Christian Social Movements in former Ceylon

GENEVIEW HAPUARACHY-MADAWALA

(FORMER YOUNG CHRISTIAN STUDENT):

POOR PEOPLE HAVE A DIGNITY!

"In 1958, when I was fifteen, I joined the Young Christian Stu­dents movement. There was a devast­ating flood then in Sri Lanka. The small group of Young Christian Students had a raffle in our school: they were trying to collect money to help the people. One of them asked me to help.

I thought it was just a do-good movement, where you try to help people in need. But when I got really involved, I found that it was more than that. We made people aware of their Christian responsibili­ty. We also got people aware of situati­ons and doing what they can for the community.

At the beginning, of course, we mainly helped students. Some of them used to come to school without proper meal or books or other things to do their studies. We collec­ted things from the students and gave others a proper meal in the after­noon. We were very keen on seeing that no one else knew that these students were being helped.

We were very consci­ous of not making people feel small. We thought that they had a dignity and that it was not enough just to help them with the meal: we had to see what we could do to change the situati­on and we became friends with poor peop­le. Of course, as students, it was very diffi­cult to change the situa­tion.

My whole life was reshaped by the Young Christian Students movement. I came from a poor family. Normally the whole idea would have been: passing exams and get­ting some high position. I was supposed to be an intel­ligent girl who could go very far in my academic studies. Instead I left school when I was just seven­teen and star­ted doing full-time work for the movement. I found that much more fulfil­ling, although I earned much less by that.

After I got married, my priority was to look after my chil­dren. So I didn't get actively involved in anything until they came into their teenage years. Then for almost eight years I did voluntary work with the mentally disturbed. Now I am involved in my parish. We have a feast and a novena every year and are trying to make people aware of the problems of people in the parish.

Now especi­ally we are trying to get them to think about the older people. That is starting to become a problem in Sri Lanka: young people go to work and old people are left alone, or their children have gone abroad. We also work with some of the younger people in the parish. I am trying to use the method of the Young Christian Students [and Young Christian Workers], to get them aware of situa­tions."

HUGO DE ALWIS

(FORMER YOUNG CHRISTIAN WORKER)

ABOUT 'MATERIALS AS THE KEY TO OPEN THE

HEARTS'

"My father was a carpenter. By the time I reached the age of five, I lost my mother, one sister and three brothers. There were illness and disease. For the survivors it was a difficult time. My father had a sister, who was a trained teacher. She sacrificed her idea of getting married because she wanted to help her brother to bring up his family. So I was in an envi­ronment where lot of sacrifices have been made.

In 1956 I became a member of the Young Christian Workers movement in Nayakakanda, seven miles South of Colombo. Nayak­akanda comprises seven small villages. One evening, when I was at home after my work, Young Christian Workers from a village came and told me that a house was burned. We went there on bicycle. There were two small children and the hus­band and wife. Father, the bread-winner, was a labourer.

We, Young Christian Workers, sat under a coconut-tree. `The immediate thing is to find food for this family', we said. From our pockets we contributed something for the night. We also approached the owner of a butik (small shop) for giving his garage to the family for three days. We collected the things that had been saved from the house and brought the family to the garage.

Next day we came together again and decided to rebuild the house. One fellow got up and said: `Isn't this a situation where the people can show solidarity, love and compassi­on?' There were threehundred families in the village. We enlisted everything that was necessary to build the house. We selected people to whom we would go and ask for materials according to their ability. Catholic people asked: `What have you to do with those Buddhist people!?' We told them: `That family was also created by God and is a family among you!'

Our message was understood. The materials we asked for, should be the key to open the hearts to this situation. We got the materials, but did not invite anybody. When we wanted to start to build, there were over twohundred people to help us! Every­thing and every ability were there to build the house! The villagers were there until we went to the garage, brought the family and put them into the house. That was a very happy occa­sion for the whole village."

MALCOLM A. PEREIRA

(FORMER [YOUNG] CHRISTIAN WORKER):

"I WAS A REVOLUTIONARY FOR SOCIAL

JUSTICE"

"I met father Schram in Colombo in 1954, at a meeting. He was young, tough and full of vi­gour. He was talking about the situation in the country and how things were boiling up to a very, very revolu­tionary attitude. Most of the major trade-unions at that time were controlled by the so-called Marxist par­ties. I myself was a hot-head and a revolutio­nary type, but not the Marxist revolutionary type. I was a revolu­tionary for social justi­ce. My whole vision of a new world was on the basis of Chris­tian morality and the Christian sense of justi­ce: of what was really meant when we said that `there will be freedom to the oppres­sed, the slaves will be set free, those who hunger for justice will receive it!'

Father Schram said: 'Come and join the Young Christian Wor­kers!' He was obsessed with canon Car­dijn's idea of trai­ning the youth, the future leaders of the world. Involved as I was in the Bank Employ­ees' Union however, it took some time before I started visiting YCW-cell meetings regularly. Finally, when I made it, the Young Christian Workers had a group (cell) of about eight people; that was the basis on which we were wor­king. Six or seven animated leaders, who have their contacts in society, would be like the leaven: it will help the whole arise.

