Toxic Mix Of Uncertainty, Unlawful Detention And Inhumane Conditions

Heightened border surveillance in Sri Lanka, as well as recent agreements between Australia and Sri Lanka to divert and deport would-be asylum seekers, have slashed the number of Sri Lankans reaching Australia’s shores by boat, say Australian authorities. Yet these measures have failed to discourage an increasing number – mostly from the island’s former conflict zones in the north and east – from attempting the dangerous journey.

In 2013 (up to 7 November) close to 2,000 Sri Lankan asylum seekers arrived by sea in Australian territories, according to Australia’s Customs and Border Protection office. In 2012, three times as many Sri Lankans reached Australia’s shores.

Fighting back

"Don't be led by illegal boat operators"
warns a government billboard in Batticaloa District

Australia started deporting Sri Lankan would-be immigrants in August 2012 (543 from January to November 2013), diverting others to off-shore processing centres in the neighbouring island countries of Papua New Guinea and Nauru, and putting up cautionary billboards at popular departure points in Sri Lanka’s north and east. “The program is working well. The return policy and rapid transfers appear to have an impact on would-be immigrants,” an official with the Australian High Commission in Sri Lanka said.

Undeterred
Even so, more and more people are trying to leave Sri Lanka, especially in the north, where a 26-year civil war destroyed infrastructure and caused severe suffering. Hostilities ended some four years ago between Sri Lanka’s security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels, who fought for a separate homeland, but economic recovery has been slow. Jobs are hard to find, making people willing to risk their lives escaping by boat.

Most migrants are unmarried young men with low levels of education, while older men with families and women are less inclined to risk the crossing, according to the Point Pedro Institute of Development, located in the northern district of Jaffna.

Muttukrishna Sarvananthan, an economist and principal researcher at the institute, said livelihoods in the north have improved since 2010, but more investment is needed to speed up recovery. “Although the unemployment rate had dropped [to 27.4% in 2012, from 32.8% in 2011], it is still more than double the national average in 2012,” he pointed.

Economic migrants?
The unpublished results of a 2012 survey by the institute found that the main factors driving migration - legal and illegal - included poor living conditions (74%) and lack of secure employment opportunities (41%), while fear of the military, which has retained a strong presence, is still a factor. Youths in the north reported being more fearful of persecution, and also more willing, to leave the island than those in the east.

Marimuttu Valliamma*, 61, a resident of the northern town of Kilinochchi, whose 24-year-old son returned home in 2012 after an unsuccessful sea crossing to Australia, the “madness” of migration had “destroyed” her family, “my son sold the only land we had to raise the money, and got my only valuables – a gold chain and earrings – also pawned, promising to redeem them when he gets paid the first time. He said there [was] no future in Sri Lanka as there were no jobs.”

Others deny they left because of poverty. “After 2010 [post-war], we expected normalcy. Instead, youths involved in opposition political activities felt under [so much] pressure that many felt compelled to leave the island,” said Sugunan Vaithilingam*, 28, a supporter of the key Tamil political party, Tamil National Alliance (TNA), who paid the equivalent of nearly US$11,400 to a smuggler in 2011 to get to Australia. He was also turned back.

Since July 2013, Sri Lankans deemed eligible for refugee status by Australia’s Department of Immigration and Citizenship have been sent for off-shore processing and detention on either Papua New Guinea or Nauru. Amnesty International has described the facility in Nauru as a “toxic mix of uncertainty, unlawful detention and inhumane conditions”

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) also recently condemned the harsh conditions and legal shortcomings in Australia’s off-shore detention centres. Activists have deemed Australia’s “enhanced screening” approved in late 2012, as a violation of the country’s obligations under international treaties to assume asylum seekers will not face persecution in their home countries unless proven otherwise before repatriation.

Australian authorities deported Alagan Kumarvel*, 27, in 2012 after holding him in custody on Christmas Island for one month. “If I have to do it again, I would do so. There is nothing for me here [Sri Lanka]. But I have no means of making a second attempt. We were told by the boat operators ‘Australia [is] a humanitarian land’”

Good blokes
The researcher, Sarvananthan, said why Australia was a country of choice for Sri Lankan migrants had a lot to do with its record of humanitarian assistance. “This… is largely due to the number of Australian volunteers who arrived [in the north] during the ceasefire [2002-2004] between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers, and post-tsunami [in 2004] in the north and the east].”

More recently, Australia invested nearly $187 million in Sri Lanka from 2010 to 2013, which included rebuilding communities affected by conflict. Its program strategy until 2016 emphasizes a “post-conflict” approach, in which “all aid interventions Australia supports will be conceived, managed and evaluated in a way that is sensitive to the post-conflict environment. Australia does this because social and economic progress will be undermined if peace is not sustained”.

As the number of youths fleeing the island increases, Canberra has financed local radio broadcasts in the dominant language of the north, Tamil, warning listeners that "Australia has toughened its immigration laws. Illegal entry will not be allowed on Australian soil. Boats will be diverted to Papua New Guinea”.

In November 2013 there were nearly 5,000 Sri Lankans in Australian immigration detention facilities on Nauru and Papua New Guinea.

Thursdays in Black

The ‘Thursdays in Black’ campaign protests began in the 1970s and its roots lie in groups such as Mothers of the Disappeared in Argentina. These women began wearing black sashes in honour of their friends and family members who were disappearing, being raped, and abused. They would gather every Thursday in silence to protest the loss of loved ones under the military dictatorship, with the aim of raising the government’s awareness that these acts of violence were happening in their homeland. Other groups have developed including women who wanted to express outrage at the rape-death camps in war torn Bosnia,the Black Sash in South Africa and women who oppose the Israel occupation of the West Bank and the abuse of the Palestinians.

In the 1980s, ‘Thursdays in Black’ became an international human rights campaign supported by the World Council of Churches as a peaceful way of saying ‘I support the human right of women to live in a world without violence, rape and fear.’ The focus of the WCC campaign was a peaceful protest against rape and violence – the by-products of war and conflict. The campaign focuses on ways that individuals can challenge attitudes that cause rape and violence.

