I had the priviledge of attending the
second annual Future Leaders Conference (FLC) for Hope and Reconciliation in
Sri Lanka. Organized by Sri Lanka Unites (SLU), this 5 day conference was
attended by over 250 of Sri Lanka’s top student leaders (age 15-18) from across
the country, 30 of their teachers, 50 trained youth volunteers, and the SLU
team. Sri Lanka Unites is the first post-war effort to promote youth
reconciliation within the country. It is run solely by youth volunteers of all
Sri Lankan ethnicities and is backed by a supportive board of trustees. The
committee is passionate about the cause and work tirelessly. The process of
reconciliation and change is occurring at the grassroots levels and spreading
throughout Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Unites is at the heart of this change, giving
many youth a reason to believe in a better future.
Sri Lanka Unites does an amazing job of instilling core leadership values, exposing the students to inspirational speakers, and promoting reconciliation for youth. The conference is trilingual and incorporates a mix of speeches, interactive sessions, small group discussions, sports events, team building, art time, and music performances. There is no pretence. Honesty and describing personal hardships among students are encouraged. Bringing students together from all regions and opening their lives to other students of different economical and ethnic backgrounds have provided them with a platform for reconciliation. Can we ever accept another race if all we know is something we heard from our parents or neighbours? Can we all understand and respect another culture if we never interacted with them at a personal level? The Sri Lanka Unites 5 day schedule provides these students with the appropriate dose of activities that leave them feeling inspired, courageous to move forward, empowered to help others, and confident in the belief that they have the power to change their preconceived notions about another ethnicity.
The conference is not just
a gathering of students for 5 days. It is a life changing event. You almost
have to be the 17 year old boy from Jaffna who has classmates from IDP camps,
and after having attended this conference has plans to serve them. You could be
the girl from Colombo who has travelled to help her brothers and sisters in
other districts after being inspired by the first conference. You could be the Tamil
boy who admits he had grown up to hate Sinhalese and Muslims, and explains how
the conference has helped him understand and respect other cultures. You could
be the student from Polonnaruwa who was inspired by a speech from the first Sri
Lankan blind rower, and now believes he can overcome the challenges in his life.
You could be the Sinhalese Buddhist boy from Kegalle who decided to fast with
his Muslim friends as the conference ran through the holy season of Ramadan. Through
SLUs integration of meaningful activities, and moreover through their unabiding
belief that they CAN make change, I can confidently say that not one of those
students left the conference without their lives having been changed in some
sort of meaningful way. The conference provided a haven for dialogue and
reconciliation, an opportunity to bridge the gaps and create friendships that
no other organization, to this day, has been able to provide the youth of our
country.
More importantly, the work
carried out by this organization and its network of future leaders never ends. The
SLU network of young leaders spans 23 districts and over 60 schools. Upon
returning to their respective districts, the students create SLU Clubs at their
schools and spread the word to surrounding areas. Each school is given a guidebook,
complete with activities to foster dialogue for reconciliation, and ideas on
how to reach out to students in other areas. Some of the amazing work that
these students accomplished after the first FLC include but are not limited to:
fundraising for flood relief in Gampaha, providing 100 wheelchairs to Mannar
hospital, and providing sports equipment to schools in districts that lacked
monetary funds.
What Sri Lanka needs is a
new generation of empowered, motivated individuals to initiate charitable acts
for others and pave the way for future reconciliation. To put it in
perspective, SLU has indirectly started, at minimum, 30 new charities in the
last year and has positively enhanced thousands of lives because atleast 30
schools have helped worthy causes after being inspired by the FLC. This is a
commendable method of creating change - by cultivating leadership, empowering
students to discern where they think help is needed, and providing them with
the support needed to reach out to others.
Sri Lanka Unites has a
clearly outlined vision and mission statement, booklets on conferences, and
post-conference media material. All of this helps to give us an idea of what
these students achieve and continue to achieve. However, I realized how much
more it can mean to anyone who is there in person. The enthusiasm and the
desire to create change is contagious. If you happen to be in the country at
the time of the conference please do visit and see for yourself. It is a
feeling that words cannot effectively capture.
Would you like to know
more about this organization? Would you like to support the youth of Sri Lanka
in this mission for hope and reconciliation? Please visit www.srilankaunites.org or email uk@srilankaunites.org (based in Sri Lanka) or sheyamij@hotmail.com (based in London).
Sheyami
Jayawardena
