by Ruth challen

This was my third visit in nine years; the first was when I joined Peter on a sabbatical in 1991, the second in 1991, the second was in 1994, soon after the first women were ordained to the priesthood in the UK. I had just turned 60.

This visit came after my completing three years as a Pastoral Auxiliary in a local Parish. (The Sri Lankan counterpart would be a Deva Sevika: supplementary lay minister.) I had to rush my preparations to proceed the aggravations of the General Election, so spent two full weeks painting four large panels at top speed on calico, and thinking through the content of what I wanted to share and express. My intentions were to explore empowerment, self-awareness and embodiment. My good friend, Annathaie, Abayasekra from Kandy, herself a leading lay woman, and social activist, finalised arrangements for me with the various groups concerned with Women’s issues that we had discussed when she was in London in April. She is married to Jeffrey, a Parish Priest and devoted man of prayer and action, a trusted friend, who loves to sing.

I met with seven groups for three or four hours of informal discussion of women’s needs at this time in history. We were never forgetful of the needs of men at the beginning of the millennium. In each group we gathered first around one of the painted panels where the uniqueness of every human being was addressed, and how women in particular need to raise awareness of their full potential and equality with men. The paintings set the explorations in a cosmic setting, highlighting Sri Lanka’s beauty and rich resources and our deep longings to be part of the whole created order. Cultural, ethnic and religious barriers melt away when we sense that we are each participating i9n the Divine order of things. Not surprisingly, the intractable nature of the war and the untold suffering and loss of life, which has resulted, was foremost in people’s minds. There was heavy fighting in the North while I was there and a suicide bomb was exploded in a hospital in Colombo. A cabinet Minister was killed when his helicopter came down. Children, teenagers and adults alike spoke pleadingly about the desire for a peaceful settlement and the return of trust and prosperity in Sri Lanka. The end of domestic violence, child abuse, drug and alcohol abuse came high on the list of heartfelt needs for change, along with alleviating poverty and malnutrition.

We sang, did some simple circle dances, sat quietly for led meditation and did an hour of handwork. The 42 girls at Hillwood college, plus two staff, painted, using the large space of the assembly hall (a space I got to know well in 1994!) The theme they followed was “ Earth, Air, and Fire.” Some of the girls painted with their fingers. Overall, the work was intricate and detailed. The powdered pigments were unusually brilliant and the results were pleasing. Beautiful ochre, turquoise, pink, magenta. The paintings were presented and the girls sang to me. The college was preparing for the dedication of a splendid new swimming pool the following week. 

Four groups undertook to make a peace banner for which I had prepared a calico base and six inch wide strips of bright and contrasting fabrics which were then laid out in a woven grid. One group designed a gold cross on a green background. A friend had given me 15 metres of beautiful floral fabric to add to these banners and a quilted three-dimensional dove was added to each one. Time did not allow for completion but there were promises of photos of the finished items. We talked about the energy of colour and the way it can open up channels of energy and transforming creativity in ourselves. Our natural concerns in a very troubled world cause us to block out some deeper kinds of bodily listening; and the ability to be intuitive about relationship and decisions is also inhibited. The presence of colourful saris came into our consideration as expressions of inner resources and our dreams.

I had an overnight stop with Bishop Andrew in Kurungala. We talked over dinner, his driver took me early next am to Kegalle.

The support Network, for the Ordination of Women (SNOW) met in Colombo and we looked specifically at the growing awareness that it is time that this should now become a reality. Unfortunately it is still not the right time. There was a great deal of artistic talent in that group! Another theological forum (SLAT) gave concentrated attention to this issue at their AGM, which I attended. This is an area of particular interests to me. While in Colombo I had a relaxed and interesting visit with Malini and Yohan Devananda. I heard more of the theological and liturgical work in which Malini is vigorously engaged, and I visited Yohan’s centre for the World Solidarity Forum. Together they form a strong and faithful team working for peace and justice in all levels of society. While there I met Audrey Rebera whose bubbling insights and personality were inspiring.

