying national issues in Sinhala, Tamil, and English

A common theory I have heard here is that the key to unifying the country as well as keeping students competitive in the globalized economy is to introduce English as a universal language of instruction, rather than the current separate streams for Sinhala, Tamil, and English instruction. While knowledge of English is a definite asset, if the two national languages are not used in academia, they will not be able to develop and adapt to the changing times. For example, in discussions about development, I have heard Tamil and Sinhala conversations peppered with English words such as “capacity building”, “sustainability”, and “livelihoods”.  The academic use of a language is necessary to cultivate it for future generations, as well as to preserve the unique culture that it carries.

As I write this, it occurs to me that many of the people I am writing about will not be able to read this, making it another example of something lost in translation. To this effect, I have started taking both Sinhala and Tamil classes to improve my language skills. Trilingualism may be a lofty goal, but I truly believe that it is a worthwhile one.

LLRC Report: http://slembassyusa.org/downloads/LLRC-REPORT.pdf

Sri Lanka Unites: http://www.srilankaunites.org/

Sabina Martyn

Sahani’s Blog

But, the Sri Lankan dream is to leave… 

 “Doesn’t the heat bother you?” “But it’s so dusty here…” “How do you stand the mosquitos?” “It’s so boring compared to the States…”

Just about the only thing that has shocked me since I have come to Sri Lanka is the amount of times I have had to defend my decision to do so. The most common response I have received after explaining “what I’m currently doing with my life” to a variety of people in Sri Lanka has been an immediate bewilderment as to why I would want to come back here. Don’t get me wrong, I have encountered many people who have praised my choice to participate in the program and who have encouraged me to make this new lifestyle more permanent. Additionally, almost everyone views the program itself as beneficial, important, and necessary. Still, I found many people, too many people in my opinion, simply did not see the logic in choosing to live and work in Sri Lanka when I could be back in the US. I found this reaction shocking and saddening because for me the answers to their questions were obvious. Sri Lanka is a fantastic country that I love, I’m invested in its future, and I want to do my part to contribute to its society.

That being said, I’m not blind to Sri Lanka’s shortcomings, biased perhaps, but not blind. A common trait I have noticed is peoples’ ability to disregard logic and make rash statements. For example, I recently met an individual who brazenly asked me how I can stand the ‘ineptitude of the masses’ in Sri Lanka and then proceeded to complain about how her employer was constantly pressuring her to adhere to deadlines. She found this request to be a justifiable reason to quit but did not see how it could possibly contribute to the very wastefulness she was complaining about mere minutes earlier. I’d be lying if I said this type of attitude doesn’t drive me nuts; but people like this can be found anywhere in the world. And sure, it’s hot and dusty and my constantly itchy skin is annoying. But to that I say - turn on a fan, don’t wear white too often, and buy some mosquito repellant. I also just flat out reject the assertion that life in the States is more entertaining than that in Sri Lanka.

After all, where else in the world does a relatively typical evening entail playing cranium with your extended family, clubbing until four in the morning, drive-up dining from Pillawoos and watching the sunrise from the beach in Mount Lavinia? Sri Lanka is home to some of the friendliest people in the world; their faces will light up with a grin at the slightest provocation. Celebrations marking significant holidays for several of the major world religions are openly celebrated on the street, bringing traffic to a halt, but accepted and embraced by all. A sincere testament to what a vibrant and wonderfully varied nation this is.

It is an extremely plentiful land, inundated with a variety of fine products. The soil produces numerous items from high-quality tea to coconuts, rambutan, and grapes, to onions, and karapincha, to cinnamon, rice, and rubber. Beneath the soil lies a plethora of rare and unique semi-precious stones; above it, a range of interesting natural landscapes and amazing man-made structures. The topography ranges from tropical rainforests, to white sand beaches, to stretches of arid desert. This diverse terrain is home to thousands of species of animals, many unique to Sri Lanka. Not to mention the rich sea that surrounds us; providing the country with fresh seafood and international recognition as a surfing destination. This is a country where tourist attractions range from white water rafting to elephant orphanages to spiritual retreats. A land blessed with a plethora of raw assets.
It’s a place where six degrees of separation is generally cut in half because your neighbor’s brother’s friend could be a third of the population. Where grandmas and young boys dance the baila with similar passion. Where there is at least one National holiday a month. And where Abans, one of the largest stores in the country, promotes the T20 cricket series by sponsoring a group of teenagers to paint their faces and dance to papara band music on flat-bed trucks that drive around the city during rush hour. Sri Lanka is certainly a place like no other.

I have been given the incredible opportunity to work on the issue of Women’s empowerment at one of the largest companies in the country, MAS holdings, and the experience has only reinforced my desire to work in Sri Lanka. The garment manufacturing industry is about 90% female and the issues faced by the factory workers are considerable. Forward thinking companies, like MAS, have implemented world-class initiatives to simultaneously improve the productivity and overall lives of their team members. The Women Go Beyond team creates and runs programs that deal with many relevant issues including- gender sensitivity in the workplace (sessions are conducted for both male and female staff), violence against women, sexual and reproductive health, and work-life balance. These programs focus on the needs of the employees while showing how addressing them is beneficial for the company. It is the way corporate social responsibility should be done. Why would I want to come back here? If you don’t know by now, you haven’t been paying attention.

