Presentations

Dear Friends and family,
even before i start let me tell you that i am really tired and sleepy, I have to gather enough strength to type. Because you will eagerly wait for my update I will make it a point to be brief and not disappoint you. Let me pick from where i left yesterday. I did finally enjoy it twice this morning, had a spice burst and felt relieved apart from having set my back on fire.

To quench the fire i went to have my usual breakfast, i have started to cut on the Baked beans, fried bread and the croissants with butter. I just took cereals, egg, a piece of bacon and a hashbrown. had to have it fast to prepare for my first presentation. I had to present my groups discussions in the morning. I was the day's starter.
My presentation was on the return issues from the centafrica case study. I was looking at three questions, What were the laws that were violated in the process of closing the registration? Was the principle of refoulement (sending a person against his/her will back to the country of origin)violated? What was the role of the actors who were involved? based on what we had discussed i was able to make a presentation.

Towards the end of the session I had a chance to elaborate on the treatment of the refugees in India and the attempts to repatriate them in 1997, the role of the UNHCR and the Indian government and so on. In an other occasion I was able to trace the the realities of repatriation when it came to long term refugees. Here i was able to draw from local examples where refugees went with the hope to returning home but had to languish in the camps in their own countries for over 10 years. this was well appreciated and people wanted to hear more.

Another question that came up was: How do you keep militants away form the camps? I quoted the example of Indias dealing with the militants and the qurantine system and the alternatives and so on.

I also listened to several presentations. The main thing that caught my attention was that of the refugees from Iraq who live in Jordan, Syria and other neighbouring countries they have been there in the millions. one office in Syria that operated with a budget of 8 lakh dollars had an increase of 60 million in a month and had to find about 200 people to work in the office. The refugees arrived in the thousands. They had a queue that was 4 miles long. THey decided to give tokens for registration with the dates. The last token was for mid may of 2009.

among the several things that happened today i had a chance to listen to Dr Sathaya who presented on the Tibetan refugees and their medical hazards undertaken during their flight. Then i also got a chance to present my topic. A sustainable model for nation building with the IDPs in Sri Lanka. Much of the theme was based on OfERRs work in Sri Lanka combined with my ideas of development. At this point i recalled all the houses and the IDPS who we work with.

Since many people presented on the law and its variations i was presenting with a development framework. It was well recieved. I got a chance to clarify the position of the non militant stand for sustainable peace to the group. I made use of this time to highlight the key alternative advocacy strategies, education efforts and other aspects of the lobby work.

After that i went for a detailed briefing on East Timor. We have a discussion/simulation in class tomorrow. I have a lot of readings to do. as i said I am now going to sleep since my fingers are typing some rubbish.

abt the photos,
the first photo is taken on a door way, it has minute details of birds.
the second is that of a Garcoyle which is trying to poop into a pipe drain. (they believed that it kept the evil spirits away)
the last is the statue of Judith who enticed the invading commander into her bed room and severed his head.(i swear this is taken from the Bible)