The 21st of April 2019 will go
down in our history as one of the most inhumane acts of terrorism inflicted on
our people. Taking the lives of almost 250 people and an unaccountable number
of families affected it still haunts us up to date. It is safe to say that the
whole country was left in disbelief and shock. We as an organization
immediately responded with an action plan to help those affected.
Our
10 step Response Plan
1.
COUNSELLING SEMINARS FOR ALL
THREE AFFECTED COMMUNITIES
2. PERSONAL TRAUMA THERAPY FOR
SURVIVORS OF THE ATTACK
3.
MEMORIALIZING AND TOMBSTONES FOR VICTIMS
4.
SPECIALIZED THERAPY SESSIONS FOR CHILDREN IMPACTED BY THESE ATTACKS
5.
SAVINGS ACCOUNT FOR CHILDREN IMPACTED BY THE ATTACKS.
6.
WEBINAR SERIES TO DISCUSS PRESSING CONCERNS OF MODERATES – FEATURING
MUSLIM AND CATHOLIC + CHRISTIAN YOUTH LEADERS LIVE ON FACEBOOK
7.
#togetherwewillovercome ONLINE POSTER CAMPAIGN
8.
ENGAGING WITH MUSLIM SCHOOLS AND MOSQUES TO COUNTER FURTHER
RADICALIZATION
9.
ENGAGING WITH MULTI-RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS TO COUNTER BULLYING
10.
ISLAND WIDE SCHOOL TOUR / CREATE INTER-RELIGIOUS YOUTH COALITIONS
Responding to our calls for donations we had generous people and organizations believe in the work we do making donations for this cause.
Partner
Organizations Meeting – 15th May 2019
With lots of organizations reaching out to
us to help or partner with us we were encouraged to know that there are good
people who are willing to reach out to those who are hurting. So we organized
for a platform where all of them can come to one table to discuss the best way
forward. This way we made sure that it was a joint effort and no one was
replicating the work the other was doing.
We had representation from Leads, the World
Bank, Gudppl, Sumithrayo and a church from the Negombo area. After a successful
round of discussion we agreed on a combined response.
Call
for Social Media Volunteers
With us finding repeating posts inciting
hate we found ourselves amidst a lot of hate speech proposing violence. As a
response to this we called for 1000 volunteers to donate their time in order
for us to find more and report the pages and people sharing these posts. We
have managed to gather close to 430 volunteers as of now for this cause.
We are also very happy and proud to share
that Facebook made us one of their official partners for this cause. Whatever
data we gather, when we share it with them and they in return respond to it
within 48 hours. We have managed to report multiple pages and people whom they
have blocked off their site.
Videos
contradicting the hate posts
As it is also important to share positive
posts to negate the hate, we have asked the same volunteers to share our
content built around conversations exploring topics related to togetherness,
reconciliation, refusing violence and many more. We conducted two sessions which included video recordings and facebook live sessions.
One
month Memorial – 21st of May
We were successfully able to complete the
first step of our plan with organizing 3 memorials in the 3 cities that were
attacked. If there is one thing in which our nation has failed it is to
remember and honour those who lost their lives. So we made sure it was part of
our initiative to organize for a vigil where people from all faiths and
ethnicities are able to come and pay their respects with candles and flowers.
We wanted to show case our solidarity and mostly to show the families that they
are not forgotten nor alone. And that their loved ones will always be in our
hearts and memorialised in a way they deserve.
Donation from the Businesses at the Dutch Hospital Precinct – 21st
of May
We as a nation are blessed with
a business community that refuses to get down and be defeated during trying
times. They are not the type to lay off their workers and turn their backs
on those who are hurting during the time of a national crisis due to their own
financial challenges as businesses.
In fact they dig deeper and support a new
generation of leader pursue healing and reconciliation and build a nation that is stronger , more united ,
peaceful and prosperous for all Sri Lankans.
We at Sri Lanka Unites want to thank these
inspiring business leaders for investing in us to inspire the youth of our
nation and serve to heal our land.