Sahani Anne Chandraratna

Seshma’s Blog

The Heart of the Lion

It was truly serendipity that the LankaCorps Fellowship came at the most perfect time in my life when as a twenty something year old, with nothing tying me down, I most wanted to travel back and live in Sri Lanka so I could explore my roots and where I’ve come from. It is with this thought that I strode alongside the other four fellows down the long hallway towards the airport gate at which we would board our Sri Lankan airlines flight from Heathrow, England to Colombo, Sri Lanka, and I knew it was going to be a great experience. Before we could even come relatively close to the gate I could hear the noise there was already several decibel levels louder than anywhere else in the entire airport, and most probably all of England. As we walked up you could see little Sri Lankan children running all around, their parents yelling and threatening them with incentives of bodily harm or worse; but of course used to those things the children pretended selective hearing and continued their havoc.  Everyone appeared to be so full of energy and anticipation to arrive in Sri Lanka. It was a great indication of the next six months to come.

Upon arriving in Sri Lanka and getting settled in, we began to wander around the city. Of course the first thing all of us wanted to do was jump in a speedy trishaw with the wind blowing in our hair down Galle road and get dropped off at a vendor who served some delicious local foods. I’ve found that over the time I’ve spent here, I’ve come to really depend on trishaw drivers as my main mode of transportation.  I’ve learned what reasonable prices are for certain traveling distances, and to always take a metered trishaw if possible because those prices are always fair. It also took me a while to adjust to how close people drove to each other.  In the beginning I was sure I had a couple close brushes with death, as the trishaw I was in would get right up against a bus that was trying to pull to the side and I thought I would get crushed. Now having spent more time here, I realize that the trishaw drivers intentionally drove that way and I really wasn’t as close to death as it appeared to be, or I was but it was like a game of chicken and I would have to come to accept that this was how I was going to get to work every day.


As someone whose focus and aspirations lay in the international relations sphere, Sri Lanka is the best place to be to attain that essential work experience.  I currently have placements at both the Regional Center for Strategic Studies (RCSS) and the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKIIRSS). At LKIIRSS I am involved in a proposal paper focused in diaspora engagement with two other interns and a research analyst. The Kadirgamar Institute has provided me the opportunity to not only be involved in a government proposal plan but also to really hone in on my skills of interviewing, research, as well as writing. Besides the paper we also simultaneously have to focus on the several other events that take place at LKI at any given time.  I’ve already attended and helped coordinate several lectures and conferences that have involved many high profile professionals as well as government officials from a multitude of countries.

In terms of my work at RCSS, it is very similar in nature as I am focused on writing a volume of RCSS over 20 years, which incorporates a large amount of interviews, research and writing as well. However this project I am solely embarking upon with only the Executive and Associate Directors overseeing my work.  I get to work in an awesome office I share with an amazing program officer, and although there is an A/C in the room we leave the window open because the room gets stuffy. This means that as I work I also get the lovely sounds of honking buses, clucking chickens, one particularly annoying rooster that crows every couple of minutes, and surprisingly a ice-cream truck that comes around everyday with a wonderful ice-cream song which it has on repeat for a good twenty minutes. I’ve learned to ignore these sounds, by means of headphones or just accepting the ambiance that is Sri Lanka. In fact, my first Saturday morning in Sri Lanka I woke up to sounds of drums only to look out my window and see a procession of Buddhist monks and drummers.  I’ve definitely come to accept and enjoy that Sri Lanka is a country full of personality by means of loud objects, loud animals, and louder people.

On a more serious topic, I have found it to be most surprising as well as interesting that my belief of what the common opinion was across the different ethnicities and strata’s of the local Sri Lankan population in regards to post-war progress and reconciliation was not accurate at all. Only after integrating myself by living and incorporating myself into the workforce have I discovered just how far off I actually was.  Working in the foreign relations sector, talking to various different people from all walks of life, I have come to realize that the diaspora’s beliefs and opinions are far more radicalized than those feelings within the country itself. Out in the rest of the world the sentiment in the wake of the conflict are still very compartmentalized and unchanging, which is just not the same response going around within Sri Lanka. It appears to be that as the country progresses so does the mindset of the people, whereas the diaspora remain in the same frame of mind because they are not exposed to the integration and development of the country. From my personal perspective and observations since being here it appears that attrition is what has allowed those in the North and the East to really move forward and away from a warzone lifestyle. The South in the meanwhile has begun to awaken to the difficulties of a militarized country. Now that the conflict is over there are is an excessive amount of police officers and military personnel who have been trained to operate during times of combat and who have now have nothing else to do but focus on the country and population itself and away from what was previously many years of warfare. Issues of politics in regards to journalism, education and economic factors have become a larger focus, and violations of civil rights that were sanctioned before through silence or vocal support in pursuit of a larger goal are now gaining the spotlight.

