In Sri Lanka, the MAGIS Foundation has launched a project to counter the many faces of the country's crisis, which is economical, political, environmental and also food-related.

Since January 2022, Sri Lanka has been facing a severe financial and political crisis. The country is bankrupt; it cannot guarantee the regular arrival of gas and fuel, and inflation is out of control. Unrest in Colombo led to a change of Prime Minister, followed by a change of its President. Schools, which were closed for more than a month, now operate only three days a week. Many teachers have stopped working, and those remaining are worried because salaries are meagre while inflation is rising. The police have arrested many opposition leaders, trade union leaders and students. The army is getting stronger, and violence and murder are back as a way of solving problems. Corruption is rampant in all sections of society. Many Sri Lankans are making huge profits selling fuel on the black market.

The population does not seem to realise that this crisis is severe and will last long. But, thanks to the support of the Indosuez Foundation, the MAGIS Foundation launched a project at the Loyola Centre Ecology and Justice (Loyola Centre for Ecology and Justice - LCEJ). The project consists of several activities: the home garden, the eco-sewing and eco-cycling centres, various educational projects and for pre-school teaching.

Kitchen garden projects

Since October, we have distributed around 4,600 eco-bags (produced in our eco-sewing centres) with potting soil and seedlings (papaya or mango) to more than a thousand impoverished families. The use of biodegradable bags, which decompose after they are put in the soil together with the plant, is spreading, gradually transforming the approach to gardening. The Loyola Centre for Ecology and Justice (LCEJ) has turned part of its land into a vegetable garden and orchard. Since the beginning of the year, we have been harvesting vegetables (gumbos, tomatoes, aubergines, green chillies, red chillies and long beans). Soon we will have papayas, mangos, and perhaps the first bananas and other fruits grown without fertilisers. We use the seeds from the dried products to produce seedlings that are then distributed to low-income families. The process is slow and time-consuming but has very good-quality seeds. The LCEJ believes this is the way forward to solve the food crisis problem.

Eco-sewing centres

Our eco-sewing centres, which have been in operation for over two years, produce a wide variety of eco-friendly items that are becoming increasingly popular, appreciated and in demand: women's and men's bags, shoppers, children's shoulder bags, backpacks, bottle holders, sponges and dusters. The use of eco-bags is spreading, slowly replacing the highly polluting plastic bags. Our centres are Mutur, Nilaveli, and Trincomalee (a wealthy city with pockets of extreme poverty). They are attracting the attention of the local political elites, who ask us for accompaniment in establishing similar centres in poor areas. The women working in our centres come from poor Christian and Hindu families. They are all Tamils. But we are also starting to involve the indigenous and Muslim communities. The aim is to accompany a divided population, teaching them to work together to solve the economic and political crisis, bringing out the best in those who are seen as enemies.

Kanniya Eco-Recycling Centre

The centre in Kanniya (Trincomalee), where two ladies work with wood to produce buttons for our eco-fashion bags, has been active since April. A lot of resistance had to be overcome because the male traditionally did woodworking. But the LCEJ works for gender equality and ensures harassment- and abuse-free working environment where men and women work together. The Kanniya centre also produces items for our new Waste Management Centre (e.g. palm branch frames on which to attach eco-bags for waste recycling). We distribute a large eco-bag for waste recycling in churches and other public places every week. The centre also produces window screens, frames for small recycling bags and office furniture. Our wooden frames are nail-free, and the centre's members are developing new techniques to make the items durable and aesthetically pleasing. We want to show that by using the most common objects of everyday life, we can slowly build a society that can solve the environmental crisis. Our staff learned woodworking through coaching.

The Waste Management Centre

In August 2022, we started the Waste Management Centre: it collects plastic bottles, which are then sent to Colombo for recycling. Of course, recycling is not the best solution to the environmental crisis. Our first goal is to reduce plastic consumption. In the meantime, however, we try to do something to prevent plastic from being burnt to release toxic fumes or thrown into the sea.

Educational projects, advocacy at the pre-school level and spiritual ecology sessions

Each week we organise a short training session for staff and associates on the environmental crisis, the effects of pollution on health, and how to promote solutions. We also go to two pre-schools (in Nilaveli and Trincomalee) to encourage a new lifestyle that pollutes less and uses resources better (waste management and eco-shoppers), trying to involve parents as well. In addition, short sessions have been organised for teachers on climate change, plastic pollution and political ecology. Finally, twice a week, we offer online sessions on spiritual ecology.

Local network

Our activities are beginning to be known in Trincomalee. A group of young entrepreneurs is interested in supporting them. The Navy has also shown much interest and will support our waste management project by ensuring that plastic bottles are transported to Colombo for recycling.

by Thierry Jean Roboüam SJ,

director of the Loyola Centre of Ecology & Justice - Trincomalee

Source : Fondazione magis