Good News!?!?!

Well, things have turned around. Finally I have good news to pass on. For the last week or so I haven’t really believed that the group would be able to come, as there was a question about whether or not the Canadian government would issue the delegates visas. Apparently there was concern that due to the situation in Sri Lanka that the group would get here and some or all would claim refugee status.

But, I just got a message that they had their visa interviews yesterday and everything went smoothly. So we have a green light. I expect that they will arrive in Kitchener in less than two weeks!

….now I am truly panicked and off to push the planning process into high gear… yikes, I didn’t really believe they were coming! Ahhhhhh.

Not looking good...

Wow. I just checked my library email. I am signed up for Reuters news alerts on that account, and I found 6 messages from the last day and a half about what is going on in Sri Lanka. The situation there has deteriorated even further. They are basically acknowledging that they are in a full civil war. Both sides are actively participating, and the civilians are paying a high price. It is a mess, there is even a report that 15 locals working for a French NGO were executed. The focal point is Mutur a community very close to the port of Trincomalee.

If this level of unrest continues, I do not think it will be safe for the libary delegation to leave their communities to travel across the island to Colombo and the international airport. We can't go there and they may not be able to come here. What a sad, sad state of affairs.

For the meantime, the planning process continues... but I am anxious to hear what the FCM has to say this week. I will keep you posted.