City unites in mourning for victims of Sri Lanka blasts

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This article was published 22/04/2019 (2524 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ABOUT 150 people turned out for a candlelight vigil Monday night at the Manitoba legislature to honour those killed or injured in the Easter Sunday terror attacks in Sri Lanka.

“We just want to remember the people who died and give our prayers to them and their families,” said Haska Ratnamalala, a Winnipeg lawyer who identified himself as a Buddhist Sri Lankan.

Nearly 300 people were killed and hundreds more injured when eight bombs exploded in churches and hotels in or near the country’s capital of Colombo.

The vigil attracted several denominations of Sri Lankans including Christians, Buddhists and Muslims, Ratnamalala said. Winnipeg’s Sri Lankan community totals about 2,500.

Chomo Vanderwert said his nephew was in one of the Christian churches targeted on Sunday. He had got up to leave before the sermon started, when a bomb detonated. Some shrapnel was lodged in his leg, but his friend was killed, Vanderwert said.

People lit small white candles and were given plastic cups to shield the flame from the breeze.

Representatives from all levels of government attended and addressed the crowd, expressing sorrow and unity with people of Sri Lanka.

Also in attendance was Winnipeg resident Kusum Weerathunga, a former radio journalist in Sri Lanka.

“We pray for all those people,” Weerathunga said in an interview prior to the vigil. She said she travels back every year to visit her mother, brother, and other loved ones — including a couple who died in the attack on their church in the coastal city of Negombo.

Nimal Fernando and his wife, Kumuduni, were killed in the explosion in their church. They were with their daughter, in her late teens, who survived, but lost an ear, Weerathunga said. The Buddhist said she would go to festivals at the Fernandos’ church when she visited Sri Lanka.

“They were very close,” an emotional Weerathunga said, adding she spent all day on Sunday trying to contact people in Sri Lanka, but the phone lines and Internet were jammed.

Gishali Gamage, president of the Sri Lankan Association of Manitoba, said in addition to the vigil, the group will be holding a moment of silence during Saturday’s new year celebrations at a local hotel, in recognition of the victims of the terror attack.

The association also plans to hold a special prayer ceremony, or puja, at its temple on Cadboro Road, Sunday at 7 p.m.

“We extend this invitation to all members of the Sri Lankan community to join us,” a statement from the association’s board of directors says. “For many of us, it is hard to fathom why such horrific things happen to innocent people. While such incidents are disgraceful stains on humanity… These are testing times, when we need to stick together and stay strong.”