Serendib

La Bouche Ouvert, Le Pied Terrible

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 10:24:00 +0000

Yesterday evening I had an interview with a couple of mountain climbers.

They have climbed Everest up to 6,500 metres, which is only a couple of kilometres short of the summit. No Sri Lankan has ever climbed higher on that mountain. Not officially, anyway.

These guys were great. They were accommodating and generous with their stories. So how did I alienate them?

As we were chatting, I casually asked if there had been much media interest in Sri Lanka about their attempts to climb Everest. Some Sinhala papers had been in contact, they answered.

I replied that one of the toughest things about living in Sri Lanka as a foreigner is that I'm excluded from a large amount of media, since I don't understand the languages (which is my problem, and my fault). And that the Sinhala papers here must surely be better than the English ones, which, I pronounced, are universally awful.

The table quickly became quiet, and I sensed a bit of embarrassment. "No one here writes for an English paper, do they?" I asked.

I knew the answer before anyone spoke.

Man, I tried to backtrack. My attempts were transparent, though. I just finished my coke and left.

A rough first draft is complete

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 06:00:00 +0000

I really wish I could put the LTRT stuff onto YouTube, but I think that one large detraction of working with a multinational NGO is that copyright issues come into play. Also, there will be people who are higher up who will not appreciate an unapproved production leaked to the public, especially in it's nascent form.

But I think I have a rough draft of the newest video ready. I've shown it to one person here, and he thinks it's definitely going in the right direction. I have a feeling I'll have to let go of the notion that the only voice to be heard will be Renuka's though. There's really a gap between a couple of sequences that can only be bridged by using either an interview or some bullet points. I'm leaning toward the latter.

ACF Murders - One Year On

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 11:14:00 +0000

Today is the one year anniversary of the massacre that took the lives of 17 employees of the French aid group Action Contre la Faim. There was a ceremony at the UN compound in Colombo, along with other major Sri Lankan cities and offices in 40 countries ACF operates in.

I would really have liked to have blogged about this commemoration, or even done something for VoR Radio or the upcoming Spinach 7. But, as I found out when I arrived at the compound, media are barred from the events.

I'm sure there' s a good reason for this, but I wasn't given one.

So unfortunately I have nothing to report.

IOM Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 07:45:00 +0000

Great news on the IOM pics. Their communications officer sent me about ten photos yesterday, but wasn't quite sure they were taken at the right temple. I sorted through the first few, and they seemed like the right place. Then I came to a picture with Renuka, and that erased all doubt. Very exciting.

I'm still waiting on translations so that I can really start putting things together, so I'm feeling a bit stuck until then. Please, please, please let that be done by tomorrow!

Adobe hates me, but this was all me

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 10:19:00 +0000

Today while editing the video I did a stupid thing. I deleted basically all of Renuka's audio from the hard drive. I won't go into how I did this, since it really doesn't make a difference. It was due to carelessness on my part, though, and it just means that I'll have to go back through my raw files and find all the clips I highlighted last week. Luckily, that isn't too much stuff to look through, but when it's a language I don't understand it makes things a bit tricky.

I'm getting the clips translated now, and hopefully I'll have them by tomorrow so I can really fit the into the video. I've also been in touch with IOM (the UN agency that tracks the movement of refugees) for some still photos of the camp Renuka stayed in. It will be great to use this element as well.

Editing process: slow but sure

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 09:36:00 +0000

I began editing the Renuka video in earnest on Friday. What I've been concentrating on is just getting an approximate structure for the story together. At the very beginning is a short montage of tsunami destruction footage I took a couple of weeks ago, ending with a shot of Renuka's old house. I'm using some music by a band called IOEI that I found on Creative Commons, which I think gives this sequence great momentum. It feels like we're going someplace. Here's a link to a torrent file if you want to listen to their album. The song's name is 'floating islands.'

From here I cut to Renuka giving a short 'tour' of her house: "This was where the bedroom used to be, this was where the kitchen used to be." That sort of thing.

Cut to her giving voice to how much she misses her place. She said that she liked the area, and I can understand why. Though the houses that have gone up around the area are pretty dingy, there are shops, restaurants, and, most importantly easy access to a major road. Also it's right on the coast. The house she lives in now, for all its advantages, is located 5km from the Galle Road.

