Sri Lanka, Eastern province:

Uniting Sri Lanka's divided children

Written by Anna Yeadell based on a story by Louise Williams, the Butterfly Peace Garden in the coastal town of Batticaloa brings together Muslim and Hindu Tamil children in an attempt to unite the divided community. It's an oasis of reconciliation and healing amidst ever-present ethnic tensions and gives a glimmer of hope to Sri Lanka's next generation.

In the coastal town of Batticaloa houses are hidden behind reinforced metal screens. Soldiers in helmets patrol every street corner combing the undergrowth for roadside bombs. At a roadside snack stand the radio is tuned to the Tamil radio station Shakti FM.

The latest news is of more killings on the main coast road last night. But across this busy road there's a bright sign - a lotus flower - painted on a gate to the Butterfly Peace Garden. Through the gates lies a world a million miles away from the insecurity and ethnic tensions.

Butterfly bus

The Butterfly Peace Garden was founded ten years ago to cater for the war-traumatized children of Batticaloa. It's a big outdoor space, with many different sections to explore: a raised wooden boat for storytelling, a shaded area for performance, many huge animals made of reeds, a dovecote - and any spare space left over is covered with displays of the children's artwork.

Three times a week the Butterfly Bus - a large white bus with butterflies on the outside - arrives with kids from nearby villages. The children - known as butterflies - are from Hindu Tamil as well as Muslim backgrounds, and they gradually get to know each other over the nine-month programme.

Founder Father Paul explains: "Some of the children who come into the garden have not seen a Muslim child, or a Tamil child. It's the first time they see children with that kind of difference in ethnicity and religion. The first impression can intimidate the child; [we're] very sensitive to that, gradually leading one child to the other child. It is from a distance at the beginning, but little by little, they interact with each other and leave as friends."

The Wolf and the Woodcutter

The focus at the Butterfly Peace Garden is on storytelling - through painting, music and group story telling sessions.

Forty children sit cross-legged, listening intently to a tale about a wolf and a woodcutter, whooping and screaming as the woodcutter tries to scare away the wolf.

Nearby on tables in the sunlight, children cut out shapes and paint them, make tambourines from bottle tops and reeds, and sing along with the leaders.

Each activity group is made up of children from each community - Tamil and Muslim. The project's artist in residence and co-founder of the peace garden is Paul Hogan. He says:

"Over time you see a lot of indicators of these kids getting together in different ways that they never would have before. For example, meeting on a bus - before, it was "I'm Muslim, you're Tamil, I sit here you sit there".

Now it's like 'Hi Butterfly', and they sit together. It's this connection with one another". Research carried out by the peace garden amongst children in the town shows that they have been badly affected by the war going on around them. Father Paul outlines the findings. "We found that 26 percent of the 11-12-year-olds were affected by post traumatic stress disorder. The other finding is that because of disappearance cases, they have not worked out their own grieving processes, because they have not been able to find the body. There's also depression.

But when you come into this garden the child is accepted here, is accompanied here, so there is an intense relationship, trust and security".

Tsunami

The Butterfly Peace Garden has put on operas, street parades and regular art shows. The project has also produced many books - collections of children's tales under the series title 'War Zone Fairy Tales'.

But the garden was dealt a huge challenge with the tsunami of 2004. Several children from the project died and many lost parents.

To deal with the extra needs of the children, a new project is being developed - called The Monkey's Tail - with specially trained staff known as Barefoot Counsellors. Dinesh is 18. Ten years ago he was one of the first children to attend the peace garden. Now he is back as a barefoot counsellor, after his village was badly affected by the tsunami.

"When I came here, in those days there were bombings and shootings. There was even domestic violence too. After the peace garden nine-month programme, I felt nourishment, my dream finally came true and the opportunity to come back came, and I want to share the same experience with the kids who were affected by the tsunami".

Non-religious rituals

The Monkey's Tail is using different resources to help the children affected by the tsunami. To put in place non-religious healing rituals, they looked to the beach for inspiration. Artistic director Paul Hogan explains what they found:

"A very small red seed with a tiny black dot, and a tiny white scallop. They take the shell in their left hand to their heart, it represents acceptance of what they've lost. And there was a lot of loss. We spent time together in silence. Then they brought the little red seed inside the shell and that represented that with whatever is left they would give their whole heart.

Then they buried that under a coconut tree, which means everything here, it's the mother".

Vulnerability

The last years have taken their toll; the combination of civil war with the tsunami has highlighted the vulnerability of this peace project. For artist in residence Paul Hogan, the tsunami has even become a metaphor.

"What can you dream after this tsunami,? We always try to work with continuity, the ground that we're on, but what we find is that the tsunami, the devastating impact of it, the huge impact of aid, and then the internecine conflict, this is the wave that we're caught in, the water that we're a swim in.

And we are not sure that we're going to surface that's the feeling".

Radio Netherlands