The Annual Report for 2022 presented by ECSAT ... with some of the photographs attached to this report & highlighting emphasis imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
An Award in 2022: The Programme Director Roshan Samarawickrama is seen receiving the award on behalf of ECSAT for The Best Skill Development Centre for Children with Disabilities in Sri Lankafrom the State Minister of Primary Health Care Dr. Sudarshani Fernandopulle. After 16 years ECSAT received this recognition which added great value to the reputation of the organisation.
Dennis B. McGilvray, in India Review 5(2-3) November 2006, special issue on public anthropology, …. where the title reads “Tsunami and Civil War in Sri Lanka: An Anthropologist Confronts the Real World” …. with highlighting in different colours imposed by the Editor, Thuppahi
Recent calls for a new “public anthropology” to promote greater visibility for ethnographic research in the eyes of the press and the general public, and to bolster the courage of anthropologists to address urgent issues of the day, are laudable although probably too hopeful as well. Yet, while public anthropology could certainly be more salient in American life, it already exists in parts of the world such as Sri Lanka where social change, ethnic conflict, and natural catastrophe have unavoidably altered the local context of ethnographic fieldwork. Much of the anthropology of Sri Lanka in the last three decades would have to count as “public” scholarship, because it has been forced to address the contemporary realities of labor migration, religious politics, the global economy, and the rise of violent ethno-nationalist movements. As a long-term observer of the Tamil-speaking Hindu and Muslim communities in Sri Lanka’s eastern coastal region, I have always been attracted to the classic anthropological issues of caste, popular religion, and matrilineal kinship. However, in the wake of the civil wars for Tamil Eelam and the 2004 tsunami disaster, I have been forced to confront (somewhat uneasily) a fundamentally altered fieldwork situation.This gives my current work a stronger flavor of public anthropology, while providing an opportunity for me to trace older matrilocal family patterns and Hindu-Muslim religious traditions under radically changed conditions.
The Dutch Burgher Union’s ‘home’ with a restaurant, bar, billaird tables and meeting rooms has been located centrally in Colombo for over a century at the junction of Bauddhaloka Mawatha (ake Buller’s Rd) and Havelock Rd running south-north across colombo — and thus withina sotone’strow of many faciltiees including the University of colombo, Nomads cricket ground, the SL braodcasting Corporation, Archives, et cetera. I have used it as a meeting spot often and in mid-September 2020 held a THANK YOU party for friends and relatives who had sustained me over a five-month covid-informed stay in Lanka.
So, its is a delight to feature its further growth in pictorial form…. Michael Roberts
Dear Sri Lankan diaspora friends and wider friends and supporters of Sri Lanka
I ask you to please seriously consider , and further distribute to potentially interested others, two matters:
1) FOR SRI LANKA DIASPORA MEMBERS ONLY – A CALL TO ASSIST SRI LANKA AT THIS TIME OF URGENT NEED THROUGH REMOTE USE OF YOUR AND SRI LANKAN COLLEAGUES’ SKILLS . Full details are immediately below..
2) AN INVITATION TO ATTEND AND SUPPORT A MELBOURNE-BASED FAMILY FUN DAY , INCLUDING GAMES AND SPORTS, ON NOVEMBER 13 , THIS IS ALSO AN OPPORTUNITY TO HEAR FIRST HAND FROM BRIDGING LANKA’S JEREMY LIYANAGE OF THE SITUATION IN SRI LANKA AND HOW BRIDGING LANKA IS WORKING TO SUPPORT THE PEOPLE OF MANNAR , IN NORTH WEST SRI LANKA., YOU CAN ALSO MEET LAFIR MOHAMED, AUSTRALIAN VOLUNTEERS’ PROGRAM MANAGER FOR SRI LANKA
Video and Editing by Jeremy Partyka. Made in conjunction w/ final paper for my Independent Study Project during ISLE Fall 2017 🙂 Special shoutout to all the helpful lighthouse staff and locals who assisted me with my project!
