Professionals Who Support Our Cause

“I personally believe that this is an invaluable humanitarian endeavour and initiative to be a constant source of support and strength to these survivors of the Easter Attacks in April 2019. The memories of their loved ones will never fade away for the survivors of this horrific attack, and it is such noble initiatives like the support group website that will create the opportunity for these survivors to have all the resources; both material and professional, available at this juncture and in their hour of need. So I hope all professionals and empathetic leaders will continue to support this invaluable initiative”.

- Ashan Malalasekera

Country Director Global Peace Institute Sri Lankan Chapter & Chairman Arinma Holdings

I would like to highlight that the development of close human relationships beyond the boundaries of countries has turned the world into a global village. The contribution of such relationships towards human development cannot be denied. Indeed, the success and the prosperity of mankind depend heavily on the strengthening of good qualities, and the upholding of humanity and brotherhood.
Communal clashes and other forms of Violent Extremism through generations have caused much harm to the harmonious co-existence of all communities and in particular to the national development in Sri Lanka. Its cost on property and the irretrievable cost on the loss of lives are unthinkable.

Today, there is deep suspicion, prejudice, resentment, and anger between the communities. Unless addressed, the hatred and incitement can turn to terror and violence anytime. Building moderation, toleration and coexistence is a monumental task.

Sri Lanka could come out stronger after the Easter Sunday tragedy. However, it is a journey, we all have to hold hands and walk together. If you have no friends across the religious and ethnic spectrum, we will live isolated lives. The religious and ethnic entrepreneurs who seek to divide us will win. To build social cohesion, all Sri Lankans should understand the gravity of the situation and should move forward under the theme of unity in diversity.

- Major Gen. Dharshana Hettiarrachchi

Commissioner General of Rehabilitation

The Survivors are the living witness of the terrible inhumane attack which destroyed our Sri Lankan brotherhood. I strongly believe they can become ambassadors of peace through our support by creating a platform to express their pain. Forgiveness does not mean forgetting or trying to bury the pain of the past , it means working together to correct the past experiences. As Sri Lankans this should be our top priority in the present context.

- Sheikh Arkam Nooramith

Islamic Scholar and Leader

The Foundation of Goodness has been supporting survivors in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday attacks, focused on addressing the numerous issues of the Zion Church in Batticaloa District that we undertook to ease their burden and pain of mind in a holistic manner which is hard to comprehend and did the best we could to help them regain a semblance of normalcy beyond six months, as per their specific needs.

In that context, to assist them in the long term is such a wholesome plan of action that we endorse wholeheartedly, empathizing with their unfortunate circumstances.

Many blessings towards this worthy endeavor to gather more support in seeing to their future wellbeing and happiness, which is the least we can do, humanely, to unite in serving mankind towards promoting the ideals of goodwill, peace and harmony.

- Kushil Gunasekera

Founder/ Chief Trustee - Foundation of Goodness

Sri Lanka Sumithrayo’s main objective is to prevent suicide in our beautiful country and alleviate feelings of distress and despair among people who are going through a crisis.

Most of the time survivors are forgotten in no time. Your effort to create this platform to share their grief and experiences of how they deal/ live with their loss and the ways in which they celebrate the life of their loved ones is praise worthy.

Though loss is a constant factor in our lives we hardly realize it. When we lose something very dear to us suddenly and in an unexpected manner it is very difficult to accept. It can be an agonizing journey towards acceptance and rebuilding. There is no magic formula to help anyone grieve easily. We all have to go through all the phases on our own and the time taken will be different. But it always helps when you talk about it to someone who can listen with care and respect. Someone who has time to listen.

We at Sri Lanka Sumithrayo had a special training session with Dr. Neil Fernando, soon after the Easter Attack, to train our volunteers to support the survivors. In our society we always talk about the victims but not the survivors.

I am extremely happy to give our support to you all for this project. Talking helps and listening heals. As long as there is life there is hope!

Sri Lanka Sumithrayo will be the bridge over troubled waters. We will be there always to help anyone in need.
With all our Best wishes.