Meeting with Leads - 30th of May
During our meeting with Leads, they helped us to connect with an organization that will in turn lead us to all the 78 families from the Katuwapitiya church. They shared with us that the families have shown great interest in having tombstones in place for all the loved ones they lost.
This proves that partnering and joining with great organizations truly is the right way to approach the relief efforts, as oppose to our teams also speaking to the same families who are in distraught and going through a painful period in their lives.
Social Media Volunteer Training - 15th of June, 2019
With the increasing number of hate speech posts on all social media platforms we soon found the need to conduct a training for our best volunteers. On the 15th of June at Hatch Works we brought together 30 volunteers representing all parts of the country for a training. We had participants from Jaffna, Batticaloa, Matara, Puttalam, Badulla and Colombo. With the help of our Easter response partners SLASSCOM, we were able to conduct the training successfully.
We looked at the history of violence in our country and the daunting statistics, followed by one of our own who was trained by Facebook itself sharing her learnings and finally a representative from SLASSCOM sharing about the new Artificial Intelligence software they are launching to help combat hate speech. We had a very interactive session with all the participants contributing with their ideas and questions.
An introduction to Sri Lanka Unites and the work we do was given by our founder/ president which was then followed by a conversation on the Conflict history of Sri Lanka since independence. Following this discussion another discussion was conducted on the grievances faced by each ethnicity to make the crowd understand that walking in another's shoe is very important for us to understand the pain and grief of another ethnicity.
Following the introduction to conflict timeline of Sri Lanka and the grievances the next session was conducted on Fake News and Hate speech - definitions and examples were shared with volunteers to give an understanding on fake news and hate speech which has been fast spreading on Social Media in Sri Lanka. Also strategies and ideas were shared on identifying fake news, misinformation and hate speech, steps of reporting hate speech and getting the correct URLs of the posts on Facebook were all part of this session. It was concluded with a series of questions and answers between the volunteers and the team.
As the final session we had a representative from SLASSCOM Sri Lanka who spoke about his experience and what more we can do as a collective - while reporting bad content we need to make sure that there is more good content out there and he also urged the volunteers to continue the good work without stopping. The training concluded with distribution of refreshments and a discussion on our next steps.
Donation made to children affected by the Easter Attacks –
3rd of July 2019
We made our first donation
to 50 children who were either injured or lost a parent during the unfortunate
Easter Attacks in April. We partnered with the social service wing of the
Catholic churches, Seth Sarana and the Zion Church in Batticaloa in order to
select children who need it the most. We asked them to select 25 children each
as they have the better understanding of the congregation in need. Each child
will receive Rs. 25,000 which will be deposited to their bank accounts. They
can withdraw the fund on their 18th birthday. Both churches are also
assisting us with opening bank accounts for children that don’t have one. We
are also working towards raising funds to make the same donation to all the
children.
Polonnaruwa workshop – 4th July 2019
A workshop on Leadership
Training and Reconciliation was successfully held at Royal Central College, Polonnaruwa.
There were 150 students from 7 schools from all parts of Polonnaruwa. Kapila
Ramayake, Lakmal Sandeepa and Hirushi Wedage went as the facilitators for the
program from Sri Lanka Unites.
The workshop was based on
leadership, countering hate speech and reconciliation. We first conducted a
lecture accompanied with team activities in order to give a better
understanding of these topics. The program started with leadership
training and then we divided the students into 3 groups and did some activities
like Reach the Globe. Followed by an introduction to peacebuilding we continued
the next session with learning activities like identity game, human knot. The
students engaged well when taking part in those activities. With the debrief
twe started the lecture on peacebuilding and reconciliation. By doing another
activity on how fake news spreads, we started the next session about countering
hate speech.
We concluded the program by
speaking about Sri Lanka Unites chapters in schools, what we do and gave the
students membership forms and the survey to fill out. The Students were truly excited
about the program and they all engaged well throughout the day. In the end, the
Principal or the school Mr. W. Ravilal talked about the workshop and thanked us
for doing this work free of charge in schools.
