In Mexico, some 85 percent of women aged 15 and over who have experienced physical or sexual violence did not file a complaint, according to Mexico’s National Survey on the Dynamics of Household Relationships.
Kannagara was one of the last mourners at the funeral, sitting and watching as sparks emanated from the white cloth tower in the square, specially erected for Fonseka’s cremation, according to Buddhist rituals.She told Al Jazeera that Fonseka had acted as a “bridge” across various eras of cinema, from black-and-white to digital, and had remained a star not only for her mother’s generation, but also for her own.
Fonseka was a five-time Best Actress winner at Sri Lanka’s Presidential Film Awards. Her most recent win was in 2006 for her role in Ammawarune. She also won international accolades at the Moscow International Film Festival and the New Delhi Film Festival.She became Sri Lanka’s first female television drama director in the 1980s, a time when women’s participation behind the camera was unusual. Fonseka also had a short-lived foray into politics, serving as a member of Sri Lanka’s parliament from 2010 to 2015 under former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.Film critic and journalist Anuradha Kodagoda told Al Jazeera that Fonseka was “rare and unique in Sri Lankan cinema” for the range of characters she played.
Petite and fair, with an oval face and soft features, Fonseka was a “pioneer” in representing working-class women onscreen, and “represented the beauty idol for Sri Lankan women”, said Kodagoda.“She portrayed her characters very organically and authentically. That is the magic of it, I think,” Kodagoda said.
‘There will be no other queens’
Many mourners, some of whom travelled long distances to attend the funeral, recalled moments when they had met or spoken with Fonseka.Coffee, to him, could also serve as a vehicle to bring people together. “In this industry, it’s not only one person who can do this work, it has to be a community,” he said.
So what changed in 2015? Coffee buyers and roasters are unanimous in crediting the state government’s decision to hand over charge of coffee development to Nagaland’s Land Resources Department (LRD) that year. The state department implements schemes sponsored by the federal government and the state government, including those promoting coffee.Unlike in the past, when Nagaland – part of a region that has historically had poor physical connectivity with the rest of India – also had no internet, coffee roasters, buyers and farmers could now build online links with the outside world. “[The] market was not like what it is today,” said Albert Ngullie, the director of the LRD.
The LRD builds nurseries and provides free saplings to farmers, besides supporting farm maintenance. Unlike before, the government is also investing in the post-harvest process by supplying coffee pulpers to farmers, setting up washing stations and curing units in a few districts and recently, supporting entrepreneurs with roastery units.Among those to benefit is Lichan Humtsoe. He set up his company Ete (which means “ours” in the Lotha Naga dialect) in 2016 after quitting his pen-pushing job in the LRD and was the first in the state to source, serve and supply Naga specialty coffee. Today, Ete runs its own cafes, roasteries and a coffee laboratory, researching the chemical properties of indigenous fruits as flavour notes. Ete also has a coffee school in Nagaland (and a campus in the neighbouring state of Manipur) with a dedicated curriculum and training facilities to foster the next generation of coffee professionals.