“It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.” – Lord Jesus Christ.
THE UNFORTUNATE CHAIN OF EVENTS THAT UNFOLDED IN JAFFNA RECENTLY (May 2015), OVER THE BEASTLY ASSAULT AND GRUESOME MURDER OF A YOUNG SCHOOL GIRL (18yrs.), SHOULD SEND A WAKE UP CALL TO EVERY SON AND DAUGHTER WHO IS A NATIVE OF THAT SOIL! POST WAR JAFFNA HAS SEEN THE ADVENT OF BOTH THE GOOD AND THE BAD. WHILE TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES AND MODERNISATION HAS BROUGHT IN THE GOOD, UNBRIDLED FREEDOM AND UN-CHARTERED ECONOMIC GROWTH HAS BROUGHT IN THE GOOD WITH THE BAD, AND THE BAD HAS LEFT ITS UGLY FOOTPRINTS IN MANY PARTS OF THAT COUNTRY. IN MY SCHOOL DAYS, JAFFNA STILL EMBODIED THE WORTHY AND THE VIRTUEOUS QUALITIES OF A BYGONE ERA. TODAY, THE POST-WAR NORTHERN PROVINCE HAS BECOME A HUB FOR ILLICIT DRUG TRADE, RISING INCIDENCE OF SEXUAL ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION. DURING MY LAST VISIT TO JAFFNA I LEARNT THAT THE POPULAR DRUGS IN THE AREA ARE THE KERALA GANJA AND THE CANNABIS-MIXED ARECANUTS. LET US DO ALL WE CAN, WHILE WE CAN, WHENEVER WE CAN TO STOP THIS RISING TIDE OF EVIL THAT’S THREATENING TO DESTROY THE VERY SOCIAL FABRIC OF OUR HOMELAND, JAFFNA.
Even though many sons and daughters of that native soil have taken up residence in foreign lands. and are doing well in their adopted countries, we owe a debt of gratitude to our native homeland , for all the goodness we have derived from her; all that she has ever done for us and given to us. We need to show our gratitude in real and tangible ways before its too late. I am glad that all through the war years, with God’s help, we were able to save some of these children from the vultures that tried to prey on them. We were the thin line that seperated these innocents from the sinister elements that threatened to devour them. May God help us all to do our duty, and our part towards our homeland! God bless you.
– Pastor Dayalan Sanders.