- Kumudini de Silva

Chairperson Sri Lanka Sumithrayo

At the outset itself, please permit me to convey my appreciation and congratulations to you and your team for your courage and the sense of need to reach out and foster inter-communal healing. Your vision of creating a platform for healing through story telling and dialogue for those who were directly affected by the mayhem caused on Easter Sunday in 2019 is salutary.

You will face challenges in many forms; your achieving beneficial healing will need to develop, one step and one person at a time!
Unity Mission Trust is itself dedicated to fostering unity, integration, reconciliation and healing among youth from across Sri Lanka. Our work began during and then out of the civil war and is specifically aimed at building up mindsets of youth, to prevent any future wars of any kind that results in death and destruction.

In relation to the Easter Bombings, Unity Mission Trust is directly affected as one our own youth members, Mohamed Naleer, a Muslim youth from Vavuniya who was working and on duty at the Cinnamon Grand, being killed in the bomb blast at that Hotel. He was just another youth taking pride in his job and working to earn a salary to send to his parents who lived in the interior of Vavuniya.
The process of healing for all the Church based youth directly affected in one way or other through these Bomb explosions – and for all the others as well – is to be able through story telling and then healing, to gradually grow into becoming instruments of peace, of healing and of Christian love. The Christian love that needs to inspire them through their own grief and pain, is to focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, who while dying on the Cross, asked the Almighty to forgive all those who had tortured, harmed and crucified him. Healing will begin when one accepts that one’s own life can be used for the benefit of others, who are similarly affected and ultimately Sri Lanka itself, where hurt, anger , desperation, a sense of hopelessness is gradually replaced by a sense of purpose; a commitment; a desire to become a bridge of friendship and understanding; and to be an instrument of faith, hope, love and peace building.

Your platform can build and grow with time, to enable these youth, to turn and look outwards and to use their skills, energy, talents and strength to build up inter-communal harmony between youth of all of our communities, to make Sri Lanka more united and stronger as a Nation. Their effort is to take Sri Lankan society to a place where there is no room in society for youth to be espouse brutal terrorism of any kind, which then prevents the occurrence of different acts of hatred and killing from happening,
Your initiative, carried out by your group, provides one of the platforms that are needed for this special journey of love and dedication to take place.

Good luck and may the Almighty bless your teams efforts !

- Bertal Pinto-Jayawardena

Founder Trustee /Co-ordinator - Unity Mission Trust / Chairman Spectrum Trainers and Corporate Consultants Pvt Ltd

Let’s create Sri Lankans

On April 21, 2019, 264 Sri Lankans and foreigners were killed and 592 were maimed and injured. Many survivors live in pain, agony and sorrow. The greatest tribute we can pay to those we lost is to prevent the next attack. The strategy is to build a harmonious Sri Lanka by protecting its citizens from exclusivist ideologies from overseas. Both government and community leadership is at the heart of securing the religious, educational and digital space.

Community leadership is the first step to build that vital bridge. Moderation, toleration and coexistence does not happen naturally. It has to be created step by step by creating national schools and not segregated schools, introducing religious knowledge to madrasah and at mosque sermons emphasising the religious commonalities rather than the differences.

Do not blame government or national leaders – every citizen has to accept the responsibility and play his or her role. As individuals, we have to reach out and foster relations with other communities. Without social harmony, there is neither political stability nor economic prosperity. Sri Lanka can become a First World nation only if we build a policy and legal framework to maintain ethnic and religious harmony.

If there is real hatred between Sri Lankans, the police and military cannot stop a riot. Any incident between a Muslim and a Sinhalese or a Tamil and a Sinhalese, can lead to a communal clash.

A generation of community leaders failed in Sri Lanka to create the Sri Lankan community. They politicised and radicalized their communities for ethnic and religious votes. To build a beautiful Sri Lanka, we should raise a generation of beautiful Sri Lankans. Harnessing the dreams and the spirit of those we lost on Easter Sunday 2019, let’s provide that visionary, collective and decisive leadership.