News: library

On a recent trip to Sri Lanka, I traveled by car from Colombo to Jaffna, a journey of more than 10 hours, and I discovered a city that seemed quietly determined to move forward. Two years after the devastating civil war between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tigers ended, signs of the decades-long conflict are still omnipresent in Jaffna, the capital of Sri Lanka’s Northern Province. Although the city’s significant landmarks are being rebuilt or rehabilitated, including Hindu temples and the revered Jaffna Public Library, many buildings remain gutted or severely pocked with bullet holes. Certain areas have not been cleared of unexploded land mines, leaving large swaths of land off-limits and thousands of families waiting to reclaim their homes and livelihoods. The strong Sri Lankan Army presence in the area gives an uneasy impression that this is not yet a society at peace. Some soldiers can be seen actively helping the mostly rural population rebuild their lives – I saw one driving a tractor with a group of farmers and another distributing cows in the middle of town – but most of the soldiers I saw were stationed on every other street corner, armed and alert.