Training Programme on Social Development

In order to develop talents, attitudes and knowledge about the social development of the community leaders in rural plantation sectors, a training programme was held in Baptist Church, Matale on 19th September 2009.

This programme was organized and conducted by the SET (Safe Environment in Tea Estates) project staff of SETIK with the courtesy of CRS. This programme will conduct quarterly.
On 19-09-2009 we conducted the first session of this programme with the participation of 45 community leaders under the theme of ‘Community Leadership & Leadership Aspects’.

The opening session held on 19th September 2009 with the participation of 45 community leaders.

Helping hands for our brothers and sisters in the war affected areas in Sri Lanka

The major challenge for Sri Lanka after the war; is providing meals, sanitation and shelter for the displaced people in the war affected areas.

SETIK was given an opportunity to carry this mission with the blessings and the fullest support of Rt. Rev. Dr. Vianney Fernando - the Bishop of Kandy. With the help of all the Parish Priests and religious Sisters and civil people of the Diocese of Kandy, Setik collected dry rations, medicines and cash donations to support this affected people.

The Director of Setik - Rev. Fr. Camillus Jansz took the initiative to collect these items and cash from the donors of the Central Province and finally collected dray rations and cash donations wroth of Rs. 10,500,000.00. On 12th June 2009 the collected items and cash were handed over to the Sedec (Caritas Sri Lanka) and they took the responsibility to distribute them among suffering people.

We express our sincere gratitude to the Bishop of Kandy - who was always guiding us for all our good work at Setik. Meantime we thank all the Parish Priests, religious Sisters and for the civil people who encouraged us, contributing towards this humanitarian assistance.

Commemoration of World Day Against Child Labour - 2009

Setik organized an education programme to commemorate the World Day Against Child Labour on 13th June 2009 in Hatton.

This is a burning issue which is taking place in rural villages and in the plantation sector of the Central Province of Sri Lanka. Poor economic condition and parents un- education in rural areas and in the plantation sector are main reasons for this problem.

Our main objective of organizing this programme was to rescue the children from child labour and educate them on the importance of education. This programme was comprised with a street drama, a peaceful rally, a seminar and distribution of hand bills.

The street drama held at the public bus stand of Hatton and made the people aware about the issues of child labour and its negative outcome. The feed back of the viewers were very positive. The peace rally took place from Hatton town to St. Bosco College and the children carried posters and banners exhibiting the issues of child labour. The seminar started at St. Bosco College which was conducted by Mr. Manisekaram - the Coordinator of the Plantation Community Project. There were more than 100 children participate at the seminar and the participated children were given an opportunity to express their ideas on this issue.

“Wesak” Mal Dansala - 2009 -Free Distribution of Flowers

“Wesak” day is a very important religious festival for all the Buddhists in Sri Lanka and all over the world. Every year we continuously conduct “Mal Dansala” (Free distribution of flowers for the worshipers). In this year it was held on 8th May 2009 in “Aluviharaya Rajamaha Temple” in the district of Matale. Every Poya day, Buddhist people of all over the country use to come to this ancient temple and do their spiritual activities.

Youth groups of our different fields were more generous to find out very beautiful lotus flowers to distribute among the people. We were happy to note that more than 7000 flowers were distributed on that day.

Rev. Fr. Desmond Perera - Coordinator of the Mtale district, members of Setik staff and volunteers of you youth groups participated at this programme and we are fortunate to have the media coverage of Sri Lanka Rupawahini Corporation and telecasted the programme on 9th May 2009.

May Day Celebration - 2009

International May Day celebration was organized by Setik, Kandy at Nuwara Eliya District on 1st May 2009. It is very important to note that this time, the methodology that we used to highlight the labour rights was a street drama. Advocacy and lobby is not easy within the present context. But we understood that we should use a different method to educate civil society and to make their voice for their rights.

The street drama was played, in several public places in Nuwara Eliya district. There were good crowd in Nuwara Eliya, Nanu Oya, Talawakelle and Hatton. The main message which was given to the people was the discrimination of their authorities and politicians who represent them and how they can over come by themselves.

In this occasion leaflets were distributed among the people and banners were exhibited in major towns of the Central Province to convey the message to the society.

The food back which we received form the audience on the spot was very important and they said this is a very practical way to express burning issues in this present context. Plantation workers expressed their ideas saying that this was an opportunity for them to understand matters pertaining to their labour hood.

Exposure Programme

In Sri Lanka the main reason for the violation of human rights is multi cultural differences. To build up co-existence between inter religious and inter racial groups in the present society we organized three days exposure programme, to Trincomalee on 25th , 26th and 27th March 2009. We organized this programme together with EHED - Caritas Trincomalee.

The members of our Human Rights supporting committee participated for this programme. Our group got the opportunity to visit ancient religious places in Trincomalee district such as Koneshvaram Hindu Kovil, Nilaweli Raja Maha Viharaya, Sambathiew Amman Kovil and Weligama Raja Maha Viharaya.

Tamil and Muslim cultural events were organized and presented by the people of Trincomalee. After that our group members had the opportunity to visit some of the houses of the people in Trincomalee and shared the experience and discussed about the problems and challenges that they face in their day today life.

They other main event that we had was the peoples forum which we built up with the help of God Bey and China Bey people. Through this event we came to know that the people of these villages face security problem and they could not do their livelihood activities due to the un-secure situation of the area.

