LOVE- Floods
January 2019 - A decade following the end of the civil war, the citizens of Sri Lanka are working on dismantling the ethnic and cultural barriers that existed between the Sinhala and Tamil communities on the island. While tensions still exist in some parts of the country, the island as a whole is moving forward in its journey toward peace and reconciliation, where a culture of trust and coexistence is being established between communities....
Beyond the Barriers of Language
I was born and raised in a predominantly Sinhalese Buddhist community in Galle in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka. In the MediaCorps Fellowship, I was partnered with a fellow Tamil journalist from Batticaloa who was much younger than me. During the five days training and few other moments we met in the field, we could identify the similarities and differences in our perspectives and tastes....
An Uphill Battle Won with MoJo
Tucked on top of towering mountains perpetually covered by a thick blanket of mist, every mundane task is an uphill battle in Nuwara Eliya. The main district in the central highlands of Sri Lanka, Nuwara Eliya is home to people of diverse cultures, majority of whom are engaged in tea, vegetable, fruit and fresh flower cultivation that grow comfortably and effortlessly in the cool climate. ...
Passing the Light
Flashback to August 2018, a group of people are on a pier in mid-day heat, waiting for the familiar sight of the ferry, their ‘moving bridge’ in place of a real one, which would take them to the other side of the river. There is impatience in their eyes, thinking about the chores they need to complete just across the river that for now remains a distant, unapproachable territory. ...
When ‘Stay Home’ Wasn’t an Option
Yamini Perera, a 26-year-old Project Coordinator with the Sri Lanka Development Journalist Forum returned to Sri Lanka following a meticulously planned dream vacation in the United Kingdom. A global pandemic forced her to retreat to a quarantine facility in Vavuniya. She recollects her unexpected and humbling experience....
Extraordinary Courage of an Ordinary Man
There is really no such thing as ’voiceless’. There are only the deliberately silenced or the preferentially unheard...
Make a voice – Speak up, Break the Silence & Ensure Justice!
January 2020 – In pursuit of achieving gender equality, women have often become the key focal point. Today, it merely tends to focus on how to empower women, how to remove barriers to include women and how to ensure that women have equal access to economic, health and other opportunities. On the contrary, gender equality should be achieved by transforming unequal power relations between men and women....
Elevating Women as Change Agents through MoJo
January 2020 - Women in Sri Lanka, whether young or adult, face intersecting disadvantages owing to gender, sexual identity, income and ethnic background. The perception and the reality of these elements have created a context of discrimination and grievance. On the other hand, the representation of women in Sri Lankan media has breached standards of ethical reporting as they tend to reinforce negative stereotypes. ...