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by Vimukthi Fernando

As the country prepares itself for peace, a children's peace procession and rally will be held in Batticaloa next Saturday. Students from 25 schools in the Batticaloa area are expected to join hands with 500 children from the Butterfly Peace Garden of Batticaloa at a colourful parade, promoting the message of healing, peace-making and community reconciliation, a spokesman from the organising committee told 'Sunday Observer'.

The procession starting from the Butterfly Peace Garden will parade through Cecilia's Street, Govinthan Road, Munai Road, Main Street, Lloyd's Avenue and Arunagiri Lane up to Trincomalee Road and return to the Garden through Bar Road, Main Street, Central Road and Notary's Road. About 25, non-governmental organisations, international as well as community based, are also expected to participate in this parade.

The procession will also mark five years of peace building and reconciliation amongst the three different communities, by the Butterfly Peace Garden of Batticaloa, said the spokesman. More than 13,500 children aged between six and sixteen years, have benefited from the various trauma alleviation and reconciliation programs conducted by the Garden. Our objective is to "extend our hands to the community, now that peace times are expected any moment", he added hopefully, noting that their work so far "had been directed only towards children".

The Garden's main program serves 150 children throughout the Batticaloa area, at a time. These children visit the Garden once a week for a period of nine months and engage themselves in various activities such as painting, story telling, song, dance, drama, movement, poetry, puppetry, percussion, song-writing, costume making, sculpture and many more, which help in their healing, peace-making and community reconciliation process. Nearly a 1,000 children have followed this program since its inception in September 1996.

An exhibition, "Blessing way of the painted dove", a collective show of paintings, sculpture and other works of art will also be held at the Garden, for a week commencing June 30 (Sunday) to coincide with the event.

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