Stories
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There is speculation that the government might soon charge a fee from private vehicles entering Colombo during peak hours. This is to encourage more people to use public transport. It is not clear if the fee will be enforced, but our public transport isn’t an attractive alternative for many reasons.…
She was a child And she was also a bride She was a child For a man to rape in bed She was a child And she was pregnant in her teens She was a child And she was a mother of one She was a child And four months…
In 2015, the UN is 70 and Sri Lanka’s membership is 60
With the mission of ‘delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled’, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) works with the government as well as other organizations to bolster the youth population of the country, especially women. As Sri Lanka goes…
Pre-marital sex is considered taboo by a Sri Lankan society that is deeply entrenched in cultural norms and values. Let’s face it – the older generation (inclusive of our parents) considers sexual relations are only for married people and even if they did not, they would like to believe that…
The Enrique Iglesias concert ‘Sex and Love’, held in Colombo on 20 December 2015, has been in the news for days and remains a hot topic of conversation. Alas, for all the wrong reasons. The concert got off to a rocky start with many complaints about its…
Yalini Shanmuganathan (26) is a final year student in Department of Applied Nutrition, Wayamba University of Sri Lanka. She is reading for B.Sc in Food Science and Nutrition.
As a young person do you really feel the drive of this large population of youth? Yes I definitely do. And as a Sri Lankan youth I not only feel it, but face it every day. In Sri Lanka one quarter of the total population are youth. And if you…
People with disabilities are considered easy targets by sexual predators – that is why their numbers are disproportionately high among the victims of rape and sexual harassment in Sri Lanka. And it doesn’t help that they have limited access to basic information and understanding about human…
Yesterday we wrote about what some young people thought about the chaos that erupted after the Enrique Iglesias’s ‘Sex and Love’ concert in Sri Lanka. One disturbing incident was the public shaming of a young woman who got on the stage and was hugged and kissed…
Shuffling through Friday’s (02 October) newspapers, there were quite a few stories about children. This was expected given that yesterday was National Children’s Day. Front pages were splashed with pictures of beaming children, minsters distributing gifts to children in the arms of their proud parents, and full page advertisements…
Embracing motherhood before adolescence! A 14 year old mother struggles as a victim of incest to balance raising her newborn baby and experiencing her own childhood. She plays with her hair accessories, braiding her hair in different styles, until it’s time for…
Sri Lanka is a country which has a very high unemployment rate. The overall unemployment is 45% whereas female unemployment rate is 65%. “Sri Lanka needs to get more people to participate in labour market. We have to focus to women and people with disabilities who have right to engage…
Somalatha is a rural woman who lives in a border village in the Western Province of Sri Lanka. She is a 54-year old rubber factory worker. “Rubber prices have declined. Masters say the factory is not making profits. They want to stop the workers and I will have to retire…
A report submitted by the Ministry of Disaster Management of Sri Lanka to the parliament indicates that 128 persons have been killed and further 122 have been disappeared due to natural disasters in 2016. Further 59 persons have been injured in natural disaster situations. The deaths and disappearances have been caused by…
Chamindri* had 6 more months of maternity leave left. Her daughter was now just 3 months old and still needed the mother’s close attention, but Chamindri had little choice. So she woke up early, dressed herself in her white uniform and returned to her work. Chamindri is a nurse at…