Sri Lanka Unites - Easter Attack Response Updates

The 21^st 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 – 15^th 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.

• 21st May - Vigil to remember all lives lost, as close to the venue as possible
• 15th of June - Training conducted by experts for the social media volunteers on how to counter hate speech better
• By the 21st of June - Seminar organized informing the community of the trauma/ counselling for adults and children. 
• 21st of June/ 21st of July - To have the memorial and individual tombstones in place. 
• 21st of June - Have the information needed in place for the Savings accounts to be opened for the children (or of existing ones).
• Last two weeks of June - SLU will go to mosques and schools to conduct sessions countering radicalization
• Training our team to continue to engage with the communities and build long term friendships. 
• A survey done by volunteers to put together a comprehensive needs assessment document
  
  
     
  
  

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 – 21^st 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 – 21^st 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 - 30^th 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 18^th 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 – 4^th 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 – 10^th 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 – 12^th 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.