New Year Celebration 2009

Sri Lankans celebrates Sinhala and Hindu New Year in the month of April in each year as one of their traditional celebrations. Peace unit of Setik also organize New Year celebrations in each year in different fields in the Central Province. This year Setik organized this celebration in the Estate of Mowbrey in the district of Kandy and it was held on 18th April 2009.

The theme of the programme was “Equal Rights for each and everybody”. The main objective of this programme was to build up a better relationship among the Sinhalees and the Tamils. The programme commenced after hoisting of the national flag. The flags of Buddhist and Hindu were hoisted by the religious leaders. There were about 500 participants of Sinhalees, Tamils and Muslims.

We organized several traditional games for the participants. At this occasion children, youths and elders including males and females actively and happily participated at the games. While the programme was going on, a group of children presented some Hindu traditional cultural events and it made the programme more beautiful.

Rev. Fr. Camillus D. Jansz - the Director of Setik was the chief gust for the programme and he presented the gifts for winners of the games. We realized that all the participants involved at this programme with a great team spirit. Once of the main result that we achieved by celebrating this event was togetherness and respect each other by partaking these games.

International Women’s Day - 2009

SETIK-Kandy commemorates the International Women’s Day on 7th of March 2009 at the Hatton Setik Centre. The theme of the celebration was “Let us Protect Her as our own Mother”. We organized this programme to ensure the rights of women to protect and promote their dignity without discrimination. There were about 475 participants took place at the programme.

The programme started after the sticker campaign which was done by the youth groups of our fields. Introductory address was given by Rev. Fr. George Sigamoney, and he explained about the issues related to violation of women’s rights. In his speech he highlighted the social, economic, political and cultural issues which women face in their day today life.

Our Guest Speakers for the programme were Mrs. Rathnasamy - Assistant Director of Zonal Education in Hatton and Mrs. Suranji Wijenayaka- Att-at-Law. They made their keynotes about the issues of the plantation women such as abortion, less literacy rate in the plantation women, domestic violence and child labour in both Tamil and Sinhala mediums.

After the sessions a common discussion session took place at the programme to get the feed back from the participants and to forward their questions. After the discussion session two women from the plantation sector and rural sector address the audience by sharing their experience with their day today life routine. The programme concluded with an entertainment by a group of women.

National Independence Day Celebration

Setik- Kandy celebrates the National Independence day on 4th February 2009. As we expected to give the opportunity to the people who are unable to participate from the remote areas of the Central Province; this year celebration was held at Youth Training Centre in Innamaluwa- Dambulla. Around 700 people participated at this event from the districts of Matale, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya.

The programme started after hoisting the National Flag along with four religious flags by the religious leaders. In the programme inter religious and inter ethnic cultural presentations included since we always try to build a better relationship among all the ethnic groups. Rev. Fr. Camillus Janz from Setik Institution and Rev. Fr. Desmond Perera-The Parish Priest of Innamaluwa Parish presented at the programme.

A drama and cultural items were presented by youth groups of our fields to highlight the importance of the inter ethnic and inter religious relationship, peace and solidarity. Rev. Fr. Camillus Janz gave the introductory speech and the special guest speech was delivered by Mr. Samanatha Ekanayake - Lecturer of Sociology Department, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka from Sinhala medium and Mr. A. C. S. Crooz from Tamil medium on the theme “Socio-economic issues caused for the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka”.

Youth Camp and the Shramadana Campaign

The Youth Unit of Setik together with the Diocesan Youth Apostolate organized a camp for youth from 28th February to 1st March 2009 which was held in Bogowanthalawa. Our main objective of organizing this programme was to enlighten the youth on their social responsibilities.

The programme was opened by Rev. Fr. George Sigamoney - Director of Setik, Rev. Fr. Camillus Janz, Rev. Fr. Desmond Perera - Diocesan Youth Apostolate Coordinator, Rev. Fr. Roy Clarence - Diocesan Director of the Migrant Commission and Rev. Fr. Lakmal Perera - Coordinator for Setik in Nuwara Eliya District. There were 260 participants from the fields where Setik activities are implemented and from the parish youth groups. On the first day three sessions were held to enable the youth to understand themselves; Who they are? What are their responsibilities in the present context?. After the session those present were divided into groups for discussions and sharing of experiences.

A Shramadana compaign was organized on the second day to clean the environment of four hospitals in the district of Nuwaraeliya. All the participants actively involved themselves in this activity and gave their fullest cooperation to clean the area.
To see more photoes: http://www.flickr.com/photos/setik-kandy/

International Human Rights Day

International Human Rights Day was held on 10th December 2008 at Ambagamuwa Divisional Secretariat office. The programme was organized by Setik Human Rights Unit in coordination with the divisional secretariat of Ambagamuwa. The main aim of this programme was to obtain the birth certificates, national identity cards and other relevant documents of the tea plantation people in the district of Nuwara Eliya. The tea plantation people have to face lots of hardships in obtaining the above said documents to get the citizenship. During this programme we completed the relevant documents and prepared separate files for each individual who don’t have the above mentioned documents. Meantime we were able to issue 68 birth certificates on the spot for 68 people since they were able to provide us all the relevant documents. Meantime 24 people were registered and 14 birth certificates were amended and provided to the relevant persons.

During this programme an art exhibition on human rights violations and children’s rights, was organized for school children. 365 children took part at the art exhibition and 100 certificates were given for the selected arts.

Exhibiting of cutouts on domestic violence, police torture, child labour and migration issues were also took place during the programme. A sticker campaign was carried and 4000 stickers were distributed during this day under the theme “Human dignity and justice for all of us”