Schram's procedure for cell meetings was this: the most bur­ning topic of the day - if there was a strike - how would we look at this with the eyes of Christ, how would we deal with this with the mind of Christ and - there is see, judge and act - how would you act with the mind of Christ in a situation like this? People went to their various places of work. We got a new vision: every­one you meet casually or day-in day-out - try to find out what their views about society, morality and dedica­ting their lives to fight for justice are. Every Wednes­day we brought back the facts of life to our cell. We gathered the facts from inciden­ce in the day-to-day activi­ties in our homes, in our work place or while we were travel­ling and then saw what solutions we would suggest for those problems that rose there.

I used to be very fiery at that time and I used to say: `The best way to fight back is to hit back!' I told father Schram frankly: `Father, if somebody hits me on this cheek, I can not turn the other cheek - I'll hit him on both cheeks!' This was a sponta­neous reaction as young people, growing up in a socie­ty that had nothing to hold for us, only leaving us to work out our own destinies with a very rigorous method in life, because exploi­tation was still going on... We had very little future in Sri Lanka at that time, because the colonial rulers, who had left [in 1948], had installed a society that was built with the feudalists.

Father Schram influenced us and he said: `If you strike once, you all the time want to be striking. And in striking: will you be building or will you be brea­king?' Fr. Schram always asked us to evaluate, giving us the reasons for a just and unfair strike. I always used the method: if there is a pro­blem, hammer your way through, strike your way through! Schram always told me: `Society has to be won over, not des­troyed, because, however bad the world is, this is the only place we have to live in! We have to bring about a just and fair socie­ty without brea­king. Orga­nize the peop­le, have cells, pass down your analysis of every topic that comes up. Use the criteria of see, judge and act; then you will find the soluti­on that you are looking for. If we strike and destroy, will we be able to build? We must strike and not destroy, but show that the working class, the unorga­nized people in this coun­try, have a weapon and will use it only in very, very extreme circumstan­ces.'

This was the first time, that in our society Christians' concept of fair play and justice in trade-union were emerging through these cell-leaders. We had very dedicated cell-leaders who went back and tried to explain what fair play and justice is and how we achieve it. Out of this motivation rose the first nucleus of a free trade-union movement: the idea of free trade-unions, not controlled by politics, either left or right.

Marxist colleagues beat us up one evening. In retaliation we beat them up. We were taken to police station and they were going to lock us up for the riot because they said that my friend had assaulted one of their colleagues with the knuckle-duster and there were twenty-three injuries. So till the doctor's report came, they were going to keep us in custo­dy and they were going to charge us. Finally I rang up father Schram, because my family didn't know where I was and we had no din­ner. He sent us two packets of dinner and would try to get us out. Late in the evening orders came to the police to release us. It was follo­wed up with a case against us. The whole charge was `that these Catho­lic Actio­nists thrashed nineteen bank employees'. The judge happe­ned to be a Muslem: `What is Catholic Action?' I said: `Sir, Catholic Action is the work of the laity in catho­lic society. It is an assistance to the priest in his daily work - the participation of the laity in the works of the church.' I explained it to him. The case went on and the judge said: `I cannot believe that two people assaulted nine­teen people! I discharge the case.' Father was there. (laug­hing:) He used to tell me: `What, you are in trouble again!?'

We had a lot of slums at that time. We used to go there every week and wash the wounds, take medici­ne - we didn't talk about religi­on. In my town, called Dehiwala (about six miles from Colombo) we worked for the fis­hermen. When the cycloons blew their houses, we collec­ted money and built the houses. We used to see the condi­ti­ons of the people in the huts. If there was anybody to be taken to hospital, we took him. We gave them cloths and rations and organi­zed clas­ses for teaching children their school-subjects.

We also had a move­ment, called in Singhalese `A Hand­ful Of Rice'. This idea of charity was there in ancient Singha­lese society. A family puts aside a handful of rice every day and keeps it in a tin. When the tin fills up, we, from the (Young) Christian Workers Movement, go to the houses and collect this rice and we bring it to those who don't have. We had a cam­paign for this. We went to every house and said: `We want to bring this practice back. Please do this!' Even in the slums, if there were some afflu­ent people - there were some bussiness people who were doing fishing and selling their fish - we used to tell them also to collect this rice. At the end of the month or after two weeks we went and collected all this rice and redis­tributed it to those who had not.

For the first time on May-day - I can't remember the year - we were able, with those few people from our cell, to influence four-, fivet­housand people to fly the Young Christian Workers flag of Christ the Worker. We got every catholic house to fly that flag - May-day is a day of love. And we had groups of people from various indus­tries - fisher­men, carpen­ters - clin­ging their implements and tools for blessing on May-day. There also was a parade around the church. The interest of all that was solidarity among the working people in our own paris­h. A week before May-day we kept on announ­cing: `We request paris­hio­ners to fly the flag of Christ the Worker in their homes. Flags are dis­tribu­ted free; you can collect them from the parish.'

Every year I am giving an announcement in the paper to remem­ber father Schram's death. Father Schram taught the sepa­ration of violence from the revolution. I changed my whole lifesty­le. Father Schram said: `We don't make revolu­tion - we are the revo­lution!' I asked him: `Father, I want to see Christian princi­ples with society.' He said: `That's something very far off. You have to work for it. Work for it, man, even if you have to die! Those who give light, must endure burning!' Father Schram's phi­losop­hy was that the liberation of love is a total liberati­on - spiri­tual and material. The gospel says: `Feed the hungry stomachs and then preach to them!' So the liberati­on of love is two­fold."

                                                                             Jo Schoormans