From here, she talks about her time as a domestic worker in the middle east. Although Renuka spent her time in Dubai, most Sri Lankan women who go overseas to work end up in Lebanon, where they're employed in incredibly harsh circ umstances. Renuka's employer was pretty sadistic: whenever the family left home, they made sure to lock Renuka in her room. She wasn't allowed to talk to or associate with any other Sri Lankans. Renuka's letters didn't make it home for some reason, and her family thought she'd disappeared. Still, she persevered, and stayed in Dubai for two years.

When she got back home, she used the money she earned in Dubai to buy a house. A couple of years later, it was washed away by the tsunami.

From here I will cut to her time at the Buddhist temple she and her family lived in for eight months after the tsunami. She talks about the loss of trust she felt after so many INGOs promised her a new house, a license for her husband (who was a driver), etc, etc. These promises were never met. Since this film is supposed to demonstrate the importance of accountability, this is probably the most crucial section of the video.

Now she will talk about the house built for her by World Vision LTRT. We've been having discussions about this: nobody here is interested in making a propaganda film. So I do want to show that even though LTRT built her family a house that she is generally pleased with, there are still a few complaints that Renuka has. She thought the kitchens would be bigger, for example. And it really is a long way to get to a main road (her husband had to walk the 5km before a bus route was finally installed just a couple of weeks ago).

From here, I'll finish up the film. It should all take only five or six minutes.

The good news is that I think I've hit on the right person to focus on. The bad news is that I don't speak sinhala, and so I have to wait for a translator to spend a couple of hours with me going over some of this footage. I know the gist of what she's saying, but I need everything to be as accurate as possible.

Man takes elevator, Haig opens mouth

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 11:07:00 +0000

A typical moment from about a week ago.

I step into the World Vision office with full camera gear, which usually means that I will forego the stairs in favour of the lift. I press the button, the doors open, and a man follows me into the car.

He presses the button for the first floor (the second floor in North America). This is a pet peeve of mine, but I decide, for once, not to make a comment. But I can't help it. "Why didn't you just take the stairs?" I ask. "It's just one storey up."

He smiles at me and nods. I don't think he understands what I said. When the door opens, he shuffles off with a heavy limp, his left leg set in an unnatural direction.

Next time I'll try to follow my first instinct.

Africa nixed

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 09:45:00 +0000

Got bad news today. Sadly, a trip to Africa (probably to Zimbabwe) has been nixed. I was to go there to film a companion piece to the video I'm filming now for LTRT. I'm a bit disappointed, but not inconsolable. It would have been nice to go, since I've never been to Africa. But time was definitely going to be a factor, and this frees me for other activities.

This is how filming should always be

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 08:56:00 +0000

It's incredible what a difference having a competent translator makes. Viraj is not actually a translator; he's currently the stakeholder rep for LTRT in Kalutara. But he was able to relate my questions to Renuka in the way that I wanted him to. So we spent about 40 minutes on an interview while she gave me a tour of her place.

The picture on above is of her by her garden, where she grows vegetables she shares with her neighbours. Each house has a garden.

After the interview, we took a detour into a temple that Renuka and others at the Monk's Land development stayed after the tsunami. It's a bit difficult to imagine how so many people stayed at this temple, and I've contacted IOM, the UN agency who reportedly administered the camp, to see if they have any pictures from that time.

What the temple did have in abundance were unbelievable views. It was located on top of a high hill. Our vehicle actually stalled on the way there because of the steepness of the road. I was a bit surprised that the view of the ocean was as clear as it was. But what really shocked me was when I walked to the back of the temple and saw this:

I was told that I would be able to see Ratnapura from here, many kilometres away.

Update: Wars and Waves now online

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:19:00 +0000

A few days ago I blogged about Wars and Waves, a new documentary by Sam de Silva.

It's now online. Here's one place it can be viewed.

Let's mark this down as a learning experience

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 13:54:00 +0000

I was IMing with a film making friend yesterday, and he remarked that we were in a really privileged situation. Basically, we're paid to learn. My last project was definitely an education, and this one is shaping to teach me more than I bargained for.

