Today we were at St. Sebastian's Church at Kandana at 8.30 am. As agreed upon on a previous occasion, the Parish Priest after mass invited us to speak to the faithful on the conditions of the displaced people in Wanni.
Fr. Anton Jayananda explained to the people what the response of the Christian community ought to be at a moment like this. People responded very positively. Handbills were distributed to create awareness in the public on the situation in Wanni.
I should say that the Parsih Priest was very cooperative. We could clearly observe that he was thoroughly convinced that the people's lives in Wanni has to be supported and people's lives should not be misled by the falsehood spread through the media.
I hope those who read the handbill will realize that war can only destroy lives of thousands and only a political solution will save their lives. Unfortunately the political leadership in our country has failed to realize this for 60 long years. How many more years the Tamils will have to wait for a solution.
On the same day a similar collection and distribution of handbills were done in two places in the parish of Hapugoda. Being a Sunday many members of the clergy could not participate in this event. We expect a higher number will join on Friday at Jaela and Saturday in Negombo.
After mass the CSM about 20 activists from Negombo and Jaela walked from the Church premises to Kandana market place and received people's contribution. I was amazed to see the goodwill of the people. One activist reported that one person who came to buy medicines gave away whatever he had. I watching one lady who came to the market (not the super market) putting two thousand note to till. Some very poor contributed 10 or 20 rupee notes very generously. The good will of the people was amazing. When the activists again and again reported that it was the poor who contributed most, Fr. Anton remarked, 'People are generally ready to contribute to a worthy cause and we have to touch their hearts.'
In fact some of the activists were standing with their banners and holding the tills for one hour in the hot sun. I observed among them three mothers holding their babies in their arms and another two were pregnant women. The good will of these people has to be appreciated. At 11 o'clock when about to leave I suggested that they all have a cup of tea. Every body refused and said they can have it at home. Then while I was walking to the bus halt one man was running towards me and I thought he was nearing me to oppose us or abuse us but he offered Rs. 50 for the cause.
Although we expected some negative response from the public, there was only one disheartening incident, where one of the activists was abused by an angry man who disliked our good deed. Otherwise, there was much cooperation from the general public. Altogether about 30 participated in this activity.
Fr. Sarath Iddamalgoda.