‘Thursdays in Black’ encourages everyone (not just women) to wear the black campaign T-shirt, other black clothing every Thursday as a sign of their support. Wearing black on Thursdays indicates you are tired of putting up with violence, and demand communities where we can all walk safely without fear; fear of being beaten up, fear of being verbally abused, fear of being raped, fear of discrimination. It shows that you want to be free. It is not a campaign confined only to countries at war, but recognizes that violence takes many forms – including domestic violence, sexual assault, rape, incest, murder, female infanticide, genital mutilation, sexual harassment, discrimination and sex trafficking.

The campaign focuses on ways that individuals can challenges attitudes that cause rape and violence. It reinforces at both a personal and public level that there is something wrong with a world that will allow the human rights of women, men and children to be abused and threatened. It provides an opportunity for people to become part of a worldwide movement which enables the despair and pain and anger about rape and other forms of violence to be transformed into political action.

Transforming Education one Policy at a Time

If only we could just build a school, or renovate a toilet block, or feed some kids breakfast - that's the easy stuff, the quick fix and let's face it the kind of stuff that many donors want. It makes good pictures for the notice board and for a while it gets some of the kids back to school, or means that they are not as hungry while they learn - as long as the funding lasts at least.

Education is Mongolia has some challenges that I had not come across in other contexts. Usually I am talking about how to get girls into school, but here in Mongolia families will send their girls to school and keep the boys home. I was told that historically, (and still today) a Mongolian family is one unit. There is no gender disparity, "we are one, we are united, we all are responsible to do what we can for the benefit of the family".

But then there are the same issues as else where, including: inclusive education - ensuring that children with disabilities are able to access education, and the disparity between a rural education (which receives little resources) and an urban education which is where all the best teachers, the highest wages and the best facilities are located.

Like many countries the government has a well stocked library of policies that enshrine in law the rights of all children to education. There are a plethora of acts, commitments, conventions and charters that guide education policy and processes. But where and when the children are - the reality can be a far cry from the rhetoric.

So together with other civil society partners and community members we will identify an existing education policy. We will work together to provide a renewed understanding of a citizens rights and they in turn will learn appropriate ways to demand these rights. Power brokers and decision makers will be encouraged to deliver on their responsibility - resulting in access to a quality education for all children.

It's never quite that easy is it? But if we don't change the system, if we don't build the capacity of local organisations to represent their communities, if we don't remind people that they have a right to life in all its fullness, if we don't encourage governments to fulfill their promises - then we don't stand a hope of making changes that will last.

Let me build a school or feed a child any day - it is just so much easier - and the photos are so cute! 

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Arriving at Chenggis Khaan airport, Ulaan Baatar almost 24 hours after leaving Melbourne was - despite a bit of a dodgy touch down and the fact that it was 44C colder than where I had just come from - a welcome event.

The snow covered airport grounds should have been enough to give away the fact that it was cold, but it is still a bit of a shock to the system when your breath is clouding over inside the terminal. It was 6:00pm and very dark when we joined the 'chaotic but quiet' traffic into town. It seemed strange; cars going in pretty much all directions, pushing in and through, ignoring 'colour lights' and policeman - and all done without horns blaring - I'm not used to that.

I couldn't see a great deal outside, but what I could look liked a giant construction sight. Cranes tower above the buildings on both sides as far as I could see, smoke belches from high industrial chimneys, high tension electrical towers cut across and through roads. It's very dark - there are street lights, but not working. And then all of a sudden there are neon signs, high rise buildings, hotels, karaoke bars, pubs and brightly lit tall Christmas trees.

And here I am, having a little bit of Christmas, white, cold and in Mongolia! Why? Well...

Two of the (many) challenges faced by the people of Mongolia, (as identified by the World Bank) are 'dodgy road systems' and education. So, the World Bank (WB) are offering Civil Society Organisations in Mongolia the opportunity to bid for funding under the Global Partnerships for Social Accountability (GPSA) program. Our Mongolian office requested some help to design and write a proposal - so here I am and will be for a week.

Because our experience is in education we will be working with Education and Social Accountability partners to understand what shortcomings there are in the Education sector from a policy and systems perspective and then, (to meet the WB requirements) we will be designing a 4 year project that seeks to create beneficiary demand for education rights whilst at the same time building the capacity of local community/civil society organisations to respond to community need and lead reform initiatives.

Typhoon Haiyan Statistics as of Monday Morning

The challenges that confront governments and agencies as they try to get aid to the desperate people and the devastated communities are immense. No one wants people to suffer and to feel completely alone and helpless in that suffering, but when transport routes have been destroyed and vehicles and fuel are in short supply - it is not easy to get adequate supplies to people.

Latest statistics:

• 13 million people affected (OCHA)
• 5 million children affected (OCHA,15 Nov)
• Official death toll – 3,976 (NDRRMC)
• 1,597 people missing (NDRRMC)
• 10,000 feared dead in one area– Tacloban (Leyte province)
• 18,175 injured (NDRRMC)
• 3 million people displaced (OCHA)
• 4,460 evacuation centres hosting 433,300 people (OCHA)
• 2.5 million people in need of food assistance (UN)
• 285,993 houses destroyed (OCHA)
• 4.4 million students affected: 11,919 primary and secondary schools impacted, 9,648 day care centres and over 300,000 pre-schoolers have been affected
• Livelihoods of 2 million people have been destroyed
• Severe damage to infrastructure, agriculture as well as telecommunications.
• Economic losses US $6,819,629; this is expected to increase as further reports come in (NDRRMC)
• US $301 million required to fund typhoon response plan (OCHA)
• 26% of UN appeal funded (US $79 million received, $222 million gap)

World Vision Distribution Sunday, 17 Nov (second distribution)

Daan Bantayan, northern tip of Cebu approx. 1,200 families (approx. 6,000)

A convoy of trucks delivered more than 50 tonnes of rations – including 30kg rice, sardines, beans, cooking oil, water and hygiene kits – to many of the worst-hit communities.

• Balance of initial distribution (120 families/600 people) received their relief supplies.
• Team of 11 operations staff, departed Saturday to conduct assessments and distributions of food and hygiene kits in Leyte. They will go to 9 Barangays in Ormoc and Tacloban. The distribution in Ormoc is planned to benefit 5,500 households (27,500 people).
• Distributions are planned for early this coming week, food kits and hygiene kits are expected to benefit 2,823 households (14,115 people).
• Sector specialists participated in the distribution today: they will continue to conduct sector-specific assessments in Cebu, Panay and Samar and Leyte over the coming weeks.
• Logistics structure is in place; there have been offers of service-in-kind donations of transportation, including the use of a C130 (plane), and warehouse space.

