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”

Commemoration of universal children’s day - 2008

Commemoration of universal children’s day was celebrated, on 1st October 2008 at the “Elephant Walk” grounds in Katugastota, Kandy. About 250 children of different races and religious participated in it from different parts of the District of Kandy and Matale. The aim and objective of this celebration was to instill in the children positive concepts on peace, cordiality and good-will. The programme included rhythmic songs and dances, short drama and magic show. All the participants enjoyed the day and benefited by the programme.


Over 135 children tool part in the children’s day programme in Nuwara Eliya District. It was in the form of an exposure programme. The children visited Ambewela and Hatton and the children were very happy. The animators of Nuwara Eliya Distirct attached to Setik accompanied the children.

These two programmes were organized by the children’s unit of “Setik”.