Introduction of Sri Lanka office staff (Field staff)

In continuation from the past blog, we will introduce local staff from Sri Lanka. We will introduce field and back office staff in Kilinochchi and Mullaitive offices.

Mr. Suresh – Project Officer, responsible for the projects in Kilinochchi and Mullaitive.

I was born in Jaffna. I graduated high school and technical college. I fled from Jaffna due to the civil war in 1995, and I had no choice but to go overseas because job opportunity and public security were unstable in my country. I learned various skills abroad. Having worked as a mechanic for three years, I worked for a hotel for seven years. After the end of the civil war, I came back to Sri Lanka and settled in Vavuniya, the northern part of the country. Now I try to spend as much time as possible with my son and daughter.

Getting a job at Sevalanka, Sri Lanka's NGO, made me start my career in the field of humanitarian support. I joined JEN as field officer in 2008 May. Now I work hard everyday as a project officer. I express my gratitude to my colleagues and international staff for giving me a bright future. As business promoter, I have recently been trying to focus on managing time and developing new ideas, as well as motivating the team.

In the future, I want to contribute to the country's green revolution by developing model farms with water saving faculty and connecting local farms with oversea markets.

Mr. Addikallam – Field officer at Mullaitive office; responsible for the cooperation with other support entities.

My name is Addikallam. I have been a field officer of JEN since 2012. I am 36 years old and am from Vavuniya. My family business is farming. I fled from Vavuniya in 1990 due to the civil war, and entered a catholic theologian school to become a priest. I studied there for three years, but left it in order to support my family, who had become refugees. In 2009, when the civil war ended, I came back to Vavuniya, and got a job as a counselor at an NGO providing mental and social support. After that, I obtained a qualification at “National Institute of Social Development” for my career enhancement in the field of humanitarian support. In 2011, I joined an NGO named ORHAN, which supports disabled people. Besides that, I started farming at home.

Since I got a job at JEN, I have learned various skills in agriculture, such as composting by organic farming, making organic fertilizer and saving agricultural water. JEN has been supporting livelihood rehabilitation assistance through farming in the northern part of the country since 2013. I contributed to the project's success by the use of my background as farmer and the knowledge I had learned in JEN.

The project from 2016 to 2017 will cover the towns of Thanduvan and Ampakamam in Oddusuddan, Mullaitive. They used to be flourishing agricultural areas before the civil war. Yet the residents fled due to the war, and the facilities in need for farming were totally destroyed. JEN is now conducting preliminary survey in order to prioritize the support targets. I am proud of helping people who lost everything in the war recover their livelihood again.

Ms. Gamini  – accountant at Killinochchi office

Hello. I am Gaminieesa. I have been working for JEN's Killinochchi office as accountant since 2015. I find it rewarding to work together with people in need and provide support to weakened communities. I am also pleased to learn new skills and techniques.

Though my specialty is basically accounting, I have been responsible for general affairs, accounting and logistics at the scenes of emergency support. I used to take care of a shelter program in UN-Habitat for a short time, though. It was a precious experience that I had a chance to talk directly with the victims in the civil war through the program.

I am grateful to JEN for its support to refugees and returnees since 2004, as well as the Japanese people for making the support possible. I am proud of helping the victims of the tsunami and the civil war. I also hope that JEN's projects support more people.

Ms. Gaya– general affairs staff at Killinochchi office

Hello everyone! I am Gaya. I am from Vavuniya. I have been working for JEN as general affairs staff since this February. I started my career in the field of humanitarian support since I worked for Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) as general affairs staff for three years. My job in FSD was to remove land mines embedded during the civil war, and provide land mine education with the local communities. After FSD, I worked for UN-Habitat as database operator for three years. UN-Habitat conducts a shelter projects for the returnees.

In the future, I hope to continue to support suffering communities in the northern part of the country.

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