WE LEFT.
WE ARRIVED.
WE PASS IT ON.யாதும் ஊரே
Since the 1980s, hundreds of thousands of Tamils fled the war in Sri Lanka in search of a new home – in Canada, England, France, Germany, Norway and Switzerland. They arrived with little luggage and a lot of memories. Today, we are at home everywhere.
(03) LEAVING · ARRIVING · PASSING IT ON
ROOTS
TRAVEL WITH YOU.
யாதும் ஊரே யாவரும் கேளிர்
Leaving. Many families did not choose to leave their homeland.
Arriving. Shelters became homes, strangers became neighbours. Temples in warehouses, Tamil school on Saturdays, cricket in the park.
Passing it on. Today the next generation grows up between two worlds: Swiss German in the schoolyard, Tamil at the dinner table.
“Every town is our home. All people are our family.” – Kaniyan Pungundranar, Purananuru 192
(04) TAMIL ROOTS. WORLDWIDE MOVES.
FROM JAFFNA
TO THE WORLD.
எங்கும் தமிழ்
Doctors, producers, founders, dancers, nurses – we take our roots to every city in the world and build something new there.
Some 2,000 years ago, Tamil merchants at the port of Arikamedu were already trading with the Roman Empire. We were global before there was a word for it.