Today was a pretty frustrating day of filming. I learned yesterday afternoon that the person who would be translating for me would not be able to make it. He asked a colleague if she could take over, so that filming could continue on schedule. I asked him if his colleague's English would make the cut. He told me that it would.

It didn't.

It's not so much that I needed to slow down my questions that bothered me. It was that I constantly had to dumb them down to yes or no questions, because that was the extent of the translator's knowledge. I hate yes or no questions, because I invariably end up with yes or no answers, which I really can't use. After about an hour of this, I finally gave up and asked Renuka (for that's the subject's name) if she wouldn't mind starting again on another day. Luckily for me, she said it would be ok.

But there's also another worry that's been creeping up slowly. I'm hoping I found the right person to do this story on. I'm a bit worried that I may have chosen Renuka a bit to hastily, and I'm hanging on to her simply because she's available and that her story just fits into my needs so nicely.

She is, by the way, a really, really nice woman. I felt really bad this morning: when I came into her her neighbourhood she was away at a hospital. Her baby had a fever.

My first thought was: oh no, she doesn't want to be in the film after all. I really should stop being so cynical!

Looking forward to Friday.

The new website to end all websites

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 16:42:00 +0000

I've taken web narcissism to it's logical next step and created a very simple website at www.haigbalian.com. I hope other Haig Balians out there don't mind that I took the domain. I think .net, .org, and basically every other suffix are still available.

There's really not too much up there yet: just a link to one story I wrote that was supposed to be published in the Whig Standard last year (I still don't know why they didn't want to run it) and a short bio.

I deliberately kept it simple, but can maybe add more stuff there if there are any suggestions.

New Film Begins Tomorrow

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 16:06:00 +0000

OK, tomorrow's the big day.

Over the last few weeks my goal was to find the right person to focus my new video on. I think I found her after what became a very short search. I'll keep her name anonymous for now (at least until she signs the talent release form), but I will say she lives in a World Vision - Lanka Tsunami Response Team housing development about an hour and a half south of Colombo.

Like so many Sri Lankan women, she went to the middle east to find a job as a domestic labourer, worked hard for two years, and came back with her savings to start a new life by the ocean. Her husband worked as a driver. Then the tsunami came along and took every physical thing she owned away from her.

We start filming tomorrow, and I'm nervous about how she'll be on camera. We've only spoken a couple of times (the last time I just used an audio recorder when interviewing her), and she was great. But people behave differently on camera. I guess that's one reason I don't mind being a one-person team that much. I think I'm a lot less intimidating working alone than a team of director, camera operator, and audio guy. Not that I'm saying I wouldn't like to have a team; but there are also advantages to working alone.

Anyway, I'll update soon.

The Lakbima Scandal

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:33:00 +0000

A new scandal is breaking out in Sri Lanka, and I would urge everyone to read about it (here and especially here).

Here are my thoughts on this.

For me, this boils down to one issue. As a journalist, I would think I have control over my own work. I can choose to be employed by a newspaper or magazine, I can freelance, or I can publish my thoughts on a blog. This is my choice, and no one has the right to make this choice for me. You can quote me, sometimes at length, but you can't just copy, paste, and publish without my prior permission.

I can understand why Rajpal would want to appropriate the work of people who don't work for him. I too appreciate the diversity, quality, and size of Sri Lanka's burgeoning blog scene. Increasingly, I consider what's published here to be the most relevant source of opinion in Sri Lanka. News gathering is not far behind. Who wouldn't want to take part in the excitement?

Work Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 10:23:00 +0000

Last month I was invited to a friend's surprise birthday party. He works at the American Embassy in Colombo, and most of the people at the party were his colleagues and their spouses. Most of these people were older than me and Beth; they had kids, for example, and owned houses in Washington.

The conversation turned to transportation in Colombo. Most of these guys not only had cars, but also drivers. One woman noted that her kids sometimes took three-wheelers as a"cheapo" option, which kind of irked her. What would her reaction be, I thought, if she found out I took the bus to work on a daily basis?

