The myth of “living the City life” is better than to live in a village, even if it is to be in a crowded, unhygienic and polluted slum is something that has proven to be a disastrous consequence to the nation.
Our Vision
“Nagareyen Gamata” which has the meaning of “From City to Village/Suburbia” is a program that the community of Franciscan missionaries of Mary in Mattakkuliya, (inner city town in Colombo) Sri Lanka has assumed.The intention of this program is to give back the people in slums of Mattakuliya their confidence, dignity and humane conditions of life, which they have been deprived. Also the program aims to help people who have been ravaged by the 2004 Tsunami & now living in Tsunami refugee camps in Mattakkuliya. Ultimately the objective is to create a community that respects the diverse ethnicity of our community and build a sustainable life style.
Premier Project
To achieve this vision we have started our premier project in Bingiriya (Kurunegala district-80kms away from the city of Colombo) Sri Lanka. Bingiriaya is a village that is blessed by excellent climatic conditions and rich soils for agriculture.This Project was launched with the moral & financial support of the congregation of OMI Catholic Priests, Inter Religious Foundation and various community friends. After conducting awareness programs of our project and intentions to a selected group of families from the tsunami refuge camps & slums, twenty-five families were chosen to be the premiers of this program.These families were chosen irrespective of any religious or ethnic backgrounds.
The Plan
As a community they produce what they need avoiding dependence on the market for their daily needs. In this way they make them selves least vulnerable to the constant increase of the cost of living. They work to build mutual respect, and all that create a harmonious family life and a community as well. The community of ten families will continue in their formation program for an alternative life-style in view of a peace community. They are being of different language and religious groups also add value.
So far, we were able to build ten houses in Bingiriya – a village that is good for agriculture. The first ten families have moved in February 2007..
Some essential facilities for those families were fulfilled with the support of various well wishes & organizations.
They are now able to see that;
*Their way of living in slums was much below human dignity.
*They kept getting poorer and poorer.
*What they earned earlier was hardly enough to have a good meal a day.
*They have been used for violence and they become victims as well.
*The surroundings they lived in were most unsuitable for up bringing of children.
*As long as they lived in slums, they became a part of that unjust structure.
They are also convinced that;
*It is possible to have an alternative way.
*They can have a control over their lives.
*Family life needs some amount of privacy.
*Being in a country like Sri Lanka, we can produce most of what we need.
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