This last February I had the great prilvege of going to Sri Lanka, a small island country located just south of India. Sri Lanka was devasted by the tsunami that hit that region of the world in December. I was chosen to join an international delegation of play therapists who were tasked with encouraging kids and families through play, teaching coping skills and offering hope for the future to people who had lost so much.
This week I have read with a heavy heart many reports that indicate that Sri Lanka is heading back to a time of war. The Tamil people in the north and east had been in battle with the majority people, the Singalese, for over twenty years. In 2001, a tentative cease-fire was reached between the groups. The fragility of that truce seems to be crumbling now.
It is easy for us here to brush over newspaper articles or ignore news reports (if there are any) about countries like Sri Lanka, Sudan or Afghanistan, especially if it is an internal battle being waged. Now for me there are faces and names and friends and memories that accompany the reports out of Sri Lanka. Those beautiful people (their smiles are amazing) were so hurt by the betrayal of the sea; they lost so much in possessions, jobs, family, friends, homes, school and security. Now to face war on top of that recovery. It must seem like too much to many. It is too much.
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