Sanjana: OK, so thanks for joining me to talk about your experiences with the project in Sri Lanka, and I guess the first place to start would be to ask you to introduce yourself - who you are, what you've done, what you're doing now.
Nilanjana: OK, I'm Nilanjana and I came into this Peace and Conflict Transformation field about four years ago. I went to one of the workshops done by Professor Jayantha Seneviratne and Dishani Jayaweera from the Centre for Peace-Building and Reconciliation and from there I got interested and I started working with them. That's how I came into this field, and I've been trying to find what interests me, what I could do, and explore the possibilities and find out where I can make a contribution with my skills and all that.
S: OK, that's great, and I take it you're in Brisbane now, doing a Masters, could you tell us a bit more about that?
N: Yes, even though I've been engaged as an activist in the field I don't have any theoretical knowledge so I decided to do a Masters in Peace studies. So that's why I'm in Brisbane, studying at the University of Queensland, doing my Masters in Peace and Conflict Studies.
S: OK, that's great, so tell us what you did in Sri Lanka before you went for your Masters with the project.
N: OK, yes, I volunteered for some time with the Centre for Peace-Building and Reconciliation - for about two and a half years. I was working there as a Project Coordinator and a Programme Officer and then when I finished university I joined the Centre for Peace-Building and Reconciliation as a full-time person. And then I was working with the communities outside Colombo, and started training in Peace-Building and Conflict Transformation...
S: So you have a history of working with grassroots, but tell us what you did specifically with regards to the project that you were asked to be the eyes and ears of the grassroots communities in the North and the East for, just before leaving for Australia.
N: Yes, I was asked to do this research - the organisation contacted me - and then I was thinking what would be the most effective way of doing the project. I mean effective in the sense of making a real contribution to the people. I decided the best way would be if I tried to reach out to Community Based Organisations that were further away from Colombo, and that was the thinking behind the way I did the project. Also they (Insight on Conflict) said that it is mainly about grassroots peace-building so I focused on the local area and also I wanted to highlight those people who are not really seen in the civil society but who are part of civil society. Do I answer your question?
S: Yes, and could you tell us where you travelled in Sri Lanka; which parts did you go to?
N: OK, I did almost all of my interviews personally, meeting those people, working with a lot of organisations from different areas of the country like Kurunegala, Colombo, Monaragala, Kegalla, and Anuradhapura. And also I have some organisations from Jeffna, Batti and Trinco, where I didn't meet them personally; I didn't go over there personally for interviews because of the difficulties in travelling and things like that.
S: In those organisations that you worked with, who did you meet and what did they say about the prospects for peace in Sri Lanka today?
N: Often I was able to meet the visionaries of the organisations. I call them visionaries because it was based on their ideas that most of the organisations were formed. I met most of those people, and then I also talked to representatives and beneficiaries of the organisations, sometimes with the people of the community who know about these projects and had their own opinion about what kind of contribution they think they could make.
S: And what did they have to say about peace in the country?
N: They had quite interesting ideas actually. I found it very interesting because it was different from most of the things that I get to hear in my circle in Colombo. How can I say this... they brought everything down to a practical level, down to a day to day living basis; do you know what I mean?
S: Yes, so it's different to the theoretical academic approach coming from Colombo, isn't it?
N: Yes, I think so, that's what I'm trying to get at but there's something more, something different. (I: So they were grappling with the realities...) They had a lot of talk about having peace in their communities. I would say that they were not that hopeful about the larger situation in the country. I understand that most of them don't have much respect for politicians and what's going on in the peace process. So on one hand they are very hopeful on a community level it could be done but they don't have much trust that on a political level it could be done unless everybody does more trust building.
S: OK, so what were the chief problems that they were facing, the central challenges to peace-building in their communities - maybe the top two challenges?
N: The most obvious thing would be they have problems with English language, which they have to use. For instance, if they have to apply for funds then they have to process the forms for the organisations in the English language and they have problems with that. The other thing they have a problem with... in order to have sustainable research that really makes an impact on their situation they need to ground it on something... peace on an abstract level has to be grounded. They want to address that problem by creating some kind of space within which things can happen. If you take for example an initiative where both ethnicities are brought together and thereby they break down the stereotype about their ethnicities, something like that. They want to create spaces for things to happen, and for that they want long-term funds and they have problems with getting them.
S: So did they have any ideas about how they were going to overcome these challenges. Were they going for English classes or were the donors accepting applications in the vernacular based on their submissions. Did they have any ideas about how to overcome these problems that they faced?
N: The thing I saw in common with most organisations is that they tried to generate funds within their own initiatives so that they can profit from their own activities. They tried to develop some kind of activity within the project so that it can fund the project itself. For example, there was this organisation from Anuradhapura where they go to different places in the city... people come to Anuradhapura from all areas of the country and they leave shopping bags and things like that. As a peace initiative they gather young people from different ethnicities to work together to go clean up these areas. There they try to sell all the things they collect like all the recycled things, paper, plants, and things like that, and thereby fund another initiative.
S: OK, the project that you worked for - the Insight on Conflict. You worked for it for a couple of months and you did research for it from a grassroots perspective. What's your impression on the usefulness of the Insight on Conflict, say, for a grassroots organisation in Sri Lanka?
