Information Overload

It was another big day of using the old noggin. We started out learning the history of conflict in SL with a Tamil doctor of economics. He explained how the root of the conflict began, so to make a long & complicated history short, when the Brits gave the Tamil minority a benefit over the Sinhalese with having the first University in the North. When the Brits left, the Sinhalese majority fought back by making Sinhala the official language of the country. The conflict began with this and escalated, with various issues over the years, but the conflict was non-violent.
In that last 25 years they have been given weapons, mostly from Russia, Chec, and China, which has converted conflict into a war.
About 30% of the Tamils in the North support the LTTE, but these are not educated people and those who are educated are too busy to campaign against the LTTE. Also, Dr. Muttukrishna said that if someone like he was to attempt to speak out against them, he would likely be killed. Those that support the LTTE, ie. in Toronto & London, have a lot of $ and it is too difficult for these host countries to track down the funds being sent to future LTTE leaders. And, of course, there is major political gain from these groups.
Next we learned about the situation of women from a lady named Sumi. Domestic violence in the home has increased in the last years, in large part due to the war. Apparently women in the north, where WUSC has an office, think it is ok that their husbands beat them because they think, living in the middle of a war zone, they are just lucky to be alive.
The dowery issues also exist among the majority, but if a women does not have a big enough dowry here she is not murdered by her husband like she might be in India- she instead will subscribe to torment from her husband and his family for the rest of her life. It is this kind of mental violence which is most common here and is what the WDC (where Andy, Heather & Patrick will work for) that tries to remedy some of this by empowering women and educating men.
The last part of the day Harshani told us the do`s and don`ts of traveling in SL, a lot of it being just common sense about any travel experience outside your own cultural experience.
We also walked to and from the office for our first time, to gain practice on walking in the streets here. We did pretty well I think because everyone at the office was expecting one of us to get hit but the unpredictable traffic (I am talking people are inventing lanes and three wheelers are literally scraping paint off other cars as they weave in and out)- it is the craziest driving I think I`ve ever seen but nothing could really surprise me these days.
On the way home we stopped at a few shops and I bought some shirts- they were all like 5 bucks (so cheap!!!) and they cover my shoulder so that I am prepared when I get outside the city. I still haven`t got a sari but I plan to because it makes people feel more comfortable with you which will be important at the office because I won`t have much time to break the ice which usually takes about 6 months from what I hear. Oh well, everyone keep saying the people at my office are great women and they know English but are just shy with it.
Oh ya, and the place I am staying is the same place that Viv (the old volunteer I`ve been in contact with) stayed- a loft with a couple in their 30`s who are supposed to be so fantastic- willing to take me places and gracious with dinner invitations! I bet I know what they`ll serve...