I revisited an organic farm community, Gami Seva Sevena, a Rural Service Centre in Galaha that peter and I know well and after a short moment to catch my breath and greet everyone I almost felt I hadn’t lefty those people in 1994! It was an uncanny few minutes, but of course the group of (46!) children were entirely different than those that took part in the afternoon play scheme I was running then for two full weeks. This time we fit in an hour of drawing and felt pen work, an hour of games, miming and relays, before a tea party back in the main hall. Ranjith de Silva, the Team Leader, helped me shop for the children at top speed en route from Kandy. We had a lot to catch up on and plan and I was grateful that he and several of the staff were around to help me keep it moving smoothly. Ranjiths wife, Swarna, is currently working in the Christians Aware office in Leicester and will visit me soon. The Sri Lanka links have been various and creative this year!

My day on the Poyston Tea Estate with Annathaie and two of her staff from Penn Wimochanna (PWM) is most memorable, with 28 women and four children whom she has guided for 20 years into realisation and articulation of their place in society as tea pluckers. These women were representative of many hundreds who work in blazing sun and torrential rain plucking the tender most twigs of the tea bushes, filling bags they carry on their backs from a band on their foreheads. They showed me the scarring of their fingers. Their hours are long, their wages minute and conditions in which they are housed very poor. These women fill both the reproductive and the productive roles, feeding and caring for their children before and after their work in the plantation. These women culturally and socially are largely unrecognised people without full citizen’s registration. Their socialisation with main stream society is limited. My own particulars of career, family etc. seemed irrelevant. We were simply women together in a turbulent world. We met in a small Roman Catholic Church on the edge of the estate for three hours and again using a painting as a focus for self-expression. Each woman (and four children) placed a brilliant blue glass bead on the picture while starting a burning wish. Later they placed bright coloured cutouts of hands to symbolise realities they wanted changing or stopping. A few were quite vehement. We did a bit of assertiveness gesturing with our hands and taking bold steps toward the centre. They each decorated a 5” x 7” mirror with sequins, again reflecting their own spiritual and physical beauty and self worth! It was pleasing to see them returning to their homes with the sparkling mirrors. They enjoyed my mop dance. They thanked me individually, through Annathaie’s translation, and had understood that my ministry in the UK included people from Afro-Caribbean backgrounds. They were responsive to my words of reassurance that their needs were known internationally and that they were valued, and would be prayed for.

The day concluded with a shared meal in one of their homes- PWG staff and me. Two of their husbands did all the serving. Some women are in the back room, another one sat alongside holding her sick child. Her dignity, her pain, her beauty remains like a cameo, which I shall cherish. Her sculptured face, the way her hair fell, her undernourished physique and her suffering child, her brilliant purple blouse and blue sari, her husband’s meticulous hospitality, made a strong impression. As we were leaving there was a glow of an unspoken bond between us all. It was hard to say good bye.

Each evening I lit a candle and sat in my room in front of a painting and a fan listening to one of three tapes- Taize Chants, Parts 1 and 2 of Handle's Messiah, and some reflections by Bishop Tom Shaw of Boston, USA, entitled ‘God of our Consolation’. These allowed me to sift each day’s events and social inquiry and to lower the stimulation of landscapes, the bustle in the towns, and all my personal encounters and arrangements. I took time with my family in those moments. Needless to say, Annathaie and Jeffrey’s guidance and championship are reasons for gratitude. They are devout and dedicated pilgrims who work hard for justice and peace. There were many other meetings with people that I valued greatly too...

At the end of my visit I took the sermon slot in the Cathedral in Colombo. Sadly the Dean, Sydney Knight was away on sick leave, which was disappointing, but the full Eucharist liturgy, splendid hymns and a good congregation were uplifting. It was there I met up with two women delegates from Christian Aware (room Manchester). I wished we could have shared the drive back to kandy to have had some time together. I had also hoped top have a meeting with doctors working in the War Zone from the NGO- Les Medicins Sans Frontieres in Colombo, but that had to be cancelled.

I am now taking a year off for study, reflection, painting and exercise and more time with my family. Our eighth grand child is expected in February and each of those little individuals aged 18 months to 9 years and their parents give us much joy. Peter’s help with typing of prayers, reflections, essential letters and reports has under girded me. Into it all he shared with interest and admits to having had some concern for me. His own projects and committees are engaging and tackle the issues of poverty at the level of renewing monetary justice.