Australia: The Spoilt and Selfish Country

It's a dry, hot, dusty day in Chavakachcheri (Northern Sri Lanka) when I am taken to meet some of the families that have returned to their home communities after 30 years of civil war. Many of the children I meet have lost their Dad in the war, and the lucky ones - their Dads are amputees, or suffering from mental distress. Female headed households, (that's the official term) are the norm here.

But the community suffers, not just a human cost, but also from a lack of water, sanitation, food and economic opportunities to change their reality. Among the many challenges facing the area, much of the infrastructure in the Northern Province was destroyed and water sources were neglected.

In Chavakachcheri the people bought me bottled water - but this wasn't the $1 bottle you buy and throw, this was a bottle of the water they use for cooking, drinking, cleaning, bathing and gardening. (The picture to the right.)

Over the last year I have been working with a team in Sri Lanka to design a project that will "enhance the health and quality of life of the poor and vulnerable by improving sustainable access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene."

Our plan will transform the lives of 3,800 households, (15,960 people) and 4,500 students (in 15 schools) in 10 villages (with a bias towards female headed households and households with a disabled person). Our plans include:

• Constructing 10 water supply units which will improve equitable access to households and schools.
• Develop (with the government and community) new water supply options including: rainwater harvesting, household level solar treatment facilities and community tanks piping water to universally accessible stand points
• Sanitation and hygiene behaviour change will occur as a result of the provision of affordable latrines and solid waste disposal management which will result in the communities becoming open defecation free (ODF).

BUT IT'S ALL JUST ACADEMIC NOW. 

On Friday, the Liberal Government's decision to axe AusAID came into effect and an email arrived telling us that the funding (and the two other similar projects planned for PNG and Zimbabwe) has been withdrawn.

Tony Abbot's promise to balance the budget includes a $4.5 billion cut in the projected foreign aid budget over four years to help fund ''essential infrastructure'' in Australia. ''We can't continue to fund a massive increase in foreign aid at the expense of investment in the Australian economy,'' Hockey declared. Abbott added insult to that injury: ''We will build the roads of the 21st century rather than shovel money abroad.''

(It's much bigger than this; I am reducing the issue greatly, but to try and paint a realistic picture). Despite last year telling us that we had $2.5 million and the mandate to proceed - 12 months of discussions and planning with government and community, making promises on behalf of the Australian people, and with the approval of the Australian Government - on Friday night I had to ask the Sri Lankan team to begin to break the news that it is not going to happen. We do not have the promised money to help them get safe, clean water, or to assist them to build improved sanitation facilities. We do not have the people to help them, because we do not have the money. 

Why? Because the Australian government, on my behalf, told them that they are not a good investment. Julie Bishop (Foreign Affairs Minister) says 'that the new order was about making aid a tool of diplomacy and trade promotion'. So, investing in the lives of 4,500 students who have no safe drinking water at school has no economic advantage for Australia. It is more important that I have a nice road with a neon super-sculpture to brighten up my trip than 15,960 people in post-war communities have clean, safe water. (The number is actually much bigger than that because the whole program is actually 20 NGOs, in 12 countries.)

Mark Baker, (Editor, The Age: The shame that is Abbott's foreign aid policy) says: "The cuts... will also reinforce growing perceptions throughout the Asia-Pacific region and beyond that Australia is a spoilt and selfish country that's indifferent to the moral obligations of the richest nations to the poorest." (The Great Southland? Not so much!)

What Abbot's us-first approach to aid fails to acknowledge is that investing in the development of Northern Sri Lanka could actually have a dramatic impact on one of his other election promises - Stop the Boats. The best way to stop Sri Lankan's getting on boats and causing us discomfort on our boarders is to help them get water, sanitation, safety, jobs, hope and the same rights you and I demand at home - I suspect that it would be a lot cheaper too.

Mary Meets Mohammad

One of the most divisive and emotive debates in Australia is the "asylum seeker issue". As long as we are able to keep it as a theoretical debate, it is fed by xenophobia and protection. But, when the issue is informed by the meeting of people, by the sharing of story and the willingness to hear, then the issue is transformed from abstract to personal.

[What continues to disappoint me, (sadly, it no longer surprises me), is how our country's leaders are able to visit and see a land from which some asylum seekers are escaping and still fuel the debate with the language of protection and feed a fearful community with images of extremist, fundamentalist, terrorists. How do you ignore the individuals that, despite all the best efforts and intentions of our military personnel, still have a "well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality membership of a particular social group or political opinion... and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country".*]

However, Mary Meets Mohammad is a documentary that tells the story of one such transformation from bitter uninformed distrust to abiding respect and love:

Tasmania’s first detention center opens and local knitting club member Mary, a staunchly Christian pensioner, is not welcoming of the 400 male asylum seekers mostly from Afghanistan.

Mohammad is a 26 year old Muslim asylum seeker detained inside the center. An unlikely friendship develops between Mary and Mohammad after her knitting club donates woolen beanies to the asylum seekers. Mary finds many of her prior beliefs are challenged as her relationship with Mohammad deepens.

Coming next week to the Keno Cinema (Melbourne), Chauvel Cinema (Sydney). Check out the Preview.

* The definition of a LEGAL asylum seeker from Article 1 of the Convention relating to the status of Refugees, as amended by the 1967 Protocol.

Jerusalem: The Movie

This is pretty spectacular aerial filming and worth a look. For those that have been to Jerusalem and the West Bank you will recognise the landmarks (and might even see your footprints). This is only a 7 minute preview but it will be worth a look when it comes out in IMAX 3D. (Scheduled for worldwide release in 2014)

Filmed for the first time in 3D and for the giant screen, JERUSALEM immerses audiences into one of the world's most beloved cities, once considered to be the centre of the world.

Discover why this tiny piece of land is sacred to three major religions through the stories of Jewish, Christian and Muslim families who call Jerusalem home. Join renowned archaeologist, Dr. Jodi Magness, as she travels underground to solve some of this city’s greatest mysteries. Find out why, after thousands of years, Jerusalem and the Holy Land continue to stir the imagination of billions of people.

