The focus of 2019’s International Human Rights Day is on a celebration of “the courage, clarity, and principle of women, men, and young people who are rising up peacefully to create greater…
Many middle-aged displaced Tamils who have resettled in Colombo remain reluctant to return to their places of origin in Jaffna due to personal and professional reasons. This article explains how they have…
‘Colombo – the making of a world class city’, a photography exhibition that interrogates and critiques post-war city making in Colombo opens this weekend at the Global Voices Summit 2017 at Trace…
On April 14, 2017 the garbage dump in Meethotamulla collapsed, killing 32 people. These deaths could have been avoided. That they could not, points to a systematic failure of the State to…
As Sri Lanka transitions towards peace, it’s time to discuss what cities of the future will look like. Colombo has numerous problems caused by urban sprawl – flooding and traffic congestion being…
At 27 years old, Sugeeth Kumar is part of a generation of Slave Island’s young entrepreneurs. Tiring of the long hours his previous job at Pizza Hut required, he decided that if…
On a walk down one of the many byroads of Slave Island during midday, we encountered a curious sight: a fairly elderly man wearing a sarong and a dusty green cap, sitting…
Munisekar has always been devout. From the age of nine, he began working at the Sivasubramaniam Kovil of Slave Island – the place of worship closest to where he lived with his…
15-year-old Fatheema Sulaika has lofty plans for her future. Study hard, become a psychologist, do her bit for mankind and hope that her example inspires oppressed women the world over. Needless to…
In a locality where washing lines heavy with colour light up even the most mundane landscape, Navam Mawatha’s laundry seems a nucleus of sorts. Surrounded by banks and plush office spaces, the…
Originally from Ragama, Chandrika Serasinghe believes it was her destiny to end up working at the Nippon Hotel – a place whose unusual façade always had a pull on her whenever she…
I don’t think I had the slightest inkling of a problem between the sinhala and tamil people in Sri Lanka, until July 1983. But I should have. In the heady days of…
