On 13. and 14. April all of Sri Lanka celebrated the beginning of the New Year. Usually, only Singhalese people organise public events with games and other activities. However, this year in Monaragala - one of the eight villages where SAD is active with its project “Sport and Play for Interethnic Dialogue among Children and Youth in Sri Lanka” - the festival was different. For the first time, Singhalese and Tamils celebrated the day together in a peaceful and relaxed atmosphere. More then 2000 people of all eight villages came together, thanks in part to the whole event being held in both the Singhalese and Tamil languages. The invited government representatives were astonished that such a collaborative and inclusive event was possible where even rival political parties were present.

The merit for all this goes to SAD’s local project partner “Future Peace”. For one year this non-governmental organisation has worked with the assistance of SAD on a programme to establish trust and understanding among children and parents of different ethnic and religious groups in eight villages. To achieve this, local coaches are taught to organise sport and play activities for children and youngsters. In the games and activities the children learn how to deal with conflict and differences without violence. These activities bring children together that have lived side by side but until now have never played together because they and their parents don’t trust one another. They now have the opportunity to get to know each other by name and learn about fair play and respecting the adversary.

The sport and play activities serve as an entry point to the whole community. One aim of the project is for the experiences of the children to also affect the parents. The successful New Year festival demonstrates this: parents of all ethnic end religious groups helped with the preparations of the event. More collaborative and co-organised events are planned while some neighbouring villages have already asked if they can join the SAD-project.