Melani Manel Perera

The Ella Model School in Bandarawela offers this experience. This is “a great way to teach students’” said project manager Nandika Sirisena. Some garden beds were set up near classrooms with flowers and vegetables. “The proceeds went to the School Development Committee,” the school principal said. Students “really like this project, which does not interfere with their study,” some teachers said.

The lack of rain has hit eight of Sri Lanka’s nine provinces, affecting more than a million people. Reservoirs and farmland have dried up. Electricity is in short supply. The authorities are providing water but the need is huge.

"We must overcome violence," said the Venerable Yatawatte Ganarama Thero. "We bless and appreciate the action taken by the Catholic Church to promote interfaith coexistence,” said Muslim representative Abdhul Rahuman. "The challenge for us today is to build a peaceful country," said Father Lawrence Ramanayake, director of Seth Sarana-Caritas Colombo.

Surviving an attack in which his bodyguard died, the judge offers to care for his two children. The country is struck by such generosity since the judge is Tamil and the security officer was Buddhist. At the funeral, the judge knelt in front of the widow.

Students at the Holy Family Convent school expressed their closeness to flood victims in the Southern Province and war victims in the Northern Province, visiting them and bringing them food and clothing.

The event is scheduled from July 30 to August 6 in Jogyakarta, on Indonesia's Java Island. No diocese is able to pay travel and formation expenses. Cultural programs and shows to raise funds for the next World Youth Day.

NGOs, some foreign governments, and civil society are pressing for it to become operational as soon as possible. For Amnesty International, "comforting words must be followed by firm action. Only justice can heal the wounds of the Srilankans ". Fernando Brito: "Muslims, Sinhalese and Tamil disappeared without distinction, and all of them had the right to live."

Discussions are underway in Sri Lanka over changes to the 1978 constitution. Ranil Wikremasinghe tried to reassure some 70 Buddhist monks who made serious threats. For Anglican clergyman, “The ideal would be to separate state and religion." For Muslim leader in Colombo, “it is political drama”.

The capital region is the most affected area. Mosquito breeding has been made worse by heavy rains. Colombo's archbishop called for “acts of fasting and penance in expiation for our weaknesses and sins."

The Colombo Port City project has weakened the country so much that it has lost some of its sovereignty. The island nation is a major component of Beijing’s ‘One belt, one road’ strategy. Development plans fail to listen to people's voices.

Today is World Refugee Day. Sri Lanka hosts 604 refugees in Sri Lanka with another 576 applying for recognition. The government does not guarantee the right to housing, food, education, medical care and does not provide opportunities for legal employment.

The ceremony at the place where a sugar factory is planned. Buddhist rituals were attended by 1,500 people, as well as monks, environmentalists and politicians. The motto is "Every animal is sacred, every tree is sacred". The trees lined with the orange tunic of the monks.