Finally there is hope, rather than despair, after the long-running civil war that tore the country apart
By Adrian Hawkes
Special to ASSIST News Service
WATTELLA, SRI LANKA (ANS) -- As our plane taxied gently along the tarmac and came to a halt; the seat belt light winked off and thus commenced my sixteenth visit to Sri Lanka. We all began scrabbling in the overhead compartments and hunting under the seats to ensure we left nothing behind. On this trip from London, England, I was accompanied by Sunny, my granddaughter, her husband Richard, my wife Pauline and my son Gareth. It was quite a family affair.
We had a lot to achieve in our two week trip, Sunny and Richard would be working in our school in Wattella, reviewing the systems using the knowledge gained from their work in our North London schools. They would also be rolling up their sleeves to paint the new computer room into which Gareth was to add three new PCs to improve the computer facilities alongside the ones installed last year. This school was launched a few years ago with 20 students; the intake this September will take it to almost 200 students.
There was no time for jet lag, and once we had dumped our luggage in our accommodation, myself, Sunny and Richard immediately got to work, checking the school systems, meeting the staff, getting to know the students and quickly feeling quite at home.
Gareth soon had the computer room looking like a plate of bad spaghetti as he commenced the installations, with wires trailing from every available plug. Sunny tutted at him benevolently, quipping “health and safety!” as she stirred at a huge pot of emulsion. Then Richard climbed up the ladder and began painting the ceiling. I poked my head around the door and then departed quickly; I didn’t want to get involved in that element of the trip as DIY is definitely not my forte.
Children at prayer in morning chapel
On the third evening, I gave a keynote talk to 200 parents, via Sri Lankan and Sinhalese interpreters. This was an opportunity to explain how ICCE (International Certificate of Christian Education) works. I felt it’s essential that they understand what their children are working towards.
After a few days, the boys; that is Richard, Gareth and I; flew to Jaffna to see how the work there was progressing. It had been a couple of years since my last visit when the war* was still in full flow; then the landscape was littered with bombed out buildings and the walls that remained standing were riddled with bullet holes. I do not exaggerate when I say it was a military maneuver to reach our destination. The war is over but we still needed permission to go to the area from the Sri Lankan Army, Air Force and the Navy. We flew courtesy of the air force in one of their official planes.
Kids enjoying the orphanage playground
I was bemused as they weighed my case, and then me, on what looked like one of those ancient scales that you used to see in Boots the Chemist in England decades ago. If you are from the UK, perhaps you remember them. You stood on a large oval platform, popped a coin into a slot upon which a huge black hand would swing round an enormous dial and indicate to you that it was time for you to eat less pies!
Once the luggage was on its way to the storage hold I felt rather intimidated as we were ushered on board by uniformed air force personnel. As we settled into our seats we were handed head phones, I thought, “Ah, music while we fly.” I fastened my seatbelt and began hunting for the button to start the music and then, as the engines fired up, I soon realized that was not their purpose, but they were there to reduce the deafening noise. The engines roared into life and we pounded down the runway. I looked out of the window and noticed a small hole in the fuselage. I tentatively poked my finger into it and, rather disturbingly, I could feel the air rushing into the cabin as we picked up speed. I hoped we wouldn’t be flying too high. This was no luxury jet, and by the look of the hole, it certainly wasn’t pressurized.
After two hours of possibly one of the most exciting of flights I had had taken, I was relieved to touch down in Jaffna, but even then the hazards were not eliminated, there was no smooth runway here. The small plane weaved around potholes as it gradually reduced momentum. Ours was the last flight in and the runway is now closed for repair, which means we face a 12-hour drive for our return trip to Wattella.
Jaffna was a hive of reconstruction activity with the skyline peppered with cranes and scaffolding and building sites cluttered with cement mixers permanently churning out concrete as workers scurried up and down ladders. And everywhere there were clusters of Chinese and Korean business men stabbing at their iPad’s, reviewing possible hotel sites, and talking loudly on their mobiles.
Karen and the worship team
The most impressive element of the Jaffna trip was my astonishment at the accomplishments of Jenny Sinnathurai, a Tamil with a British passport, and Karen Day, a Tamil speaking Kiwi [New Zealander.] These two remained in Jaffna during the worst stages of the war because it was impossible to move the children in our orphanage as they had no-where to go; many of them had come to us from poverty, war, and the Asian tsunami.
As the war continued, many of the local people ran away from the area, and who could blame them. They saw no future by being there. But in a Jeremiah 32 approach, Jenny and Karen saw this as a golden opportunity.
“There is no point in this war, and it is never going to end, please buy our land, we’ll sell it to you for a bargain price,” was the cry regularly heard by Jenny and Karen; and that is exactly what they did, on many occasions.
With this newly acquired land, there is now opportunity to expand the orphanage, added to which it helped with food shortages as in part of the land stands a coconut orchard. The coconuts were traded for rice, beans and other foodstuffs during the war. Alongside the expansion of the orphanage, plans are also in hand to construct an old folks home, extend the vocational programs and most strange of all, bury the dead! Due to the confusion after the war this acreage now includes a Paalam [goodbye] burial ground.
Work has already commenced on what the architects and engineers tell us will be the largest structure in the north of the country; a 5,000 seat auditorium that will allow the growing church to gather together.
Girls from the orphanage
One of the most emotional times was watching the children in our orphanage, playing happily in a newly equipped area, complete with slides and swings, and remembering that last time I was here this playground was a mine field.
My sixteenth trip to this beautiful country was an amazing and encouraging time. I saw great needs, but great things are being done to help meet those needs. A fundamental aim of my trip to Jaffna was to investigate the possibility of opening a second school, I now know this is vital and we hope to achieve this as soon as possible.
With the Jaffna trip over, we packed our cases and set off back to Colombo, the largest city and former capital of Sri Lanka, our heads banging on the roof of the bus as we bounced and rattled along over the recently flooded, muddy, potholed roads for the 12-hour return trip.
This battered and battle scarred land is rising again, and where there once was despair, hope gleams, like a precious pearl. I am encouraged and believe that this country and our work there can go from strength to strength.
* About the war:
Refugees during the Sri Lankan civil war
(Photo: Reuters: David Gray)
The Sri Lankan Civil War was a conflict fought on the island of Sri Lanka. Beginning on June 23, 1983, there was an on-and-off insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (the LTTE, also known as the Tamil Tigers and other few rebel groups,) a separatist militant organization which fought to create an independent Tamil state named Tamil Eelam in the north and the east of the island. After a 26 year long military campaign, the Sri Lankan military defeated the Tamil Tigers in May 2009.
For over 25 years, this civil war caused significant hardships for the population, environment and the economy of the country, with an estimated 80,000–100,000 people killed during its course. The tactics employed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam resulted in their being branded as a terrorist organization in 32 countries, including the United States, India, Australia, Canada and the member nations of the European Union. The Sri Lankan government forces have also been accused of human rights abuses.
Adrian Hawkes lives in London, England, and was once the leader of the Rainbow churches, and is still very involved internationally with them in Kenya, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, France, Norway, the USA and Canada, usually with church leadership teams overseas and also in the UK. He has been married for 40 years to Pauline, and they have three children and ten grandchildren. Adrian is the author of five published books, and he spends much of his time now lecturing to students at various UK colleges and venues on “Culture,” which is a 30-hour course. He can be contacted by e-mail at: adrianhawkes@phoenixcommunity.co.uk You can read more of Adrian’s material at: http://www.adrianhawkes.blogspot.com (On a personal note, ANS founder, Dan Wooding, was best-man at Adrian’s wedding to Pauline in Birmingham, England)
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