The silent waves of the Gulf of Mannar rolling onto the sandy shores of Marawila, a western coastal city in Sri Lanka, created a symphony of ecstasy, made by the often still mind.

Gazing at the horizon of the bright blue sky, over the Indian Ocean, while sipping on blended coffee is always an unforgettable experience at the Aquarius Sports Resort Hotel’s beach-end restaurant, which is surrounded by greenery with a panoramic view, which It is unique only in this paradise island.

More than just enjoying the taste of nature’s gifts, chatting about world affairs focusing on Germany and the rest of Europe will always become a hot topic in the restaurant, and will sometimes turn the environment into a German village. from Asia.

The Aquarius Sports Resort hotel, which houses the Asian-German Sports Exchange Program (AGSEP), a non-governmental organization operating in the development policy sector with an associated office, is located in Essen, Germany.

The Resort is also home to the Sri Lankan branch of the International Institute for Qualifications and Consulting (IIRC), a German-based Think-Tank, which provides surveys and consultancy and is currently conducting a tsunami devastation survey to introduce donors around the world.

My association with these institutions after the tsunami disaster made me visit them often and gave me the opportunity to learn more about German history, economics, and cultural issues through my conversation with students from leading German universities who are in their exchange programs and doing their undergraduate and graduate studies in the fields of economics, political science, social science, engineering and other disciplines.

Dietmar Doring, the founder/director of AGSEP and national director of the IIRC, was a national amateur coach of the Sri Lankan table tennis team and could be proud of his decision to use sporting events as a means of fostering peace in this country. . island, you have come a long way.

He has bridged his personal trauma from experience ravaged by Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil war and beyond the lasting trauma caused by the destructions in Germany in major world wars.

Sri Lankans will never forget the dedication of Dietmar Doring and his AGSEP students, who rendered memorable service to this island during the tsunami period and afterwards, by importing products and medicines directly from Germany, for a value of more than 5 million US dollars.

Their kind and caring nature has prompted me to associate with AGSEP in various ways and it is an unforgettable experience to associate with them.

We recently had a joint event of the AGSEP and the PDIP: A Think-Tank on Post Conflict, Economy and Gender in the restaurant of the Hotel Aquarius Sports Resort, the “Night of a Thousand Dinners”, an initiative of Adopt-A -Minefield, a program of the United Nations Association of the USA and the Canadian Landmine Foundation that began as an opportunity for individuals and institutions from around the world to come together in one evening, enjoy a meal and help solve the global landmine crisis with discussions on global business.

The event was observed a couple of years ago for the first time in Sri Lanka by the PDIP with the participation of its Patron Dr. James W. Spain, former US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the UN with a global participation from the Department of State and its embassies, the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and its consulates, the United States Chambers of Commerce, and Rotary International.

The event has given me the opportunity to address and share various international topics with German students and others and has taken me back to the Second World Era of Germany.

Even in Germany there were acts of resistance against the Nazis by individuals or resistance groups over the years. They came from all walks of life. A bomb attack started by Graf Stauffenberg and other resistance fighters on July 20, 1944 failed: Hitler survived and executed more than 4,000 people in retaliation. The war continued, inflicting heavy casualties on both sides, until the Allies occupied the entire German Reich. Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945, and a week later the darkest chapter in German history ended with the country’s unconditional capitulation.

The hardships that the German people suffered and endured since then, has left them in a lasting trauma, which is so difficult to overcome even in the coming centuries.

When I was quoting in my short dinner speech that the tragedy in March 1945 when the Soviets advanced under the slogan “There will be no mercy. They have sown the wind and now they are reaping the whirlwind” tortured in the east two million German women in an undisciplined development that is now recognized as the largest case of mass rape against women in history, I too experienced the horror of many decades ago in Germany through the eyes of those young German students who participated in the event.

Now the search for inner peace by finding peace in other countries and helping others affected by war and natural disasters is the only goal of these young Germans.

resulting in a positive contribution to the restoration of peace in the war-torn country with the help of sporting events, the AGSEP aims to help the divided ethnic groups to come closer and give momentum towards peace and spread the message further afield. from the shores of this island.