N: I would like to tell you how they perceive it rather than how I perceive it because now most of the initiatives that I worked on in Sri Lanka are uploaded on the website and people have gone there and some organisations have already received offers of support from other countries. For example, someone from Ireland contacted an organisation from Jaffna, having seen them from the website, offering to volunteer for them. This opens up these organisations. These seem to be the most beneficial things through the project, as I see it. And also the work done by grassroots organisations is often not seen very much in Sri Lanka. I don't know, this is my perspective - their work is not that much seen but they make a huge contribution as far as I see it. And I think that it is time to highlight them through initiatives like this.
S: OK, fair point, but do you think that the website or the Insight on Conflict initiative can do anything to improve the accessibility, the reach, the awareness of the initiative in Sri Lanka? Is there any suggestion that you would make or the organisations you've talked to would make to make the initiative more useful here?
N: OK, you know in order to make the initiative more useful I think it would be better to make it more accessible to people and language would be one of the main barriers...
S: So content in Sinhala and Tamil language is it?
N: Yes, that could be an action, yes. I'm thinking of different ways of doing things... as long as the material could be accessible to people, I guess that's what matters. And as long as they can have an interaction with it, that's what matters. And if we can come up with our different mechanisms to do that, that would be great.
S: OK, so, this is not a question that I had in mind but I need to ask you; I mean, you've seen the deterioration of the peace process in Sri Lanka particularly over the last year, but it's been happening for a while. The ceasefire really doesn't exist any more except on paper, and these organisations that really are not being reported on in the media are possibly finding it almost impossible to conduct their work, in terms of peace-building, conflict transformation, reconciliation, human rights, gender. You know, obviously there's a shortage of funds, they can't work, their personal life is at risk, and the general fabric of democracy has deteriorated. You know all this, and given the significant challenges to peace-building and peace activism, do you think there is a future for these organisations?
N: For me, peace is not just finding a larger solution to the conflict. It could also mean having peace in the community, in your home, in your heart. For me it is acting out of compassion towards another, having consideration and care for the person next to me. So I see peace being practised by all these organisations and just by people in the society. So I think there is hope for them and they will sustain as long as they have compassion towards another, they care about their community, they work for a better place. As long as they have consideration, care and respect towards all the people in their community I think their work will carry on.
S: OK, you mentioned websites, and Insight on Conflict is essentially a website where they put information about grassroots initiatives up on their website to raise people's awareness of those initiatives. So websites used in peace-building is a relatively new concept. It might work better in countries that have greater connectivity, like the United Kingdom or the United States. But what is the role of technology, say, in a country like Sri Lanka, which in some places does not have electricity - leave aside using computers? You know, I won't go too much into this question; it's something that I am also very interested in. But from your perspective of actually working at the grassroots, which I think is important, what do you think is the possibility - or thinking towards the future - what if any are the possibilities of using technology for peace-building?
N: It's a very important question because it is something that could take out your voice fairly easily and could make it heard all over. So I think it's truly important for everyone to have access in the community and most organisations I talked to, they at least managed to have an email address and check email at least two times a month, because they realised the importance of it. It's just they don't have the necessary infrastructure set up for them. So as long as we can come up with solutions to that, I think they would be very happy to get all of the advantages that you get through new technology, and that would open up more space for them and make them more powerful and more aware I guess.
S: That's a great response. We're coming to the end of the interview... you've worked with the Insight on Conflict project for a couple of months, you must have met some amazing people and travelled quite a bit in Sri Lanka - far more than many other people I know who are involved in the peace movement. Given the range and the breadth of people and places that you visited, what could be the fondest memory you have of working on the project? If you could find one!
N: That's a difficult question to answer! It had its ups and downs. It had its very horrible points and there were times when I just wanted to drop everything and go home and sleep. I think the most precious moments were when I heard wisdom in what people say. That would be what kept me going on. These people, who had never even stepped foot into a university, would say things that most of the people I know would not even begin to think of. I was so inspired by some of the things they said, and it was such a learning experience for me.
S: OK, that's good to hear...
N: If you asked me of my fondest memory, it would be listening to these people and capturing those moments when real vision comes out of what they say.
S: Well now, you've used that to hopefully lay the foundation for what you're doing in Brisbane, Australia (N: I am!). You're a student now of conflict resolution, you'll come out with an advanced Masters, you might want to join academia afterwards; I don't know (laughter). But just on that point, what really are your future plans, and I guess linked to that question, given that you might have an idea of what you want to do, has your experience of working with the Insight on Conflict project and speaking to these people in Colombo, I mean Sri Lanka and visiting these places in Sri Lanka - has it helped shape your future plans?
N: Yes, it has. I've realised through all the things I've been through whilst working on this project, I've realised that the most important thing for anybody, for me is to have my integrity with me, to be true to myself in what I do. So to your question about what I'm going to do after completing my Masters, the answer would be, no matter what I do I will try to hold onto my values because that's who I am. If I can't live with myself, if I do things that make it difficult for me to live with myself and take away the values by which I live from me. That's what's most important for me. So, yes, that's what I am going to do.
S: OK, that's great to hear, and I think myself personally, as a fellow Sri Lankan, who has actually been through the same course, I want to wish you all the very best.
N: Ha, there's a little bit of irony there!
S: There was no irony at all! It was an experience that I am glad that you will also share. It's a very good faculty and I think the course gives you the freedom to explore academically things that you might already have grappled with in the field in Sri Lanka. So in that sense it's very useful to get that academic grounding to help you think more deeply about the issues facing our country at the moment. Let me also on behalf of the Insight on Conflict team wish you all the very best and to also thank you for your work in helping populate their website. So thanks very much, and all the very best.
N: OK, thank you.