The country of Sri Lanka has been suffering through a civil war for the last 25 years. The division is mainly between minority groups of Tamils and majority groups of Sinhalese. It is hoped that RYS activities in this area will help promote a harmonious interaction between these groups.

     This year's Sri Lanka RYS project will take place in Colombo, the commercial capital city of Sri Lanka. Colombo City is divided in to 15 smaller areas for administrative purposes. RYS will work in one of these areas-Borella, Colombo. Borella is situated in the western part of Sri Lanka. Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and Christians have been living in Colombo harmoniously for a long time.

     The civil war in Sri Lanka has intensified during the past 8 months. All the religions should work together to find a lasting peaceful solution to this conflict. Therefore, the theme of this RYS is "Reaching Out Together for Peace".

     As always, the project is mainly designed to help the participants develop toward leadership, fruitful communications and reconciliation. The proposed service portion of the project is to build a two-story building for a preschool and a day-care center in a slum area of Colombo. This area has a very heavy population density and, as a result, has been plagued with many social problems. Some of the main social problems in the area include drug addiction, child abuse, child prostitution, child labor, general prostitution, stealing, murders, gang warfare and environmental pollution.

     When we consider the foregoing, we can understand the children are a very vulnerable group in this region. Therefore our main objective, again, is to create a preschool and day-care center to protect and monitor the early psychological development of the local children.

     Further, most of the people do not have proper employment in Borella. As a consequence, a significant number of residents are involved in illegal activities to earn a living. Due to financial pressures, many of the children are brought up by grandparents, relatives or friends because both father and mother are forced to work. This is another factor that has served to aggravate the problems. The Religious Youth Service of Sri Lanka will cooperate with local leadership and supporters, and plans to follow up the project with continued activities together with a board of experienced and committed individuals.

     For those who want to make a substantial offering toward peace, please apply now.