Projects
Supported by 1We - Sri Lanka
A special mourning rehabilitation project
On 26th of December 2004 the tsunami in Asia promptly destroyed whole villages and cities. The devastating amount of water took hundreds of thousands of human lives. Shortly after, foreign aid arrived focussing on the reconstruction of the villages.
What did not receive any attention was the process of mourning of the local people. This is just as important as having a house to live in. This was reason enough for 1We project leader Jacqueline van Oostveen to start a mourning rehabilitation project in Sri Lanka. The mourning process exists of a museum with film material, a monument and a dining café with a shop. 
In the meantime the museum has been opened. The Dutch monk Ven Holland Sri Devarnitta Thera performed the official opening in the presence of the local population and a few foreign guests. According to Jacqueline the reactions are very positive. “Although I did believe in this idea from the start, it was exciting to see how it really would work out. I feel relieved and I conclude that my intuition at the time was right that it would be of importance to the locals. The inhabitants hope that the museum will remain for the next generation. On this basis further development is essential.”
Monument
The museum is run by the local family De Silva. Now that this has started they have more time to develop the second part of this project which is the monument to be a place to remember the victims. The temple situated next to it, ‘The Totagamuw Rathpath Raja Maha Viharaya’, has made a field available in Telwatta where the building can be recognised provided that enough money will be brought in. The advantage of this location is that the temple will take care of the maintenance and that the deceased will have a place of honour on this holy ground.
The special thing about this mourning project is that it consists of different parts which strengthen each other. Besides this the concept can be expanded to other regions of disaster. In this way it contributes to the emotional processing of gripping events in the life of underprivileged people in the whole world.
For more information please contact 1We - One World Experience in The Netherlands, +31(0)33-2858914 or .