.… with still shots of the newer lighthouse at Galle Fort located at its south-eastern corner provided by a person born and bred in the Fort and familair with its beaches and ramparts, one Michael Roberts … and with several of the images being refined for Thuppahi by David Sansoni of Sydney
The tale of the lifeworld of Charles Braine (1877-1944) in British Ceylon presented by one of his descendants https://thuppahis.com/2022/09/21/charles-s-braine-a-rajah-of-a-planter-in-british-ceylon/ generated a side-issue: sex and/or marriage between the British personnel managing the tea, rubber and coconut plantations in British Ceylon and the labour force they commanded. The inequalities in power placed unequal sexual advantages for the planter periya dorais …. and illicit children were one outcome in some instances – a process that probably continued into the second third of the 20th century when Sri Lankans of upper-crust status with an educational background in the best local schools began to gain entry to planter-jobs.
Unlike some of his compatriots, the Englishman Charles Braine kept house with his common-law Sinhalese wife, Engracia Nona: together they fostered and educated a lively family of nine children.
Interest in this tale and comments from Joe Paiva and Errol Fernando led me to two topics of some consequence: (A) the presence in the island of an ethnic category identified as “Eurasians” as distinct from the Burghers;** and (B) the endearing and enduring work of an orphanage known as the Evelyn Nursery that had been launched by a British lady with a large heart that was matched by her architectural and organisational skill: Ms Lena Chapman ( ….).
Gerald H. Peiris, whose chosen title was “The Corona Pandemic in Kandy District: A Critique of Responses”
This article presents a grass-roots perspective, empirical in content, on the efforts to counteract the Covid-19 in the highland District of Kandy, set against information extracted from several published sources. As a guide to the sequence in this narrative I should explain that it begins with some introductory notes on the Corona pandemic and on Kandy District, proceeds to sketch the edifying experiences such as the guidance bestowed on people by their religious leadership, the priority accorded by the government on the management of affairs from perspectives of health-care, the selfless commitment of those on whom arduous responsibilities of implementing policy decisions and prescribed strategies, and, in general, the commendable level of successes achieved through the related efforts. Thereafter I focus on the disappointments and the occasional errors of judgement, the sporadic scenarios of prejudice and confusion, and the looming uncertainties. There are significant lessons that could be drawn from both these sets of experiences.
Most people that I know, came to Galle Face on a weekend, waved the National Flag and shouted a few catchy slogans to cleanse their souls, took selfies and went home for a warm shower, had dinner and went to sleep, thinking that they had taken part in some heroic and historic act of Aragalaya.
Dear Friends and Family, Pastor Sivarajasingham Jeyaraj was originally a communicant member of the JDCSI Tellippalai Church (1983-1987) and later at the JDCSI Colombo Church (1987-1991) while I served these churches as the Priest-in-Charge. He was equally involved both in our Churches’ ministries as well as that of Youth For Christ (YFC). He was gifted in theatrical skills, deeply committed to serve the most vulnerable, pursued theological studies at Colombo Theological Seminary in Nugegoda (CTS). He displayed Pastoral Leadership skills with a sound and practical theology in his ministries.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to give urgent material assistance to Sri Lanka to alleviate the economic crisis in that country.
The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon) (Con):
My Lords, we are closely monitoring the humanitarian and economic situation in Sri Lanka. The United Kingdom provides assistance to organisations in both these areas in Sri Lanka, including through the Red Cross and the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund; the UN Central Emergency Response Fund, CERF; the World Bank; and the Asian Development Bank. We have offered to support a key role in the UN on humanitarian co-ordination. This is in addition to our existing £11.3 million CSSF programme funding focused on addressing the legacy of conflict.
An Award in 2022: The Programme Director Roshan Samarawickrama is seen receiving the award on behalf of ECSAT for The Best Skill Development Centre for Children with Disabilities in Sri Lanka from the State Minister of Primary Health Care Dr. Sudarshani Fernandopulle. After 16 years ECSAT received this recognition which added great value to the reputation of the organisation.
