I’m standing beside a mango tree in Bandaragama, Sri Lanka , an ordinary tree to a passerby, yet to URI, it holds a quiet, enduring story. Planted in 2010 at the peaceful campus of the Sarvodaya Institute of Higher Learning, this tree became the symbol of the Travelling Peace Academy (TPA).
Back then, it was a small sapling planted in the earth with hope; today it stands grown and generous, mirroring the journey of peacebuilding you have helped nurture over the years.
The roots of this story reach even further back, to a formative experience shaped by the Moral Imagination Peacebuilding training led by John Paul Lederach and Herm Weaver of Eastern Mennonite University.
What began as a training soon became a shared calling. With the generous support of Libby Hoffman, twenty-five participants travelled across the United States, India, the Philippines, Ethiopia and Uganda in a two-year learning pilgrimage. Those encounters shaped not only our skills but our imagination of what peace could look like when carried across cultures and communities.
Out of that journey, the Travelling Peace Academy was born, not as an institution bound by walls, but as a movement carried by people. With the encouragement of veteran URI leader John Weiser, the Academy’s first Sri Lankan edition unfolded in 2010.
Herm Weaver served as a trainer, and it was during those reflective days that we planted the mango tree. Even when the Academy later entered a season of quiet pause, the tree continued to grow, a silent reassurance that seeds of peace remain alive beneath the soil.
Returning to Bandaragama recently felt like meeting an old friend. The tree greeted us with shade and memory just as we began reviving the Academy in Sri Lanka once again.
Your encouragement and belief in violence prevention made this return possible. Friends and colleagues, Karen, Maria, and many committed partners, reminded us that peace work is rarely a solitary path; it is sustained by a community that keeps showing up.
This renewed chapter brought us to Matara, where around thirty young people from Sri Lanka and India gathered for four days of learning rooted in Moral Imagination and holistic wellbeing.
Resource persons and alumni stepped forward with quiet leadership: Ardra P. Manoj of One Billion Youth for Peace, alongside Ravi, Rasika, and Sujith Abhayvikra, each once a participant, now guiding others. Rasika’s leadership within Santhi Sena and Ravi’s continued service through the Sarvodaya Movement reflect the ripple effect of what you helped begin years ago.
Across earlier editions in India, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, nearly 400 young people have stepped into the world of conflict transformation through TPA. Their journeys are diverse, yet connected by a shared commitment to build communities of trust and resilience.
Sri Lanka itself carries a deep resonance for this work. The Academy’s beginnings here were nurtured under the gracious patronage of A. T. Ariaratne, whose spirit of compassionate service continues to inspire. Today, Vinay Ariaratne carries that legacy forward, reminding us that peacebuilding is always intergenerational.
As the week unfolded through conversations, field visits, and moments of laughter across Colombo, Matara, Katharagama and Galle, the most meaningful reflections came from participants themselves. One of them, Thilindi, captured the collective feeling in words that linger with us:
“Thank you so much for your participation, inspiration, and unwavering support throughout the program. Your encouragement, active engagement, and positive energy meant so much to us. It was truly a pleasure having each of you with us.”
Her message continued with a tribute to mentorship that echoes what many participants felt:
“You have been an outstanding, courageous, and patient mentor, truly a dedicated partner in this meaningful journey. Your caring nature, inspiring guidance, wise direction, and thoughtful mentorship, along with your humility and compassion, touched us all deeply.”
These words are not simply appreciation for individuals; they are a reflection of what happens when learning spaces become communities of care. They remind us that peacebuilding is as much about relationships as it is about methodology.
As we said goodbye to Sri Lanka after this week of shared learning, gratitude travelled with us, gratitude for participants, partners, mentors, and for you. Every training circle, every dialogue across difference, every young leader discovering their voice is part of the harvest of that mango tree planted years ago.
Standing beside it now, I am reminded that trees do not rush their growth. They deepen quietly, season after season, nourished by sunlight, rain, and unseen roots. The Travelling Peace Academy feels much the same. It pauses, it resumes, it adapts, yet it continues to grow because of your faith in the possibility of peace.
And so the mango tree remains in Bandaragama, offering shade to new dreamers and fruit to future stories. As this renewed journey unfolds, we carry forward the same simple promise: to keep planting seeds of moral imagination wherever we travel, trusting that,with your companionship, they will grow.
