The Butterfly Peace Gardens first opened its gates to children September 1996. The Garden is a garden of reconciliation and healing for war affected and traumatized children from the Batticaloa district of Sri Lankaís Eastern province. This oasis of imagination and creativity brings to ether animation artists, peace-workers, ritual healers and children from various ethnic and religious groups Tamil, Muslim, Hindu and Christian. It is a small zone of peace, a symbol of hope and inspiration focusing on the inherent rights and needs of children.

Objectives:
Trauma healing at the child level and Peace building within the community.

Philosophy:
The Butterfly Garden replaces the war ethos of violence and destruction with in of gentleness and creation. Both those aspects of the child, which are wounded, and those, which remain resilient, are addressed. By tending to the garden within the human heart as well as the earthly experience with equal compassion and imagination, the child can heal and become a healer within her/his community.

Program:
Children from the various ethnic and religious groups are represented proportionally with equal numbers of boys and girls. Ranging between the ages of 6 and 16, 150 children are chosen from throughout the Batticoloa area to attend the garden one-day per week for 9 months. Later in the process parents are invited to participate thus improving the relationships between entire communities across the country. Food and transportation are provided. A satellite program in their own local towns and villages is planned as follow-up for children who have attended the garden program.