Soccer - the international game

Even I am impressed with this achievement- only 4 days into our travel and I have managed to find a sporting event. Luckily not cricket, a sport I have never learned to enjoy, but soccer, or football as they call it everywhere in the world but home. By happenstance we came across a ground and noticed  soccer goals being set up and with some deft googling I found out that Milo sponsor a big carnival over four days for school teams from the north. So we decided to check it out. To say we were a novelty would be an understatement - but we braved it and took a seat in the stands. Within about a minute school boys descended from their seats to sit behind and next to us, shy at first once they warmed up there was no stopping them: what were our names, where were we from, did we have any chewing gum? They were most disappointed when all I could produce from my bag was a packet of cream crackers, but two of them decided that was better than noting and had a cracker. Tom and I decided to barrack for the team in yellow and green, no idea what school it was but the Socceroos colours drew us in. To be honest the standard of play was not up to the level of the 'beautiful game' - while most off the kids could kick they had no idea of heading or any of the other skills. But I did notice they all had the multi coloured boots that are de jure. After a scoreless first half (only goal ruled off-side) we departed the stadium, only for me to realise once outside that when I swapped into my thongs (flip flops for the UK readers) I had left my good walking shoes under my seat. Tom was gallant and trekked back in the heat for them - I was sure they would already be gone, but the people of Jaffna are charming and honest, one young boy had them in his hand and when he spotted Tom handed them over.

The teams line up

We concluded our stay in Jaffna visiting the few sights on offer. The nascent tourist industry is developing, but without much money and limited tourist numbers progress is slow. What is on offer is  of great interest, but perhaps more to me than Tom because of my past work. The library is one of the city's centrepieces, this stunning neo-Mughal meets European colonial era structure has an interesting history. The library and its collection of ancient Tamil works was destroyed in an attack in 1981 by a group linked to Sinhalese nationalists in an act that can only be described as an attempt to wipe out an important store of Tamil culture - it is referred to by some as an act of genocide. This incident was one of the catalysts for the Tamil separatist movement that errupted with violent attacks from 1983. The library was rebuilt with foreign funds during a ceasefire period in 2002 and the collection has been rebuilt with donations of works from Tamils around the world.

We also visited the catholic cathedral; Jaffna is a diocese and the Christian population once exceeded 15%, but had reduced significantly due to emigration of the Christian population. The church appeared to be in good shape, apart from a number of doors which were marked by bullet holes - another legacy of the war.

St Mary's Cathedral

A door in the Cathedral

We searched in vain for the Martyr's Monolith that is not recorded in any tourist information but popped up on Google maps when I was looking for something else. Any commemoration of LTTE fighter deaths, or of the thousands of civilians who died, has been discouraged as progressive governments has feared a resurgence of the Tigers. The current government is becoming more open and moves toward reconciliation have allowed for some acceptance of acknowledgement of the past, but it is still strictly controlled. So I was not surprised we could not find this monument, nor was I surprised that the area where the martyr deaths occurred is now largely a navy base and much of the land is cordoned off.

The military seized vast tracks of land during and after the war. Some owners have been compensated for the loss of their land, but proving ownership is sometimes difficult, records have been lost and during times of LTTE control the LTTE drew up their own land ownership papers and 'gave' land to their supporters. I read in a local paper today about 100 families being recently settled into new homes:  over 7 years after the end of the war! Also of concern is that some of the land still held by the military is prime farming land, and this is in a country suffering drought and when food production fell by a whopping 40% last year.

Bananas on their way to market

The government is criticised world wide for retaining a high military presence, and some estimates number as many as one soldier/sailor for every 4 civilians in the north. But for the past two years the military have been largely confined to barracks, rather than in the community and generally menacing the population. There have been calls to de-militarise the north, but then what does the government do with thousands of de-mobbed Sinhalese boys with no other skills in a depressed employment environment. As I have said in a previous post, it is a quandary.

But we have enjoyed our time here greatly, the people have been exceptionally pleasant, so many friendly 'hello, where are you from' calls from passersby, and no harassment at all.

We head now to the Sinhalese south and leave Tamil Jaffna behind. As the local Sinhalese ground agent for our travel said to me on the phone from his Colombo base, Jaffna is another world.