Though politics and reconciliation are at the forefront of any conversation those topics do not detract from the natural beauty and drastic changes towards progress that are apparent within the entirety of the country. It is with great pleasure that I get to participate in seminars at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Insitute where they can have topics such as Women In Reconciliation and have open forums of thought and discussion without repercussion. It is amazing the amount of locals and foreigners that now flock to various locations around the country that used to be inaccessible to the public.  The high level of passion and patriotism that I have always consistently found at Sri Lankan cricket matches is only stronger as I attend the current Twenty20 Cricket tournament hosted by Sri Lanka. As a member of the community of the younger generations living abroad I passionately feel that now is a key time for young professionals to engage in experiences like the LankaCorps Fellowship which really enables people to get a firm grasp on their roots through first-hand knowledge, while also providing us with relevant work experience. I feel like my skills and talents are valued as a Sri Lankan resident and that I can contribute and invest in this island for the long-term.

Seshma Kumararatne

Shankar’s Blog

Travels in the North

 

 As I’m writing this I’m surrounded by young Chinese students at a coffee shop speaking a language I don’t understand. No, I’m not back home in Temple City, California, I’m in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Just two days ago, I was in Northern Sri Lanka, surrounded by soldiers, young cricket players and Tamil children. I’ve been working in Sri Lanka for exactly two months now and I’ve discovered Sri Lanka is no different to most third world countries. It has a big city filled with tourists, rickshaws’, local elites and hints of authentic culture. But when you leave the DMZ and venture outside of Colombo, you’ll start to understand the long, rich and bloody history of this country.


First things first, personal space, lines/queues, toilet paper and basic manners are nonexistent in Sri Lanka. This is a fact that has to be accepted when coming here.  You have to adapt to this. For example if traveling by bus you can’t just sit next to the window and enjoy the hot dusty air in your face, at any moment someone will lean over you and spit beetle juice out the window as though you weren’t sitting there. Don’t expect an “excuse me sir do you mind moving your face while I spit”. This is Sri Lanka.  Always assume you have to be in a rush if someone else is in a rush as lines don’t exist here and patience is not a virtue. The bus stopped at the Omanthai check point while I was on my way to Jaffna and people started pushing past one another to leave the bus. I waited patiently, walked over to the counter, showed my passport, turned around… and saw the bus drive away without me. I went to the corner shop for a Fanta, was forced to settle for a Miranda instead and waited for the next bus. As soon as I saw it I joined the shoving match and found myself a seat, slowly going native without ever realizing it. My advice take the night train, less spiting smells better and you feel like you’re in an Indiana jones movie.

I work for the Foundation of Goodness (FOG), a local non-profit that specializes in empowering rural communities. FOG was founded by Kushil Gunasekera, a successful business man turned philanthropist. While working here I’ve spent a lot of my time traveling back and forth between Colombo and the North mostly to help organize a cricket tournament named after the cricketing legend Muthiah Muralidaran. Because the Sri Lankan army was in charge of venue preparation, accommodation, transport, catering and entertainment I spent a lot of time with them. Being Tamil, I was a bit wary in the beginning but it turned out to be   a very enlightening experience.  While traveling I stayed in old LTTE camps, army bases, and a Chinese temp home. I had French brandy, pizza and fries (fried using coconut oil…amazing!). While enjoying a drink with my new found buddies I asked: “Who supplies the weapons, America or Russia?” He answered China. I asked if they were any good. He laughed and said “a lot better than their phones”. I’m sure China and India will continue to fight over the influence on this island for years to come and I’m almost certain the army is never going to leave the North. Maybe it will be a good thing, to be honest, in a country of inefficient people, working with the army was quite refreshing. They are what the people aren’t, patient, disciplined, and organized.


Back to cricket….The Murali Cup matches were held in the northern part of Sri Lanka; Vavuniya, Jaffna, Mankulam, Kilinochchi and Oddusudan. The Jaffna boys were my team; I did everything I could to cheer them on with what little Tamil I knew. I travelled with them, helped them carry their equipment and even repeated phrases the coaches were screaming. Against all odds we got to the finals and lost to St. Peters, Colombo. Out of all the schools to lose to we had to lose to a rich private school from Colombo. I was pretty devastated and the kids were sad too but the overall project was a complete success. Players from the Sri Lankan national team came to each venue where they spent time coaching the kids, signed a few autographs and most importantly brought positive attention and energy to the North. The Murali cup gave the northern boys the opportunity to showcase their talents, meet their childhood heroes and most importantly made them feel important and not forgotten. The best part? One of my Jaffna boys was spotted by a recruiter and if all goes well, may get a chance to play for a club team in Colombo. Maybe this kid will become the next great Tamil cricket star and will help continue this tournament for years to come.


Sivashankar Krishnakumar