Inter-cultural Dialogue Project (the 5 day residential camp)

The Inter Cultural Dialogue project is a project funded by the British council of Sri Lanka that strives to bring Sri Lankan undergraduates of different cultures and backgrounds together by providing them with a forum to express their ideas, promoting mutual understanding through constructive and progressive dialogue. The overall objective of this project is to strengthen the peace and harmony among different ethnic groups living in various parts of Sri Lanka.

For almost a quarter century, the Northern and Eastern parts of Sri Lanka have been severely affected by the on-going civil war. The war has contributed to a further polarization of the communities in the North and East and the people living elsewhere in Sri Lanka. The North East region of Sri Lanka is predominantly inhabited by Tamils and Muslims whereas the majority of the population in the rest of the country is Sinhalese. The level of interaction and communication that earlier prevailed between the communities in the North and East and their counter parts in the rest of the country has deteriorated rapidly due to the civil war. Its implications are quite undesirable with elements of escalated distrust, enmity, rivalry, jealousy and lack of mutual understanding and ignorance of each others’ cultures, behaviour, languages, environments etc.

The polarization of communities in the war affected region and those in the rest of the country is largely seen among the youth population of Sri Lanka. The current youth in the age range of 17 – 27 years are the real victims of this situation. Many of them have lost their real identities, opportunities for education, mobility and interaction with the larger Sri Lankan community. Other than succumbing to a gun culture, these youth have been deprived of even considering a different ontology all together. Simultaneously, the youth in the rest of the country are also deprived of accessing the conflict zones and building networks with different ethnic communities living in the North and East. Apart from security reasons that restrict the physical mobility of different communities in the North and East and rest of the country, these communities also lack appropriate modes of communication such as language skills, technology for improved communication etc.

Under these circumstances, it is important that ethnic amity is strengthened among youth living in the war affected North and East and those living in the rest of the country. Our generation has practically grown up with this civil war, hence in the future when we are called upon to play a key role in building sustainable peace in our respective communities the skills and broader perspectives we have acquired courtesy of the ICD project i.e. promoting intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding among youth as a precursor for conflict prevention and peace building, we hope will make us better equipped to deal with intricate situations.

With all these future goals at heart 19 students form 5 Sri Lankan universities gathered at the National Institute for Youth Affairs in Maharagama on Friday the 2nd of January 2009, to take part in the three day residential camp organized by the British council. In addition to the 19 of us, 6 British Council staff members and two professional trainers who wished to facilitate the proceedings were also present.

On the first day- the 2^nd, we spent the morning session drawing up a poster about ourselves and eventually presenting it. I must say many diverse personalities emerged as we went on with this activity. The best thing was that the British Council staff too did not hesitate to take part in it, even though most of them belonged to a different generation than us. This sort of participation set the right attitude for mutual understanding and mutual respect. The after lunch session was dedicated to a team building activity, we were given a limited amount of time to complete the task and I’m glad to say we all participated in it with charisma and completed it as a team. The second day (the 3^rd) morning session ensued as a continuation of the heated and controversial debate that had occurred the previous night after dinner. I’m glad to say every single co-group member, British Council staff and even the two facilitators were very liberal and open minded about giving their opinions and accepting other’s opinions. After lunch we had a guest, Mr. (Mihirini’s father’s name) who presented a synopsis of Sri Lankan history and a thought-provoking research done on gene profiling highlighting the origins of the modern day Sinhalese. Then followed the session where each of us had to choose a partner and do a little presentation as to what we had each gained from the project so far. It was interesting to listen to all the comments and observations because it makes one realize how differently each one had perceived, interpreted and absorbed the project. Personally, I thought it threw the lime light on the concept of diversity and yet how mutual understanding can be achieved through constructive dialogue even amidst such immense diversity. The 3^rd day (4th) was all about hard core project planning where we came with a code of conduct and some basic aspirations for the project. One of the most attention-grabbing activities was Mrs. Mihirini De Zoysa’s idea of writing down our fears and hopes for the project. Here again we came to know that many of us have shared sentiments about the project and discussing them out aloud gave us a lot of ease about each other as well as about the project. The after lunch session was once again dedicated to a team building activity, one that Mr. Lalith (surname) had come up with- ‘the blindfolded perfect square’, I must say I enjoyed it quite a bit. At one point we were struggling as a team, storming rather, but in the end thankfully to our own team we managed to complete the task. A great thing I noticed about the British Council staff was that they gave us our own space, they gave us the fiscal assets but let us experiment and do our own self-exploring, that is a marvelous feat on their part I believe, because that is all we needed to grow and come together as a team which was not an easy task as it was undoubtedly comprised of youth of very contrasting personalities. Thus ended the first half of our 5 day residential camp.