Unprecedented access to the city's holiest sites, as well as rare and breathtaking aerial footage of the Old City, the Holy Land and West Bank, combine to make JERUSALEM a unique and stunning cinematic experience

Seven minute clip - Official Trailer

How Many Slaves Work for Me?

In order to end modern day slavery it is imperative that we are aware of what and who is behind the products we buy.

A challenge, if you're game! Take 10 minutes to complete the survey that will give you a clue as to how many people have been exploited in the making of the goods that you purchase: how many slaves work for you?

27 Million People are victims of human Trafficking; they are bought and sold against their will, they are exploited after responding to 'genuine' opportunities. We need to be part of the Stop the Trafficking agenda.

Irritant or Toxic Waste

You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body;

You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, 

how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
    all the stages of my life were spread out before you,

The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.

[Psalm 139:14-16]

My last trip to Sri Lanka just happened to coincide with the visit of Navi Pillay (United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights). For the first week I seemed to be following in her footsteps. [We were staying in the same Hotel, and on one morning I literally tripped over a member of her security detail.]

I visited Mulaittivu in the North East, otherwise known as the Killing Fields of Sri Lanka, and sight of some of our AusAID funded Psychosocial work the day after she had visited. Since May 2009 the area has been littered with the mechanical remnants and wrecks of war, but in the week before her visit, corrugated iron fences were erected to screen off these sights.

It’s in this district that some of the people who spoke with Navi Pillay about ‘the disappeared people’, including a Jesuit Priest and the family of a ‘white Van’ recipient, were visited by Government Security Police and warned to keep quiet. It’s in this Northern Province that women at a Design workshop I ran in Jaffna, in May, told us of a woman who the week before had been taken into the jungle, raped and killed – by Sri Lankan military. After you pass through the Military Checkpoint into the Northern province, the first sign welcoming you to the North is a huge concrete sign which says, “Welcome, from the 58^th Brigade” (the brigade that infamously wiped out over 100,000 people in the Killing Fields in 2009). And every few kilometers from then on Military bases remind you that this place is “free and at peace”!

Mulaittivu is also the origin of many of the asylum seeker boats not welcome in Australian waters today! It’s here that the Australian government has erected numerous billboards telling people not to get on boats because they will not be welcome in Australia.

Last Friday night, Emma Alberici interviewed Navi Pillay on Lateline (ABC TV). One of the things she asked was:

Just today our very new Prime Minister Tony Abbott has expressed the hope that asylum seekers that arrive by boats would be no more than a passing irritant for his Government and for the Indonesians. How do you feel about a world leader describing asylum seekers as irritants?

Navi Pillay:

I am deeply concerned by statements such as that because they promote a stigmatisation of a whole group of people and are totally against the vision and concept of the convention on refugees to which Australia is a party.

Australia is actually known for having provided sanctuary and safety for many refugees, from the region and other parts of the world, Australia is known for readily rescuing people who are in distress, in boats that are unsafe and against this good record I am appalled at statements such as this which justify discrimination against a whole group, a minority group, people who are coming to Australia, because conditions in their own countries are unbearable.

And let me emphasise again - these are poor marginalised men, women and children who are seeking safety in Australia, they should be rehabilitated and will be of benefit, migrants, refugees, must be seen for the value they can add to a country, rather than as some kind of irritants or toxic waste.

[…these are human beings we are dealing with, they're entitled to fundamental rights and one of them is individual screening to understand their situation and obviously no indefinite detention of people on so-called security grounds on which the human rights committee has ruled against Australia in August.]

My trip and this interview cause me to reflect on many issues and I do not have the time to develop those thoughts here, so let me jump to one of the more personal reflections: the attitudes of privileged people to “being put out”.

I wonder if sometimes I am too busy to remember the people behind the programmes. I wonder if sometimes I am guilty of unintentionally treating the people as irritants, because let’s face it, if it wasn’t for people - development theory would be much cleaner, designs would be so much more predictable, budgets would be so much more manageable and logframes could be so much more logical. I wonder if sometimes I am not guilty of hoping that the most vulnerable might just be a passing irritant.

I think we should be outraged by our Prime Ministers words; but I wonder if sometimes our outrage is not in part fuelled by an (unspoken, buried) self-realisation that we are all guilty of treating people as irritants at times – the difference is in what we choose to do about it, how, having recognised our irritation we then act towards others.

So…

May we focus on the people impacted by the process,

May we see the individuals behind the indicators,

May we know the lives as intimately as we know the logframes,

[May all our irritants be procedural rather than the most vulnerable and marginalised]

May you always know that the Architect of your life is interested in you and is looking for your interest in Others.

Hard Times are now turned into Times of Hope

My name is Sumudu, I am 12 years old and have one brother who is younger to me. My memory is of my father as a drunkard who treated us all very badly. I remember my mother always being worried about how to meet our daily needs. My father has taken away the happiness I had with my mother and my younger brother.

I have been sick and spent a lot of time in bed before doctors told us I have Epilepsy. I had a rough idea about my sickness that it would kill me. I was always miserable and not interested in school or making friends.

One day a man from an NGO came to visit us and because he was concerned he took me to hospital for testing and then paid for my medications. He visited me in 2012 and that was the beginning of a great change in my life. 'Uncle' talked to me for a long time and told me that the sickness I had can be managed with having medicine on time. He also convinced me to go back to school. I had told him about children teasing me with my weakness in studies and being a sick child.

Also I would like to tell you that the mobilizer ‘Aunty’ (NGO Community Facilitator) and the leaders of my community who selected my family and me, really take good care of me - I am a sponsored child! Now I am taking medicine from Colombo general hospital and as a result of vocational training skills my mother has received from the NGO, my parents are able to bear the cost for my medicines.

Sumudu's Mum, Wasanthi, was born in a typical poverty stricken family in the tea plantation region of southern Sri Lanka.

I got married to Saman who was a farmer and we have two children together. My husband used to spend his earnings on alcohol, he was addicted, and he was violent. Because of this I and my children faced lots of financial difficulties in our daily lives.

