Our life in Sri Lanka is coming to an end. In the last two months we have said farewell to many former students and other friends right round the island. We are exhausted of tears (ours and others) and are "farewelled" out! As we have said before, there is so much we will miss about Sri Lanka and we are grateful for the privilege of serving here. And it feels strange because our departure plans have changed. We had both intended to fly back to UK on 16^th June. However, the institutional development work which has taken so much of James’ time in the past year comes to a natural conclusion at the College AGM on 27^th July. The new Principal, Rev. Dr. Jerome Sahabandhu, is very keen for James to see it through, and the result is that James will return on 2^nd August. So Rosemary’s good-bye is a real one while James’ is, more often than not, just a "see you". This new arrangement is harder for Rosemary than for James because she will have to face the challenges of re-entry and furlough engagements alone. James will be available for such engagements in September –November. Rosemary’s last public engagement here is Central District Synod 11-12 June in Colombo. There is a list of Rosemary’s furlough engagements at the end of this newsletter.

As we have travelled the island on our short farewell tours we have tried to find out how people are feeling about the future. We have also heard more stories. Everyone is happy that the war is over and the fear of bombs has disappeared. We were told by several people that the relationships between the Tamil people and the police and army are much more relaxed now. We have even seen unarmed police and soldiers occasionally. People are now travelling around as never before with coach parties from the south visiting Buddhist pilgrimage sights in the north and east – our cleaning lady, Chandrani, loves making these trips - while a smaller number of coaches take school children from the east and north to see parts of the island which would have been too much trouble and danger to travel to while the war was going on and checkpoints were everywhere. (One of our orientation students from Jaffna had never seen a hill and made herself ill climbing up one in Kandy!) This freedom of movement - any where at any time (i.e. no curfews) - is a great benefit of the peace and much appreciated by everyone.

The government is upgrading the roads everywhere. Its solution to the ethnic injustices that have fuelled the war seems to be to develop the infrastructure and encourage development so that life improves for everyone. Our visits to the east and north east were made much easier by the newly ‘carpeted’ roads on which 100km/hr can be reached. The roads in the north will be the last to be upgraded. However, in their hurry to get on with this work many people wonder whether the government’s contractors are aggravating matters by employing too many non-local Sinhalese rather than local Tamils and Muslims. For example, we noticed that the new fishery terminal at Vallechenai in the east was being made mainly by Sinhalese workers. This worries many local people who are concerned about creeping Sinhalese migration into traditional Tamil areas. In Kilinochchi in the north, people are worried about businesses starting up which are owned by Sinhalese or operated by the army. In Batticoloa in the east, a Tamil business woman whose children are all abroad said that she would not suggest that they should return. The future is too uncertain because the government has not begun to address the real issues of institutionalised prejudice and injustice in a reassuring way. However, they added that the playing field should be a level one. They also told us how the systems have in the past favoured the Sinhalese: they are both doctors and, when they were training, the Sinhalese had to just pass a simple Tamil oral exam but the Tamils had to pass O-level Sinhala and even today all the police work is done in Sinhala.

Meanwhile at TCL, during their orientation period in April/May, we saw that the new first years will be fine batch. Rosemary taught them western hymns which they sang with gusto. She enjoyed this, and also sharing in worship with them and supervising them at other times. In the period 4th-7th May Rosemary was Acting Principal and Acting Dean –all the others were away at retreats and synods.

James’ work concerning institutional reform and quality system development continues. The College was awarded significant sums from Evangelisches Missionwerk in Germany and the Methodist Church in Britain for "Administrative and Academic Support" which has funded a teacher training programme for the Faculty and the recruitment of a Senior Administrator. James will also upgrade the College’s computing system before he leaves.

We remain positive about the role of the Church as it is one of the few places where Sinhalese and Tamils can hear each other’s stories. At the Methodist Conference in Moratuwa -a very Sinhala area south of Colombo- a Tamil woman from the east stayed with a Sinhalese family. She was very scared because she only knew Sinhalese people through bad encounters with police and army, but she found her hosts very kind and friendly. This changed her perspectives and challenged her prejudices. The Church is full of such stories of coming together across the ethnic divide. And there is a role for the Theological College in all this. The new Principal aims to set up a course to teach students how to create the safe spaces needed to really share painful stories so that our students and others can foster better mutual understanding and, over time, a degree of reconciliation.

There are actually many marriages across the ethnic/language divide and not just in Christian circles. These offer hope for the future. We were very happy to share lunch with the families of two students, Vathsala and Nuwan, on the day of the traditional pre-engagement meeting between the families. Vathsala is a hill country Tamil and Nuwan a Sinhalese. They are well suited. They both want to become ordained ministers in the Anglican Diocese of Kurunegala.

Sadly there is no-one coming out to replace us – there is both a shortage of funds in all the mission agencies: the Methodist Church World Mission Fund, the Church Mission Society (CMS), and Anglicans in World Mission: USPG, as well as a shortage of vocations. We do urge you to continue your support of the World Church. Having experienced life in a different culture within a Christian context – with its ups and downs - we do still believe in cross-cultural exchanges and feel everyone is the winner: both the place that receives Mission Partners and the Mission Partners themselves.

For the record, Rosemary’s furlough engagements are:

June 21^st -23^rd: Queen’s College, Birmingham

June 28^th: Meeting a visitor from Sri Lanka in London

July 2^nd – 6^th: North East Somerset & Bath Circuit (more details from the Reverend Audrey Simpson)

July 8^th- 9^th: Methodist Church Headquarters, London

July 9^th – 12^th: Goudhurst Parish, Kent

July 15^th – 19^th: Dorset including Sherborne United Church on Sunday 18^th.

July 20^th – 23^rd: Conference for Returning Mission Partners, Whirlow Grange, Sheffield

July 25^th: 10:30 Wokingham Methodist Church;

15:30 Caversham Methodist Church Gosbrook Rd (talk); 18:30 Gosbrook Rd Methodist Church service.

August 1^st: 10:30 Trinity Methodist Church, Watford.

Please do try to catch up with Rosemary at one of these venues. Her address between 18^th June and 16^th August will be Emmaus Cottage, St John's Convent, Linden Hill, Kiln Green, Reading RG10 9XP. A final newsletter in August will say something of James’s final weeks in Sri Lanka.

Since we last wrote we have been very sad to learn of the death of Robin Bull, beloved husband of Janet, father of Andrew and Caroline, grandfather of Nicholas, Charlotte and Matthew. Robin was 69 when he died and, although he had been unwell for most of the time we’ve been in Sri Lanka he had been making good progress recently, and the family were looking forward to his 70^th birthday. Janet and Robin have been very good friends to us for nearly 14 years and have been towers of strength since we have been here in Sri Lanka. Indeed, all of you who receive the newsletter do so thanks to their kind help

Newsletter back copies are on our website together with a large number of pictures of our life in Sri Lanka: see www.rosemaryandjames.methodistchurch.co.uk.

James’s postal address is: The Theological College of Lanka, Nandana Uyana, Pilimatalawa 20450, Sri Lanka.