Every day as we commute from Sinhalese Ampara town to the Muslim/Tamil coastal area we pass through Sammanthurai, a bustling Muslim town. We have nick named it “cow town” the main roundabout is always choc a bloc with sauntering bovines slowly going about their day. The other image of Sammanthurai that will stay with me is the droves of kids heading to schools in impossibly clean uniforms. It has the appearance of a pretty nice town.10 days ago at 8.30pm an NGO vehicle passing through the town knocked down and killed a cyclist. He didn’t stop and in the panic drove on and ploughed into a group of pedestrians killing two more. The driver fled the scene but his unfortunate assistant was dragged from the truck by a mob and beaten severely. They then set the truck on fire and threw the badly beaten man onto the flames.
The next morning all the GOAL team plus the journalist Vincent Hogan were sitting outside the GOAL house while I made and received phonecalls trying to gauge the situation. The problem stemmed from the fact that the man who was burnt alive was Sinhalese, from Ampara town and the mob was Muslim. Sammanthurai had no traffic through it and there was a heavy security presence. Our Muslim drivers who live on the coast and come by motorbike every morning to Ampara town to pick up their vehicles were prevented from travelling by the security forces for their own safety. Our drivers from Ampara who are Sinhalese were understandably nervous about heading into Muslim areas. In the end the decision was made to go to the coast via a roundabout route through a predominately Tamil area. Ironically enough the day before this was a no go area, someone was shot near one of our schools and we didn’t send any of our workers there. Things flare up and die down that quickly here. The rest of the day passed off without any major incident. Rumours of Muslims being killed in Ampara proved to be unfounded although one guy was dragged out his motorbike and it was set on fire. The discouraging thing was the attitude of our staff , people that I work with every day. Their only comment was to lament that the wrong man was murdered, if it had of been the driver then justice would have been served. Such is the value placed on a life here.
In Ireland we consider ourselves to have a violent recent history. During “the Troubles” between 1969 and 1998 approximately 3,500 people were killed in the North. From 1983 to date 67,000 have been killed in Sri Lanka an island of similar size with four times the population. This year alone in the time that I have been here 3,500 people have been killed, the same amount as during the entire Troubles. The violence has a ferocity that is sickening and neither side seems to have any will to end it.
The gravity of the decisions to be made on days like that leave me mentally and physically drained. Positions of authority have never rested easy with me and one of the reasons I won’t extend beyond my current contract here is how uncomfortable I am being responsible for 100 people in an increasingly dangerous situation. Every now and then you need a break to get your head straight and 
a few days later I took a four day weekend and got away to the hills. I spent the first night in Kandy savouring as always such luxuries as hot showers before catching a train for what I thought was going to a 5 hour train journey up into the hills. The 10.45 train left the station at 11.15 and 30 minutes on I went to 
make my scheduled train change only to be told that it was delayed by an hour. My plans of viewing beautiful scenery were spoiled by the torrential rain which only cleared occasionally and it was 6.30pm when I arrived in Banderawela. I had spent the previous hour hanging out of the train every time it slowed down to try and see where we were, no such thing as a conductor of these trains. 
All my frustrations evaporated when I saw the hotel, previously a club for tea plantation owners and now a luxury hotel. For the first time I felt as if Christmas was coming, the roaring log fire in the lounge the Christmas trees in reception the lounge and the bar and most of all the pouring rain and how chilly it was. My plans to visit a tea plantation were scuppered by a tea pickers strike 
which meant it was unsafe to travel there so my sightseeing was limited to driving for an hour to see a wooden bridge. I was pretty sceptical but it turned out to be a lovely serene spot. All in all I had a great relaxing time and arrived back in Ampara well rested and ready for my final 3 weeks.
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