I had started working as a labourer in the tea plantations, and was earning about Rs. 300 (AUD 2.50) a day for my family.

I was selected by the Community leaders to take part in workshops where a number of women and mothers were trained in tea cultivation and management. When I graduated, (2010) from this course I was given 2,500 tea bushes, worth about Rs. 30,000 (AUD 250). Today I am able to harvest leaves from my own plants! I am able to earn Rs. 12,000 (AUD 100.00) per month from this harvest.

Also we had no proper house to live in and a pit latrine which was not safe. But with help we have a good water-sealed latrine and with the community support we have built our house to the roof level.

My achievements, and my family’s increased income is because of the training and guidance from the NGO and the labor support received from the community.  Little by little my husband also changed his life and now he is farming and working to increase our tea harvest. Also the best thing is now he stopped getting alcohol and we are free from fears.

Thank you for all that you've done. Hard times are now turned into times of hope. We have managed this and continue to develop because of your help. I like to give my heartiest thanks to the NGO and the sponsors who support our development.

Get Off The Chair

[Just some more ramblings...] I was reminded of a development principle today that is very simple but seldom used: Get off the chair and on the floor. (It can be stated in a number of different ways.)

The team here has been working hard, they have achieved some pretty special things in the communities, but it was a very simple act that turned them and the program upside down. One day in a community discussion, instead of sitting on chairs provided they pushed them aside and sat on the floor - where every one else was sitting.

For the Program team: It was this, something they had just not thought about intentionally before, that led to the community ownership that exists today and has transformed their thinking about being among the people - being incarnational.

For the community: It is this that leaders tell me changed their attitude to these development people. "They sat on the floor - with us"! 

Moving from the chair to the floor was not just a physical change, it changed the perspective (of both groups), it showed that "we are in this thing together", we are true partners. We are all on the same level. We are willing to get dirty together. We do not think of ourselves higher or more privileged.

I suspect that this is a principle that needs to spread beyond the development world. One of the worst things that religion did is introduce the platform (in all its guises). It has become a form that some people protect to make themselves feel more important, more powerful, more privileged, more in control. Sadly, (in my opinion obviously) some religious leaders have become masters at dominating and protecting their platforms, and so have many development professionals.

Development professionals (and religious professionals) are supposed to be partners, they are supposed to be at the service of the communities they serve, they are supposed to be servant leaders. So, if that truly is what the goal is, and as far as I know the goal is still to be like Jesus, then we need to get the professionals, the leaders off the chairs and onto the floor. It is possible to lead from there, Jesus and others (Gandhi and Mother Teresa) have proved it.

Of course this is all predicated on the hope that we are willing to give up the idea that we are the all powerful, we are willing to give up the limelight, we are willing to give up total control and 'settle' for what may be chaotic, dynamic, unpredictable, unfamiliar - but truly a partnership of organic transformation.

I'm Going to be an Engineer

Lasindu is a 9 year old boy living in the Hambantota district. He loves cricket, his favourite subject at school, where he is in Grade 4, is English and when he grows up he wants to be an engineer. He has had an Australian sponsor for the last 7 years - and he has a great smile.

4 years ago, Lasindu's Mum and Dad were chosen by their community to take part in a Home Gardening project. They have about 2 hectares of land, but for most of the time they owned the property it was overgrown.

Today as I walked through their organic garden things are different. Now I am not a gardener, I have a talent for killing anything that is planted, but the expert in permaculture tells me that this garden is excellent. The garden has been designed with short, medium and long term crops that serve both their own needs and now are beginning to produce enough fruit to sell at the market. There are 200 pineapple plants, 2 months old, (it takes about 8 months to produce ripe fruit); 40 coconut trees, the two most fruitful of which are set aside for market; numerous bean varieties, herbs and spices, cinnamon trees, leafy vegetables, and just recently they are beginning to grow flowers. They have done so well that Lasindu's Dad is now a lead farmer, which means he mentors a cluster of farmers, assisting and training others in soil preparation, organic farming and design.

All of this means that Lasindu's family is now self-supporting and have increased their household income - which means that when he goes to school about 3km away, [which he didn't do today because he wanted to meet me :) ] he now does so with new shoes, new text books, on a new bike and having had a healthy breakfast. At home his family now eats three times a day - and they eat fresh organically grown vegetables. When one of the family get sick they can now not only afford to go to hospital, but they can afford medicine or treatment when necessary. "I don't worry as much about things", said Lasindu's Mum.

Over the past 15 years the program in this area has transformed the lives of almost 1,000 families through the introduction of home gardening; more than 3,000 children have been sponsored, over 400 women are members of a society that trains them in vocational skills that increase their income and their self-esteem. Some are employed by the society to make brushes and coir products, earning between $85.00 - $150.00 a month, (which is good additional income). Over 4,000 families are receiving fresh, safe water to their house and maintaining the water systems through their contributions.

This program is owned by the people, and they are proud of what they have achieved - in a closing statement at a community meeting a woman announced: "I love my country, and I now love my life and my community".

The Killing Fields

I woke up this morning in Colombo, feeling sorry for myself so, after chatting with the person in my life that keeps me grounded in reality and helps me keep perspective, I decided to go for a walk along Galleface green (the sea front). It was here, as I walked and talked with God, that I was reminded of another sea front that I had visited just this past week and the people that lived in the area - and I realised that I had no right to feel sorry for myself...

The Killing Fields: Mullaitivu

I was travelling through what to some has become known as "The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka". It is a narrow stretch of land that is between a beautiful lagoon and the open sea, in the District of Mullaitivu on the North East coast of Sri Lanka.

On December 26, 2004 thousands of people lost their lives and homes here. (But that's not why they are called the Killing Fields.) Over the next few years houses were rebuilt, lives were reestablished, families fought to reclaim 'normal' in an area that was a Tamil majority and a LTTE stronghold. "My life was pretty good here, my husband and I were quite well off, our children were at school, our house and our property were nice", said a woman who I met at a women's psychosocial support group.

But then in the 100 days prior to May 14, 2009 the "Tsunami' houses that had reestablished home and safety, were again destroyed, but this time many more lives were lost in what the Sri Lankan government calls the "Wanni Humanitarian Operation". The 'humanitarian' agenda was "wiping out the darkness of the North and the East... [to] conquer and protect motherland" (inscription at the Victory Monument at Pudukudirippu).

