Church Mission Society 

Alistair Kirk works for Save the Children in Jaffna, Sri Lanka and is a member of the CMS Salt Fellowship.

The Salt Fellowship is designed for professionals working in diverse fields, in locations where CMS is working.


'Jaffna is on a peninsula which strestches out from the north of Sri Lanka towards India. It’s almost completely flat with large expanses of sand and lagoons. When you drive down the roads you see many, many houses gutted by fire or shell damage. There are very few cars on the road - only old cars from the 1950s, so it feels like you’re going back in time when you enter Jaffna.'


'I manage a team of about twenty. We do a lot of work training preschool teachers. Our aim is to give a very activity-based learning methodology to teachers in this field. '


A second area of work is children’s clubs, of which we have thirty-eight in the district. We focus on particularly vulnerable communities and the children in those clubs come together even though they are from different caste backgrounds. We encourage children in the clubs to actively seek out their rights as children within the community. So we encourage them to participate in decision making both at the village level and at the district level.


For me it’s fun to be in a new place, to see another culture and be in a place where there is another religion. Until now I’ve been working almost entirely with Muslims. So to be in a Hindu society is a challenge. I enjoy the hot curries and generally I like being in a place where there are lots of challenges.


The downside of that is that I’m in a place where there are no regular communications, there’s often no electricity, and the environment is difficult. 


People are generally depressed because they’ve been in a war for a long time and I think that reflects on their ability to communicate with me and with others. It means as someone from outside it’s very difficult to engage with that culture and with people within it because they tend to be very closed'


‘What does being part of the Salt Fellowship mean to me? It’s more a sense of knowing you are supported in prayer both in the UK but also around the world. My name comes up on the prayer bulletin every now and again, so that’s encouraging. 


It gives me a legitimacy within the local church, because I can say I’m with CMS. That gives me an identity that the local church understands. 


In my previous position in the Middle East it gave me an opportunity to work with people in CMS in a very difficult environment. The CMS label was of ultimate value because I was able to work with other expatriates and join in prayer and fellowship with them. Perhaps a Christian who wasn’t associated with a mission agency wouldn’t have that access.’

back to people involved in mission