It's true that three-wheelers (aka tri-shaws aka tuk-tuks) are pretty cheap, especially if you haggle (which I do, with glee). To go a couple of kilometres shouldn't cost more than 200 Rupees, or less than two bucks. But to take a bus the same distance costs just five Rupees. That's 1/4oth of the cost, or a smooth 195 Rs. saved.

There are, of course, drawbacks to taking a bus.

Many drivers don't like stopping. However, I still haven't mastered the art of jumping into or out of a moving vehicle.

Once I do get on, I try my best to get a seat. Most of these buses aren't air conditioned. This doesn't matter that much when the bus is moving, but can be pure misery when caught in traffic. I would much rather be seated than standing at this point, especially when bodies are crushed against me.

Bodies will be crushed against me.

Incredibly horrible music is usually blaring from speakers. This noise is compounded by the driver sounding his horn, which he does frequently, enthusiastically, and for no apparent purpose.

No matter how cramped the bus is, there's always room for more passengers.

I can't expect the driver to stop at every bus stop. Sometimes, I have to demand it.

In a way, though, despite the inconvenience of relying on this mode of transportation, I can honestly say that, in a small way, I share one aspect of life with working people here.

Of course, my point of departure is Colombo 05, which is in central Colombo. Some of my fellow passengers come in from Kalutara, and are on the bus for hours every day. One driver at work told me he spends two and half hours on a bus each way to get to work. That's an experience I'd rather not share.

Feedburner

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 10:07:00 +0000

I'm experimenting with feedburner right now, so hopefully this won't cause too much grief with people who read this blog via a newsreader. It should make things a bit easier actually, especially as I begin to podcast. Just click on "subscribe to a reader" on the side of the page. If you're using firefox, this should work on the live bookmarks toolbar (it worked on mine, not that I subscribe to my own blog).

Daredevil in Colombo

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 08:35:00 +0000

Over the course of my life, I haven't been known to put my life into my hands (or, infinitely more scary, into the hands of others) on a regular basis. There have been some hikes I'd rather not have gone on, a bus ride too close to the edge, meetings with primates that have not gone very well.

So why do I regularly risk my life in Colombo by cycling to the gym, sometimes five times in the course of a week?

When I was living in Montreal, I would never get tired of complaining about the driving there. In Kingston, where I grew up, I got spoiled by drivers who are perhaps a bit too cautious. But Colombo is another universe. As a friend remarked last weekend when I tested the limits of traffic etiquette, there's no such concept as "right of way" in Colombo.

I usually leave my house at 6:40 in the morning. I make a right turn onto the wrong lane, until I see a bus or an SUV coming toward me (three-wheelers are usually ok). I cross Havelock Rd, and make my way up to Thimbirigisiya Mawatha on the sidewalk. I don't like riding on the correct side of the road because I hate having my back to the traffic on this particular street. Way too many buses.

On the sidewalk, I dodge kids going to school, beggars, and recently, construction workers. These guys usually say hello. They think my helmet is funny, and so they should. I have a feeling I'm the only cyclist in the country who wears one.

I turn onto Thimbirigisiya, again on the wrong lane, but try cross to the other side. It can be difficult though, since this is a fairly busy intersection. But somehow, I get it done.

Then I turn onto Jawatta. Here, finally, I'm on the right side of the road. No buses here, but lots of cars. Half-way down this street there's a major road with what looks like a big school. Ever since I've been in Colombo, though, this road has been blocked by the military. This creates a huge bottleneck, as parents and school vans must let their kids out on Jawatta. I really hate this part. Cars stop suddenly. The one lane splits into two. Horns blare. I'm usually uncomfortably close to large vehicles. It's complete chaos.

Once I get by this mess - and so far, I always have - it's just another 30 seconds until I get to the gym. It takes me about 10 minutes to complete the trip. It takes Bethany seven, but she wasn't raised in Kingston.

Just a slice of life in a very loud city.

Young Sri Lankan woman set to be executed

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 08:41:00 +0000

I've cut this verbatim from Groundviews.org. At the moment, I'm contacting people from the Human Rights community here and other parts of Asia to possibly get them onto a CBC program.

The beheading of Rizana, a Sri Lankan migrant worker in Saudi Arabia feels unstoppable. I first heard about this issue late last week ago, but only found out yesterday that her execution is scheduled for the 16th July – in a few days time.

