Resettlements in Colombo: Going up in life or coming down?
Academics / Activists / Architects / The Sunday Times

Resettlements in Colombo: Going up in life or coming down?

When Dr. Asha Abeyasekera spoke to a woman named Rojani in 2018, she heard that Rojani’s family had lived in 219 Watte since the 1950s. Rojani’s father had even been given a house-ownership card, issued by then President Premadasa’s government. “She had this whole file, though she was illiterate, she had kept these documents and … Continue reading

Randika Jayasinghe: Finding community-based solutions for waste management
Activists / Researchers / Scientists / The Sunday Times

Randika Jayasinghe: Finding community-based solutions for waste management

There are few people who know their way around a Sri Lankan garbage dump as well as Dr.Randika Jayasinghe. However, while you might expect the research scientist to be studying landfill composition or whether toxins are leaching into the groundwater, Randika is actually more interested in talking to the communities in the area. “I look … Continue reading

The pink tuk-tuks of Sri Lanka empowering and protecting women
Activists / Aid Workers / Al Jazeera

The pink tuk-tuks of Sri Lanka empowering and protecting women

Southern Province, Sri Lanka – Lochana is 10 years old. Every morning, he gets up and lights an incense stick, which he places in a three-wheeled auto-rickshaw parked outside the family home in Sri Lanka‘s coastal Southern Province.  The vehicle is a bright shade of pink and as the fragrant smoke fills the interior, Lochana says a … Continue reading

Lawyers and activists urge Sri Lanka to ban genital cutting
Activists / Doctors / Healthcare professionals / Researchers / Reuters

Lawyers and activists urge Sri Lanka to ban genital cutting

COLOMBO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Lawyers and activists representing a group of Sri Lankan women who were subjected to female genital cutting as children will meet the justice minister on Wednesday to urge a ban on the ritual. The minister called for a meeting after the women spoke out against the tradition which is practiced … Continue reading

Butter knife or sharp blade? Either way, FGM survivors in Sri Lanka want it to stop
Activists / Doctors / Healthcare professionals / Reuters

Butter knife or sharp blade? Either way, FGM survivors in Sri Lanka want it to stop

COLOMBO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – When her daughter turned seven, and it was time for the “khatna” – a female genital mutilation (FGM) ritual – a close friend advised Naqiyah to try the butter knife method. A trusted doctor in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo would simply run a blunt knife against little Tanzeem’s vagina, … Continue reading

Through the eyes of a pioneering forensic architect
Activists / Architects / Falling Walls Science Journalism Fellow / The Sunday Times

Through the eyes of a pioneering forensic architect

Today, Prof. Eyal Weizman will deliver the 18th Neelan Tiruchelvam Trust Lecture at BMICH. Its open to all, and you should go. From experience, I can tell you that Weizman’s work is both provocative and significant. We met when the Israeli professor was a speaker at the Falling Walls conference in Berlin. The conference is … Continue reading