Farah-03

Some say as many as 300,000 (Tamil) civilians fled from their homes in the districts surrounding Mullaitivu and gathered in the same 32km area designated by the military as a "safe area, a No Fire Zone". By May 14, when the two Sri Lankan military fronts met in the middle of the safe area, at the Farah-03 a Jordanian ship that had run aground on the beach in 2006, thousands of people were dead - four days later the 25 year war was officially declared over.

Over the last 4 years the government have steadily removed any reference to the LTTE except what they choose to sanitise and use for their own purposes. Just out of town there was a LTTE 'Heroes' cemetery. But today, after bulldozing the site, it is one of dozens of Sri Lankan military barracks in the North and the East, heavily manned and a constant reminder of occupation.

It is in this context that our project Reconciliation through Mental Health Integration in Northern Districts (REMIND) seeks, with the partnership of the government health services, to help victims of psychosocial distress find ways to manage and re-imagine their future.

Mullaitivu CSOs

One of the vital elements of this project are Community Support Officers: community members, trained to identify distressed people, who offer ways into networks of support, whether that be medical care or support groups. The young CSO women that met me told me their own stories of trauma and loss, but when asked why they do what they do: "because someone needs to care and try and help - I can".

Yeah, really is time for me to stop feeling sorry for myself and do my job!

Day of the Disappeared

Navi Pillay’s visit and Day of the Disappeared

On 30 August 2013, the world will mark the International Day of the Disappeared.

This year’s Day of the Disappeared coincides with the visit of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, to Sri Lanka (25-31 August). She is expected to meet family members of some of the disappeared. 

In Sri Lanka, some 12,000 complaints of enforced disappearances have been submitted to the UN since the 1980s – making it second only to Iraq. But the actual number of disappeared is much higher, with at least 30,000 cases alleged up to 1994 and many thousands reported after that. 

“The number of disappeared people in Sri Lanka is astounding. The government has to stop making empty promises and once and for all seriously investigate the tens of thousands of cases of enforced disappearances,” said Yolanda Foster, Amnesty International’s Sri Lanka expert.

[Amnesty International Media Advisory]

Lihithan: Happiness and a Smile

Lihithan was born with a slight mental disability and for the first 26 years of his life he was hidden, or later hid himself from the world. For many in this culture, being born with a disability is the result of a displeased god – someone, somewhere, sometime has offended the gods - and so a child is born ‘differently abled’. Children with disability are, even today, routinely hidden from the world and often invisible both in the community and in any official government census.

Lihithan’s case is further complicated by the fact that his father is also slightly mentally disabled, so his Mum with two daughters to take care of as well, has had a tough life supporting her family. But things began to change for Lihithan and his family when a community engagement officer who knew the family came to talk to them about coming out from the shadows of shame and guilt and meeting with the local hospital psychologist and thereby accessing the psychosocial program that is running in their region.

Dad was the first to find himself in a men’s support group where he discovered that he is not alone; he found a group of men who like him are suffering some form of mental distress, but he also discovered that he doesn't need to hide away – and today when I visited the home his wife apologised for his absence because he had gone to the market, on his bike, by himself – her face was lit with toothless grin as she apologised – a smile that spoke simultaneously of pride and relief.

The sun was intense and the air was painfully dry as I stood under the only shelter on the families small property, it was the cow shed which had been swept clean and the cow, which they had received from our project, had been relocated for my visit.  Standing just behind Mum, never more than a few inches away from her, was Lihithan, now 27 years old. We had been talking for a while when I asked what difference having received the cow had made to her and the family. She pointed to Lihithan and with that same toothless grin, told us that he was the difference.

When the cow arrived Lihithan came out of the house, literally, for the first time of his own accord. He had decided that the cow was his to care for and since that day he has followed and cared for the cow. After 26 years of hiding in the house, he is free. But, it was to get even better (or Mum says, maybe worse) when Lihithan asked for a push bike: after all he needed to collect feed for his cow, he needed to be able to access the market and the government vet service.

This is exciting, isn't it? But then Mum asked if her son could tell me something. Without lifting his eyes from the ground, almost in a whisper he tells me (as if I should know, after all it should be obvious) that he needs a bike because he has to collect nice grass for “my cow”. He stops, a small shy smile crosses his face and a soft giggle escapes – his mother gives him a smile and an encouraging nudge and coaxes him on – the rest of the story erupts, “because I am going to have a calf – and it’s mine”! The vet had only days ago confirmed the pregnancy and he and mum had decided to keep it a secret until the ‘man from Australia came’ so that they could announce it to the world.

Building (and rebuilding) self-esteem in a broken, invisible life is an amazing outcome. Lihithan’s is not the only story of success here – but it is symbolic of our goal of re-imagining life in all its fullness for some of the most vulnerable people in the Kilinochchi district. In an environment of dormant fear, Lihithan is a symbol of innocent hope, happiness and self-sufficiency for me – and all because of a cow.

Kilinochchi: Peace, Hope and Harmony

After travelling for 8 hours I arrived in “Kilinochchi: The city rising with peace, hope and harmony”. The city that saw such a large part of three decades of war, Kilinochchi is rebuilding after experiencing unimaginable trauma. 4 years after the end of the war, the infrastructure is looking good. The road through town is a dual carriageway with the median strip planted out with flowers. The shops are open and full.

I was promised carpet roads, and for most of the trip I had them. It is amazing what can be achieved when the military machine needs it. The city has new buildings, hotels, community facilities, a large and well equipped hospital and schools. On the surface it seems to indeed be rising. But I wonder about an administration that whilst announcing “peace, hope and harmony” maintains such an overt heavily armed military presence.

Just after leaving Puttalam the highway becomes a carpet road: an essential arterial for the transport of goods and services to the North in the vital work of re-establishing community and society – also pretty useful for transporting military supplies for maintaining peace and harmony.

At very regular intervals along the road are the military bases that during the war were home to thousands of forces. They look impressive today with beautiful stone work advertising their Brigade or Command numbers, their grounds are well groomed and as we drove past soldiers were maintaining the road fronts – keeping it all looking nice. I have no idea how many military personnel are deployed behind the fences, but the bunkers, the towers, the pill boxes are still manned with heavily armed soldiers – so I imagine a few.