Why didn’t I know earlier? She was arrested in May 2005 and was sentenced to death on 16 June 2007. But, rather than analysing my poor information flows and the lack of publicity this case has received, it’s better to concentrate on what can be done to delay the execution of someone who has not received proper legal representation, and from all accounts, appears to have been wrongly convicted.

According to her certified birth certificate, Rizana was born in February 1988. She’s currently 19 years old.

Today’s Daily Mirror describes the chain of events that lead to Rizana’s arrest.

The girl Rizana Nasik went to work at the house of her Saudi employer whose wife had a new-born baby boy. A short time after she started working for this family she was assigned to bottle feed the infant who was by then four months old.

She had no experience of any sort in caring for such a young infant. She was left alone when bottle feeding the child. While she was feeding the child the boy started choking, as so often happens to babies and Rizana Nasik panicked and while shouting for help tried to soothe the child by feeling the chest, neck and face, doing whatever she could to help him.

At her shouting the mother arrived but by that time the baby was either unconscious or dead. Unfortunately, misunderstanding the situation the family members treated the teenager harshly and handed her over to the police, accusing her of strangling the baby.

Rizana, like hundreds of thousands of other Sri Lankan women, had gone to work in the Middle East to alleviate her and her family’s poverty. Through the remittance from people like her, Sri Lanka is kept financially afloat.

There have been reports of Government representatives meeting to figure out what to do. But in this situation, I am not optimistic that Sri Lanka’s Government will do anything that is effective to help a poor Muslim woman (who has no political influence) on death-row in a far away country. Out of sight, out of mind.

What strikes me about Rizana’s case is that it can happen to anyone. There are plenty of examples of wrongly accused people who have received plenty of legal support, being executed. But in her case, she doesn’t speak the language and has received no proper legal assistance.
So what can we do?

Now, I know there are people who read this who would have the mobile numbers of some of Sri Lanka’s leading politicians and other highly influential people. You could call them and ask them what they are doing about the case. We are not trying to change or interfere with the Saudi regime’s policy on executions (that’s another campaign). Rather, we are trying to explain that Rizana simply needs proper representation so her case can be presented with all the facts.

There are a number of human rights organisations working on the issue, including Amnesty and the Asian Human Rights Centre.

Please do visit the AHRC site as it includes a call for ordinary people to take action on this issue. The site also goes in to more detail about the background of Rizana’s situation. I understand there is a handful of individual activists from Sri Lanka developing strategies.

Now I am not an expert in any of this, but the immediate aim should be to delay Rizana’s execution.

Here are some activities we can do:

Inform Sri Lankan diaspora world-wide of the case and get them to relay pressure on the governments of the countries they live in to intervene. People in Europe and Australia could be very effective.
Approach the British High Commission in Riyadh that a Commonwealth citizen needs assistance.
Contact the Foreign Commonwealth Office and inform them a Commonwealth citizen needs assistance in Riyadh.
Identify qualified lawyers who may be able to assist in any appeal that may happen in the case. Currently, the Sri Lanka Embassy in Saudi Arabia is indicating that a Saudi law firm will be appointed, and is requiring a fee of Rs 4.5 million.
Encourage the media, especially the international media, to give publicity to this case.
Fax or email the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions to take action. The contents of the fax or email can be a detailed submission, or simply a personal request to please investigate the case of Rizana’s further.
Ask ‘civil society’ groups such as Centre for Policy Alternatives what they are doing about the case.

There’s not much time before the 16th July. Let’s hope something positive can happen and that Rizana will not be executed.

Wars and Waves

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 05:33:00 +0000

Last night I went to see my friend Sam de Silva's new film, Wars and Waves: Sri Lanka's Displaced. The half-hour film was excellent and I definitely recommend it. There's an edginess to Sam, a zeal to take on the status quo, that really comes through in his film.

The film is not online yet, but should be on YouTube soon, according to COHRE, the organization that funded the film.

As an aside, I think Sam would make a good interview for a program like As It Happens. I'm going to suggest to them that they get him on!

