Friday, November 18, 2011

At the Island Paradise of Mannar

By Ayesh Perera

Arriving in Mannar, a place of exquisite beauty inspite of its heat, in the crack of the dawn on Tuesday the 15th of November after travelling overnight, we had before us the task of visiting several schools, namely St.Xavier's Boys' College, Nanattan Madya Maha Vidyalaya, St. Anne's MMV, Sithinnayagar Hindu College and Adampan MV. In all of these schools we found ourselves and  the concept of Sri Lanka Unites in a warm and receptive environment, and it was a message of hope to many. Moreover, it was also quite suprising to sense the knowledge about Sri Lanka Unites which was there in the atmosphere, which was undoubtedly due to the tireless efforts of the students of St. Xavier's Boys College.


After the assemblies, at our residence we were treated to an amazing lunch, with a variety of sea food dishes - a welcome change from our usual diet.
Following that was our workshop in Mannar which we were able to conduct at St. Xavier's Boys College, with the permission of their Principal.The extremely positive response we got here from the students from Mannar conveyed the deep unspoken desire they had to see one day a united nation.
After the workshop we had an extensive discussion on intra ethnic conflicts which also included the discussing of solutions, after which we turned ourselves in for the night, before heading out to  Puttalam the next day.

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