Sewalanka's Peace and Reconciliation Unit has produced a short film to highlight the activities of a youth group in Veloor, Trincomalee.

The video aims to document the work being carried out by the Veloor Sewa Peace Team to promote peace and non-violent communication between multi-ethnic youth and was created in partnership with the video production company ScriptNet.

The Veloor Sewa Peace Team is one of five peace teams established in the Trincomalee District in 2006 by Sewalanka Foundation under a tsunami rehabilitation project co-financed by ECHO and German Agro Action (GAA).

The teams initially supported Sewalanka to implement peace building and livelihood activities, but have since evolved and expanded their reach. At present these groups of 18 to 30 year olds are implementing their own creative peace building initiatives to build better cross-community relations.
Sewalanka Peace and Reconciliation Coordinator Mr Patrick Silvester said that the team has organised multi-ethnic cricket tournaments in 'no go areas' and shramadana (shared labour) initiatives to clean schools, Buddhist and Hindu temples and mosques.

"The team has initiated community development work and supported internally displaced persons from Muthur by building refugee camps and distributing food when violence escalated between the Sri Lankan military and the LTTE in mid 2006, Mr Silvester said.

“Over the past year, since becoming team members, the youth have developed a sense of pride and responsibility. Alcohol consumption amongst team members has decreased and members are showing more inter-cultural understanding and tolerance.

"The Sewa Peace Teams have played a significant role in improving the older village members' perception of young people, and the teams have gained great respect from their communities. Community officials and school authorities have showed a real interest in cooperating with the teams and creating new teams in other communities," he said.

The Peace Teams have proven to be a force of social innovation and reconciliation, creating highly constructive and socially responsible activities that offer hope and encouragement to others.

"Sewalanka will continue to support these teams as they develop their capacities to effectively design and initiate participatory and transformative initiatives towards peace within and between their communities," Mr Silvester said.

Sewalanka hopes the documentary about the Veloor Sewa Peace Team will help to initiate the formation of similar teams in other ethnically mixed districts such as Batticaloa and Ampara.

"We hope the movie helps other young Sri Lankans to overcome their resignation, apathy and sense of powerlessness and that it ultimately encourages them to support processes for stopping violence and building peace."