Brainstorming Session
on countering misinformation and hate speech – 10th July 2019
Around 20
volunteers and intellectuals participated in the session conducted by the Sri
Lanka Unites team. The session started with an introduction to Sri Lanka
Unites and the work we do. Then the team members and the participants
introduced themselves. Following the introduction the main themes used by
the Buddhist National Extremists and National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ)/ ISIS were analysed
and discussed within the group.
The 4 themes
used by the Buddhist National Extremists to spread hate and misinformation
included Infertility – Population Increase, Islamic Boycott, Sharia Law and Halaal
Certification. 4 themes used by the National Thowheed Jamath/ISIS to spread
hate and misinformation included, Allah is the only God/ Sri Lanka was a Muslim
state, Muslims in Sri Lanka are not holy/religious enough, Violence is
endorsed – Jihadist and being part of global movement against terror. A general
discussion was held on why people believe and tend to support the extremists
ideas.
Through the
discussions and analysis everyone came to a conclusion that there are
half-truth in certain themes and the extremists use these and misguide others.
So the team discussed the half-truths and came up with counter narratives for
the relevant half-truth. The Sri Lanka Unites team also wanted to create
Introspection groups within the communities to answer and sort out their own
issues within the communities so that we come up with constructive ways to deal with the existing situation. Some suggestions included; doing a content series explaining the theology, exposing that
the extremists have used a small loophole for terror and building a broader
awareness on collective Sri Lankan Identity.
The session
was concluded by making note of the particular skills and areas of expertise
within the group, agreeing on the content to be created and setting specific
goals with a timeline.
Anuradhapura School
Workshop – 12th July 2019
The 2nd workshop done for schools as a responses to Easter Attack
was held at Central College- Anuradhapura. The workshop was conducted under the
topic of leadership training and reconciliation.
There were 138 students representing 4 schools from the Anuradhapura
district. Kapila Rathnayake, Lakmal Sandeepa and Hirushi Wedage went from the
Sri Lanka unites team to facilitate the training program.
The workshop started with the session focused on leadership
and team building. We first did a lecture and some activities to make sure that
the students engaged well with the workshop. Following which we focused on the
topic reconciliation and peacebuilding, we started the session with
experiential learning activities so that the students get a better
understanding of the content.
All the students and the teachers engaged well throughout
the program and the principal gave us a very positive review. At the end, we
gave all the students a survey and the registration forms to fill out while
educating them about SLU and the work we do. Many left wanting to be members of
the Sri Lanka Unites School club.
Memorial
and Individual Tombstones in place for the victims July 21st 2019
Sunday the 21st of July 2019 marked the third
month remembrance of the Easter attacks which shook the Nation. The loss of
lives remains unforgettable and a scar which would be left in the hearts of all
Sri Lankans. In response to the Easter attacks Sri Lanka Unites initiated a
plan where, among other things, tombstones would be set in place to remember
the victims of these attacks, and this was formally opened on the 21st of July.
Prior to this the graves were marked merely by piled up soil and a wooden cross.
This effort by Sri Lanka Unites afforded an element of dignity to the lost
lives. The teams helped design and get the tombstones ready for the families.
Members of SLU were in Negombo, where 72 of
these tombstones were unveiled by the Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith. It was an
emotional event, where we saw many family members of victims paying respects to
their loved ones. We were thankful that we had this opportunity, which enabled
the families to be able to have a place to grieve the loss of their sons, daughters,
parents etc. We walked away with some comfort that our efforts in having these
tombstones allowed many to remember their own, to cherish their lives and to
let down their heartache with soulful tears.
Training
on counter radicalization for University Students
From the 18
th to the 21
st
of August we conducted our second university conference at Che Adventure Park
in Hanwella. The discussion was around the topic of National Unity or National
Security. We had close to 100 students representing 28 universities both
government and private. Alongside we also had the training for our 25 District
Coordinators that we hope to recruit as full-time staff in the near future.
We had discussions around Career path and
personality development through a reconciliation lens, History of Sri Lankan
conflicts, understanding what it means to be a Sri Lankan, Governance and
transparency from a national security perspective, reconciliation from a
business perspective and achieving national security through democracy and human
rights.