So why, if this is now a country at peace does this part of the country in particular need to maintain such a high military presence?

I’m here because there is a project that I need to check on. For the past 3 years our teams have been working with the Hospital, the Government Health Department, the Psychiatrists Board and others to implement a process whereby people who have suffered mentally as a result of the war are able to receive help. We have trained community engagement officers who offer support, friendship, and guidance in partnership with the hospitals. We have worked with doctors and hospitals to ensure that people who need it can get access to the system.  We have worked with the Government to make sure that when our funds run out next year the system and the process is sustainable.

The project has received critical acclaim from the Sri Lankan government and from donors. It looks like it is doing well and it is making a huge difference for many people in the region. So yes, the city is rising, but beneath the surface, beside the carpet roads, there are people who are still suffering. Mums who still grieve lost sons. Wives who still look for husbands. Children who still look for Dad.

I’m not sure that hope and harmony have returned yet, to all people – but that’s what we are attempting – to try and restore dignity and hope in all people, particularly the most vulnerable - children, women, disabled and mentally distressed.

The Shark and the Crocodile

With a population of over 3 million people Surabaya is Indonesia's second largest city. Located on the eastern coast of Java it is known as "the city of heroes" due to the importance of the Battle of Surabaya in galvanizing Indonesian and international support for Indonesian independence during the Indonesian National Revolution.

There are a number of theories about the origin of the name but the one I like best is the local myth that Surabaya is derived from the Sanskrit words "sura" (shark) and "baya" (crocodile), two creatures which fought each other in order to gain the title of "the strongest and most powerful animal".

I am here to take part in a week long workshop designed to explore the opportunities for Interfaith dialogue in an Islamic context for the purpose of community transformation and development. We are exploring the dividers and connectors between Islam and Christianity. Talking about the similarities and the differences. Sharing stories of faith journeys with local Islamic and Christian leaders and imagining what it would look like to partner together for the benefit of Indonesian communities. (These lessons of course will be informative for other contexts, including my own in Australia.)

The other day I had the privilege of sitting with a local Imam who told his story of 'salvation'. He was a local thug, "the king of thugs in Surabaya" he called himself. He was a shark, always in a fight with others - always looking for a fight, always looking to promote himself and his own - with no regard for others. But, one day he met a Christian woman who told him that he was worth more than he imagined. Over a period of time she showed him that Christians were not all he had learnt about - cruel, colonial, supremacists - and her message and example of hospitable love convinced him that he needed to be part of improving his community. Today he runs an Islamic boarding school for orphans like himself. Together he and a local Christian Pastor have 'converted' a notoriously dangerous community into a place of safety - a home for some of the people that society would rather ignore.

Why?

Waiting on airplane departures gives opportunity for reflection, so just one last footnote on my Nepal adventure:

Behind the awe-inspiring mountain vistas and Kathmandu's kaleidoscopic chaos lay some of the reasons why I do what I do - too many children who do not get the opportunity to go to school, jump in puddles or play on swings.

For too many children their imaginings and their dreams are not of adventures in fantasy worlds with super heroes - their dreams are of home, of family, of school, of being a normal kid.

Girls, and boys, as young as 9, but more likely about 14 or so are being married off, for all kinds of reasons, but many because it’s a way to keep them alive.

Young girls from the rural districts are being sold into domestic service in the city so that the rest of the family can survive on the pittance that they will be paid for her.

All over the city vans and busses that provide public transport have young boys hanging out the doors yelling the destinations and collecting the fares. These kids will grow up on the busses.

Many restaurants and food outlets have at least one child employed to do whatever job needs done, from carrying stock to washing dishes.

In some places, where tourists gather, companion children are for sale.

I don't believe that any parent willingly sells their child - but what if that's the only option left to feed them or keep them and the rest of the family alive? Is it ever right? No, of course it’s not - so how does it change?

One way is by convincing privileged people, like you and I, that for the cost of three coffees a week we are keeping kids at home and changing the life for the whole family. For the cost of one movie ticket a week families are sending their kids to school, with shoes, books and pencils. For less than the cost of your Foxtel subscription per month we are training and assisting parents to increase their household income and become self-supporting and proud of themselves.

It’s about giving kids hope that is possible to dare to dream different. It is possible to re-imagine the future – changing the nightmares into dreams of nursing, teaching, soldiering and farming. Giving parents of Nepal the same choices that I had for my kid. Every kid has the right to be bored at school!

That’s part of why I do what I do.

The Other Side of the Coin

I would hate you to judge Nepal on my feeble attempt to describe one minute section of Kathmandu - that would be very unfair. So let me use a wider lens and try sketch a picture of out beyond the Kathmandu valley.

Kathmandu valley is (not surprisingly) surrounded by hills and at this time of the year, (monsoon), the clouds hang low over the valley hiding what are awe inspiring mountains. I never did get to see them here, but on a couple of occasions, when the sun beat back the clouds in Pokhara, I saw the snow capped apex of Machapuchare (Fish Tail), at 6,993m above sea level it's not the highest in the area, but when you see this mountain range high above the hills that surround the city they really do take your breath away.

The comparatively smaller hills that seem to guards these mountains have their own beauty. The roads up their sides are terrible, but climbing the hills you are rewarded with beautiful green fields, small terraced farms, vegetable 'tunnels' and paddy fields. Dotted among the fields are small villages comprised of very basic houses, community buildings, run down but lively schools and very friendly, generous people.

The scenery as we drove the roads is dominated by wide fast flowing rivers, (home to white water rafting tours), green hills and high snow capped mountains - it truly is breathtaking beauty. Trekking these hills, passing through the villages, being greeted by smiles and the welcome, Namaste (or Namaska) really is a special privilege.

As I traveled from Dhangadhi to Nepalgunj out on the western Terai, (the flat lands) I crossed the Karnali River using a 500m single pillar bridge, apparently one of only two in Asia. The clouds and rain were descending on the bridge as we crossed creating an eerie feeling of driving into the unknown. On the other side it was as if we had crossed into a different land - we were in the Bardiya National Park, the largest and most undisturbed jungle in Nepal and home to numerous species of animals including the single horn rhinoceros, elephants, tigers, leopards, deers and many species of endangered birds. We didn't see anything other than elephant, but they assure me there out there.

