I was away in Jaffna for three days on a short vacation. For those of you not familiar with the country, Jaffna forms the pivot of the Northern province of Sri Lanka which has suffered a three decade old civil war.
The damage to both life, property and vegetation is unimaginable. Recovering albeit slowly the problems being faced by the Northern people are still huge. Reconstruction and redevelopment will take years and the fact that certain areas are still out of bounds and that civilians have not been allowed in these areas mean that bombed out houses and trees are being slowly taken over by the tropical jungle. It also means that we still have people who want to get back home and start rebuilding their lives.
There is a lot of hustle and bustle in Jaffna - mainly because of the locals who are tourists in their own country. They are visiting areas of interest which were closed for so long, that for a younger generation Nagadeepa and Keerimalai are only names on a map. That these are now accessible to all, albeit through a tiresome journey is good.
I do hope readers will enjoy seeing these pictures courtesy of a young man who was with us on our holiday.
I don't think I remember ever visiting Jaffna, although we used to go to Trincomalee a lot when I was a child. I'm hoping to visit maybe next year or the year after.
ReplyDeleteI hope peace will last over there!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your photos with us. I did not realize that the civil war has gone on for so many years!
ReplyDeleteSo nice that people are traveling there again, especially younger people. I always learn so much from your blog posts! Thanks for stopping by my Mailbox.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the photos as well as a little history.
ReplyDeleteI know very little about the situation there, which is unfortunate. Thanks for sharing the pics and opening my eyes to something new.
ReplyDeletewell written Mystica, you shld be a travel writer
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