Christy Mihindukulasooriya was the first man to play the role of Jesus Christ in the Duwa Passion Plays. Before him there were only statues. Christy talks to us about the long history of the Duwa Passion Play and his anecdotes of playing Jesus for forty years.

Lejmal Hussein reflects on vicissitudes of working as a migrant worker in Saudi Arabia for nineteen years, away from his family.

‘Annawi’ Joseph Chooge recalls his days of singing hymns in Latin and how the lives of people going to church in Negombo were affected by language changes of church and country. 

Mary Joaana Vaas is a 90-year-old fisherwoman from Duwa. She talks about her husband who took her on his travels to the north and east with their young family, befriending Tamil communities there, in a time untouched by war.

Gerald Fonseka talks about his late father, known locally as Rathu mudalali. The father’s ethical treatment of his workers on the coconut plantations and mills in the 1950s inspired the son to do the same.

A member of Negombo’s Bharatha community, Selvam Croos Moraes reminisces about his discovery of an archive photograph of the Donoughmore Commission, in which his father was a staff member. He talks about his distinctive community and the challenges he faced in getting the photograph recognised as part of Sri Lankan history.

Justinus Lawrence’s father travelled to Negombo to start his own garage sixty years ago. Full of laughter, he talks about taking over the garage and the challenges he faces in running it today.

One hundred and fifty years ago, Lawrence Saravanamuttu’s grandfather Soosaipillai came to Negombo from his hometown of Jaffna to open the shop that would become famous for selling Jaffna cigars. The shop still sells cigars but as Soosaipillai explains, they are no longer from Jaffna.