Interview with the Founder Q : What made you think of a Centre for Coexistence? A : When I returned to Sri Lanka in 2002 the war between the Government and the LTTE was under a ceasefire agreement. At this time I took up the opportunity of visiting the Eastern Province and witnessed how war had affected all communities, Muslim, Sinhala, Tamil. It was then that I decided to start the Foundation for Co-Existence, whose mandate was the promotion of coexistence in those communities. The Sahajeevana Centre then became a cultural and complementary centre to promote coexistence through a collection of documents, videos and DVDs, photographs, books, and through running exhibitions and events. I was inspired to set up the Sahajeevana Centre after visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington and other Peace Centres in different parts of Europe. Q: Why does Sri Lanka need a Centre for Coexistence? A: We need a centre for coexistence because we have to sustain the fragile trust amongst the communities in Sri Lanka. We need to have a centre which inspires people to see the value of coexistence. We need to promote, through the Centre, a historical memory of human folly, and also to record the depth of spiritual, religious and coexistence that has been the basis of human civilization. Q: Why are you starting up a centre in the midst of a conflict? A: It is not usual to set up a centre in the midst of an ongoing war, but I feel that the Sahajeevana Centre can play an important role in raising awareness of the evolution of the conflict through photographic exhibitions, lectures, seminars and also to present inspirational exhibitions of great peace makers such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and many others. Q: Is this a Government funded initiative? A: Not at the moment. I think that we will primarily rely on private funding since we do not want the impartiality of the Centre to be questioned due to one side of the conflict providing support for this initiative. Q: What does 'Sahajeevana' mean? A: Sahajeevana means in Sanskrit 'the dynamics of living together', to learn that coexistence means to recognise difference. It means that it is the differences amongst communities which make for the vividness and multiplicity of identities. Q: Why are you launching this website? A: We have over 1.2 million people living in the diaspora (Sri Lankans living abroad) who have in some way been touched by the conflict. We have also a younger generation in the country that has lost the memory of this conflict. Perhaps they do not want to know, or feel it is best forgotten? Q: Who do you hope will visit the website? A: We hope it will be visited by Sri Lankans living in Sri Lanka, particularly in schools and educational establishments and we will try to have a distance learning course with schools in the future. We also hope it will attract the diaspora, the majority of whom left the country scarred by the violence of the conflict. We especially hope to attract a younger generation who may not have an understanding or experience of the conflict in Sri Lanka. Another group is 'Friends of Sri Lanka' who have either visited the country as tourists or those who have developed enduring relationships with people here. We also hope numerous Sri Lankan associations will visit the website such as business associations, and Old Boys and Girls Associations in the UK, US, Australia and Canada. Q: What impact do you hope the Centre and the website will have on visitors? A: We hope visitors will find it useful to learn about the history of the conflict and the efforts made by people to work towards coexistence, reconciliation and peace. We hope it will inspire people to look at role models through the Peace Makers section. We hope our young visitors, through taking part in quizzes and through having the opportunity to contribute to the site, will feel involved in the peace efforts and will learn from the past in order to build a better future for Sri Lanka. Q: What message do you want to give to anyone visiting this site? A: We hope that you will recommend the site to others. We hope that you will place a donation and get others to do the same. These donations will not only contribute to the Sahajeevana Centre's work in Colombo and across the districts of Sri Lanka, but also we hope they will contribute towards building a permanent centre for Sri Lanka (currently we are in a rented property). This Centre will be owned by Sri Lankans and will have a clear message of coexistence and peace for the country for many years to come.