Caritas Sri Lanka: fighting
fear, promoting reconciliation
 |
| Sri Lanka was rocked by a spate terrorist bomb on Easter Sunday 2019 |
Responding to the needs of the people of Sri Lanka, affected
by a spate of bomb attacks on Easter Sunday, is Caritas Sri Lanka-SEDEC, the
social arm of the nation’s Catholic Bishops’ Conference. Its director speaks
about the massive fallout from the attacks that has thrown the national
reconciliation process completely off-track.
.By Linda Bordoni
The Easter bombing attacks in Sri Lanka that left 257 people
dead and razed churches and hotels to the ground also caused much collateral
damage shattering a difficult peace and reconciliation process after a long
civil war against the separatist Tamil Tigers.
Fear has created renewed divides between members of
different ethnic and religious communities that make up the population. Above
all, daily life has become harder for ordinary Muslims who continue to suffer
attacks and discrimination.
Caritas Sri Lanka is in the forefront of the
healing and reconciliation process, together with religious representatives of
different faiths and civil society leaders.
Fr. Mahendra Gunatilleke, National Director of
Caritas Sri Lanka, told Linda Bordoni that people were so shocked and
traumatized by the bombings, an urgent need arose immediately for programmes to
address their needs
Fr Mahendra explained that Caritas developed programmes to
address psycho-social and legal needs immediately after the bombings. These, he
said, were shared with other organizations working to help the population, with
the Caritas Provincial network and with the country’s diocesan centers.
Government collaboration
He said Caritas has also found support in the government
that is doing its best to tackle a number of questions.
The fact, he said, that the bombings took place in the
Churches, has directly involved the pastors to care for their sheep. However,
he added, the government is taking care of the material reconstruction of
church buildings “and we are very thankful for this”.
The, government, Fr Mahendra said, has also come forward to
help the families of the victims financially.
Fear
“It is not the property that we lost, but the lives we lost,
and the fear that was created with this terror attack”, he said.
He said that people are deeply traumatized: “there is this
fear psychosis, the scar that has got into the human psyche” which has led to
an urgent need to work for a peaceful environment for all the individuals of
our country.
The attacks have shattered the nation’s reconciliation
process
Fr Mahendra said the attacks have had a tremendously
damaging effect on the country’s peace process following the 30-year conflict
that ended 10 years ago.
“We were just about to celebrate the anniversary of the
peace that was brought after the conflict and this happened,” he said.
The attacks, he continued, have devastated peace initiatives
and reconciliation programmes. And Caritas, he said, is deeply involved in
bridge building, which “is now a daunting task.”
“Over the years we have been involved in peace programmes,
reconciliation, coexistence programmes… and now we see suspicion and brothers
of ours who have been pushed away,” he said.
Fr Mahendra said it will take time to build trust.
“Because we are a tiny nation, struggling with economic
issues, with political and social issues, our hopes were shattered with this
attack” he said.
The need for prophetic leadership
Fr Mahendra said his hope is that “we will get good leaders”
who will be able to give us the right guidance.
He expressed his hope for political leaders with genuine
perspectives, and for religious leaders because, he said, “religion must not be
a divisive factor, it must be a uniting factor.”
“I am happy that Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith was able to give
that leadership. People are looking up to him and we are very proud that he is
a Catholic shepherd and we need to sustain and cooperate with him,” he said.
Fr Mahendra said he prays that political leaders, leaders of
civil society, of NGOs and like-minded organizations will come forward and will
assist the peace process so that it may proceed.
He also expressed his wish that Sri Lanka not be forgotten
by the media and by the international community: “If the international
community can come to Sri Lanka and support us with peace initiatives, we will
find a way forward”.
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