New contract, second return

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Mon, 14 May 2007 07:23:00 +0000

I'm signing another short-term contract this week with LTRT to make another film. This means that I'll be in Sri Lanka until at least September, but I probably won't make a more permanent move until at least December. The film is still in the early planning stages, so there's not too much to report. But basically it will be a field-eye view of accountability measures.

There's also a good chance that I'll be signing up with a medical organization to develop a video tutorial for them. I hope this happens. I haven't done something like this before, and I think it would be a worthwhile experience.

There's one more project in the works, but that one is still too embryonic to really discuss. But it will be journalistic in nature, and will make sure that I'll be kept busy.

Cause and Effect

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Mon, 14 May 2007 07:13:00 +0000

From The Island, Monday May 14 2007, two stories running next to each other on the front page, above the fold.

Ganja for Free!: Kandy Chief Magistrate Hersha B. Sethunga ordered Tismadu Gedara Wasantha Upatissa to be remanded till July 15 for distributing ganja among school children.
Over 51 per cent students fail GCE: Examinations Chief

LTRT Project: lessons learned

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 09:02:00 +0000

To the uninitiated, I've been working on this film for LTRT - the Lanka Tsunami Response Film - since I got back to Sri Lanka in January. Here are a few thoughts with the project coming to a close.

I'm pretty proficient with Premiere Pro 2 now, whereas my earlier experience with non-linear video editing was with Final Cut Express (and, by the way, that new suite looks incredible).

I've also learned the joy of filming in 24P, which just looks so much better than 30 fps in my opinion, especially for non-broadcast projects.

Having to do my own graphics and "special effects" (basically an animation branding LTRT and World Vision at the beginning of the video) was also really useful. Lots of post-education education here.

I signed a contract giving my employers final editorial control over the project. In hindsight, that may have been a mistake. Not that the suggestions that have been coming my way are unreasonable; in some cases, they're totally welcome. But this late in the game, with my contract ending in just a few weeks, making everyone happy is going to be a challenge.

Making a video like this one is different from making a documentary. That's actually a no-brainer, and I knew this would be the case going into the project. It shouldn't have been such a surprise to me that it's difficult to recreate the passion and joy of working with video and audio to tell a personal story when the story isn't close to your heart. But it kind of was a surprise.

It looks like I'll be making another video for LTRT beginning in mid-June. The topic of this one is "What is Accountability? Views from the Field."

I'm going to be working on at least one other major project during this time. Details will be forthcoming.

There's an excellent chance that I'm returning to Canada/USA in mid or late May.

Back to Batti

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 11:31:00 +0000

Since January, I've been at LTRT, World Vision's Lanka Tsunami Response Team, working on a training film about complaints mechanisms.

This project has taken me to the south, to a town called Kalutara, and it has taken me to the east, back to Batticaloa.

This time, though, Batticaloa was a totally different place from what it was the last time I visited. Before, residents were girding themselves for a war they hoped was avoidable. Instead, it was inevitable. There is shelling and multi-barrelled rockets there pretty much every day. My first night there, I stayed at the LTRT team house, which was a good distance away from the source of the shelling. The next night, I stayed at a hotel, and the multi-barrels woke me up on a couple of instances.

Fortunately for me, the shelling is all outgoing. There was nothing coming in to Batti, so safety was not much of an issue on my end.

But it did cause me to look at the conflict with new eyes. The war is obviously really hard on everyone who lives there, but I couldn't imagine what it would be like for a kid growing up in an environment like this. It's really heartbreaking.

I'm back and I'm blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 11:09:00 +0000

After an absence of way too many months, I'm back blogging.

I don't really know why I stopped in the first place. I left Sri Lanka for a few weeks, took some time off while back in Canada, and then just stopped writing when I returned.

I apologize for ending it all so abruptly, and to be honest, I'm not even sure anyone's reading this anymore.

In any case, I'm going to start writing in this space again. And hopefully, this blog will be more interesting and entertaining than anything I've done before.

On The Current

noreply@blogger.com (Haig Balian) — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 04:36:00 +0000

On Thursday I made an appearance on CBC's the Current guest hosted by Tom Harrington.

I spoke mainly about the funeral of Nadarajah Raviraj, a Tamil MP who was gunned down last Friday in Colombo.

A link to the interview can be found here.