The second half of the camp was held on Saturday the 17^th and Sunday the 18^th of January 2009 at the same location. (I’m sorry I dnt know wat happened exactly on 17 cz I was not there, tried asking around but cudnt get much meat on it) The 17^th was dedicated to more team building activities and focusing on the sociological aspects of culture and how mutual understanding can be achieved through understanding and respecting diverse cultures. The 17^th after dinner session proved to be very entertaining and strengthened us more as a team. The 18^th was devoted to coming up with project plans as to how we wish to promote the concept of inter-cultural dialogue and I’m happy to say we came up with quite a few concepts which are still at their primary planning stages, but I’m sure I speak for all 19 co-group members when I say, we are all eagerly looking forward to putting our plans into action in the coming months.

originally written by chamindri

ICD days- the promise of better days to come

A Tale Begins

The date was 2nd January 2009. The location was 15 kilometers form Colombo, National Institute for youth affairs Maharagama. It was the day one of the three day residential camp organized by the British council. 19 students form the national universities were present. Six members of the British council staff and two professional leadership trainers were also present.

It was the start of the the intercultural dialogue project. Though the project has been official launched it was only now the followers got the chance to experience each other. And they had three full days to argue, explore, debate , and understand each other.

Inter cultural dialogue is a project conducted by the British council - Srilanka with ambition to bring undergraduates of different cultures together and build a forum to express each other.

More information regarding the project will follow.

Inter cultural dialogue .... A closer look

So what is culture?
We define culture as a set of values, norms, institutions and artefacts– we must be aware that there are many cultures even within cultures. All of them ideological, sociological and technological subsystems of our societies that govern interactions between people. Culture therefore refers to consumption of goods, productions of goods, construction of meanings and social relationships. Addressing intercultural learning within an organization and beyond therefore implies a complex set of measures. All recommendations should be based on the principal “nothing about us without us” which is essential for the sustainability of intercultural dialogue.

Inter-cultural Dialogue - A Good Start

The first meeting of the core members of the intercultural dialogue project was held on the 20th November 2008. All the members were present including the project supervisors. The members consists form a mixture of distinguished universities in the western province. The plans for the 3 day camp scheduled on the 3 , 4th and the 5th was discussed.

After the meeting the members was invited to watch the forum theater performance under the topic Freedom of expression at a time of war.

Inter-cultural Dialogue Project

Inter- Cultural dialogue project is a project conducted by the British council of Srilanka with ambition of bringing people form different cultures together. The project emphasizes on bringing different youth from different cultures together for a discussion where it will create a forum for the youth. We believe the better we know each other the lesser the problems will be.

The overall objective of this proposed project is to contribute to strengthening peace and harmony among different ethnic communities living in different parts of the country.

Background

For almost a quarter century, the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka have been severely affected by the on-going civil war. The war has contributed to a further polarization of the communities in the north and east and the people in the rest of the country. The north east region of Sri Lanka is predominantly inhabited by Tamils and Muslims whereas the majority of the population in the rest of the country is Sinhalese. The level of interaction and communication that earlier prevailed between the communities in the north and east and their counter parts in the rest of the country deteriorated rapidly. Its implications are quite undesirable with elements of escalated distrust, enmity, rivalry, jealousy and lack of mutual understanding and ignorance of each others’ cultures, behaviours, languages, environments etc.

The polarisation of communities in the war affected region and those in the rest of the country is largely seen among the youth population of this country. The current youth in the age range of 17 -35 yrs are the real victims of this situation. Many of them have lost their real identities, opportunities for education and mobility & interaction with the larger community. Other than perceiving a gun culture, these youth have been deprived of holding a different world view. Meanwhile the youth in the rest of the country were also deprived of accessing the conflict affected areas and building linkages with different ethnic communities living in the north and east. Apart from security reasons that restrict the physical mobility of different communities in the north and east and rest of the country, these communities also lack appropriate modes of communication such as language skills, technologies etc. for improved communication.

In the circumstances, it is important that ethnic amity is strengthened among youth living in the war affected north and east and those in the rest of the country. Having experienced war for most of their lives, they will be called upon to play a role in building sustainable peace in their communities. Young people have urgent needs to be able to cope with and overcome these challenges, and contribute to a peaceful and prosperous future. To face these challenges Sri Lanka’s young people need to understand each other, and share there experiences with each other. They need to be equipped to play a critical role in establishing sustainable peace in the island.

The present proposal suggests focusing on the youth of this country and emphasizes the need for promoting intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding among youth as a precursor for conflict prevention and peace building.