Building relations between Sinhalese and Tamil people

            The organization I will be working with this summer, Sarvodaya, has been doing a lot of relief and rehabilitation work in the war-torn northern regions of Sri Lanka. For some context, the war was fought between the Tamil liberation fighters (the LTTE) and the Sri Lankan army. The Tamil people were fighting for their own independent state within Sri Lanka. The civil war in Sri Lanka was above all an ethnic conflict. The Sinhalese and Tamil cultures are vastly different. The two groups speak different languages and practice different religions; most Sinhalese people are Buddhist, while most Tamil people are Hindu. Although the war ended in 2010, there is still much hostility between the two groups, as well as a certain distrust.

            Sarvodaya does a lot of work in the regions affected by the war. Part of their work deals with physical infrastructure projects, such as building homes and clean-water wells. Other projects deal with community building and empowerment. Sarvodaya also runs meditation and spiritual programs based on Buddhist practices. I found this interesting because many regions in northern Sri Lanka are primarily Tamil. From what I know about the organization’s work, their religious programs do not involve the Hindu religion. They do not have any cultural programs that cater to the Tamil demographic. Because Sarvodaya does a lot of work in the conflict-affected area, I think it is important for them to think about the people who are receiving their services, and tailor their programs to that demographic.

            I believe it is important to integrate the Tamil people into the Sri Lankan community. The war began because of the ethnic difference between the two groups, and these differences of language and religion still exist. They must be addressed in order to prevent any future conflict or alienation. There is a lot of deep-seated mistrust and sometimes dislike between the Sinhalese and Tamil peoples, a result of decades of fighting. In order to effectively rebuild the country, rebuilding the physical and health infrastructure is not enough. Sarvodaya can implement different social and education programs to bridge the gap between the two groups. Sarvodaya runs its programs in over half the villages in Sri Lanka, so it reaches a very large population. Sarvodaya could also focus on bringing Sri Lankan and Tamil children together as a way to change the mindset of the future generation. Sarvodaya has the resources to run these programs as well. Social integration programs can help rebuild the relationships between the Sri Lankan and Tamil people in the conflict-affected areas and help build a sense of community between these groups. I think Sarvodaya is doing good work in rebuilding the war-torn areas, but they could be doing more to build solid relationships between the Sri Lankan and Tamil people.