The scenery is inspiring, but the most beautiful thing from my experience was the people. Kathmandu, like any city is a little different with its busy people, but out in the hills and on the Terai, people are welcoming, generous and kind. Nepali culture dictates hospitality but I felt often that the welcomes went beyond the expectation of culture. The offers of sweet buffalo milk tea and beaten rice - or whatever they had - were genuine and heartfelt. Like many of the cultures in this part of the world, I felt that there was no way you could out give these people.

My time in Nepal is now at an end, but as I fly out in the morning, I do so having learnt so much about the country and her people. There is much that is not yet good for all her citizens, but despite the explicit and extreme poverty, the recovery from internal war and the inherent caste, ethnic and gender challenges, I get the feeling that Nepal is going to fight - and so hope remains. (Thank you Nepal for the opportunity to learn.)

Kaleidoscopic Kathmandu

Trying to describe Kathmandu is like trying to describe the image you see in a kaleidoscope -change the angle or the light and you have a whole new image. So, as I try and describe the images I saw in the period of a one hour walk this morning, I know that I do the place an injustice. Bu there goes any way...

The city is going through a campaign of road widening, but they aren't doing one street, or one stretch at a time, they have ripped up the side walks and the roads all over the place - consequently walking down the street is like a cross country hike. Dodging the cows and dogs, the people and the bikes, the potholes and broken concrete, the piles of rubbish and the mud becomes like a dance on hot coals.

Above and along the roads the electric wires hang low and in chaos. Dozens of wires cross roads and terminate together from all directions at a post, every now and then a few cables hang down, terminating in mid air - like webs woven by a spider on steroids this could be an arachnophobes worse nightmare.

I turn the corner and almost get bowled over by a man carrying two plastic shopping bags. In one there are four small legs with hooves hanging over the sides, the other is red and squishy, filled with the intestines and other delicacies as as he carries a recently bifurcated goat to the butchers on the corner. Passing by the butcher shop the feathers are flying and the sounds of assassinated chickens fills the humid morning air.

Competing with the chickens are the peels of the ubiquitous bells rung as a devotee punctuates their pujas (prayers) at the Hindu and Buddhist temples that saturate every street and district. A woman in her exercise gear, stops, bows before an idol and lights an incense stick at the temple as I pass by.

The six way round about which marks my half way mark is beginning to fill up with people looking for transport. It's just after 6 in the morning and school children are walking to school. The girls, chatting on mobile phones are dressed like the boys, in pin stripe slacks with collar and monogrammed ties as they pass the security guard into St Xavier's College which proudly advertises that it is a 'chewing gum free zone'.

As I walk past the vegetable market that is already doing brisk business, I buy a mango for my breakfast and much to the amusement of the locals I probably pay twice as much as everyone else.

Completing the turn back toward my hotel I cross the road, dodging the motorbikes, the cars and the animals when I see a Ford pickup coming down the road with a dozen people, including children, sitting high on the back try. As the pickup appears to lose it's front wheels in a pothole as peep as the grand canyon, I notice that the platform on which they sit is actually composed of LP gas cylinders banging together over every bump.

I must look a little like those clowns with swivel necks and open mouths at the carnival - this is sensory overload. But this is just my small corner of the city during a 60 minute walk - cross the river, turn the corner and the kaleidoscope changes. New images, new smells and new tastes appear.

A little later in the morning I will be dodging monkeys as I visit the Monkey Temple, a Buddhist complex on the hill, and then as I walk the alleys and streets of Thamel I will be offered the best price, I will be asked to "only look sir", I will be asked if I would like some 'hydroponics', (hash or grass) - as I pass what must be hundreds of stores selling souvenirs and trekking gear.

This is a fascinating city.

From Bonded Labour to Shreelanka

18 July 2000

Nepal bans bonded labour

The Nepalese government on Monday banned the practice of bonded labour, 

under which the lower caste people work in large farms owned by upper caste land owners.

Anyone violating the ban could be jailed up to 10 years.

Lower caste people have worked as bonded labors for generations,

trying to pay off the debts incurred by their fathers or grandfathers.

(Race and History)

 _________

13 Years ago (almost to the day) the Nepalese government banned bonded labour – a good thing – but simultaneously thousands of people were left homeless. The government allocated land to many of these families and one of the communities they chose for about 250 families, is the village of Shreelanka in the Kailali District of western Nepal.

This is good agricultural land, (the surrounds are green with paddy fields) but for many years no one wanted to live here for three reasons: (1) Malaria and a lack of medicine to combat it, (2) annual floods, and (3) snakes. And so it was in Shreelanka that today we visited families that have once again been impacted by floods. Last weekend the water burst the banks of the nearby river, drowned their paddy and was three feet up their walls.

I sit on a wooden ‘day bed’ in a mud/straw house where a family of eight live. The eldest of four sisters is a sponsored child and is at school today for extra tuition, the other sisters, two brothers and Mum and Dad tell us that they know when the floods are coming now: if it has been raining hard a for a good while in the mountains on the horizon they know it will not be long.

They take the three beds in the single room house and stack them on top of the day bed and pack all their belongings onto the tower they have created. They take their two cows and move them to higher ground at the school. The kids move to the school as well. Mum and Dad climb the tower and stay in the house, trying to save as much as they can – for three days.

Today, the water has receded from the houses but the area around the house is a muddy swamp. (Some houses are still islands.) But their house is set-up again, Dad has rebuilt the fire pit and the second eldest daughter is helping Mum fry some vegetable for lunch. One side wall is completely destroyed by the flood, it is closed in by pieces of plastic and cloth; about two feet of most of the other walls has been eroded as well – but none of this can be repaired until after September when the monsoon is over and they can buy straw.

Life is tough for these families, but Mum and Dad smile as they tell us that they would rather this: their freedom – the ability to choose what work they do and who they do it for and the opportunity their kids now have to go to school and maybe escape the area - to the life of servitude and bondage that was theirs not all that long ago.

[On the way out of the village our vehicle ‘fell’ into a deep hole created by the floods and we had to trek out to the main road. It was quite a fun event for the locals!]