Re; APPEAL TO YOUR HIGH OFFICE Re: American Ceylon Mission ‘Mission House,’ Tellippalai;

We, the signatories of this appeal, are the living ‘old students’ and ‘teachers’ of the Union College, Tellippalai during the 1950’s through 1990’s, and loved our esteemed mission school, the ‘alma mater’ and cherished our years of school years and the service of teaching. We hereby ascertain the ‘historic significance’ of the said premises, and the great services done by the American missionaries and our nationals in the Valikamam North region, and in the entire Jaffna peninsula over two centuries.

We present below particular ‘milestones’ in the history of the Mission and of the said premises:

· The Dutch-built Mission House was in ruins on the arrival of Rev Dr Daniel and Mrs Susan Poor, Rev Edward Warren in October, 1816; they repaired it and moved in as their ‘residence’ from where they commenced their missionary work in 1817. (In addition to preaching the Good News to the people, they established 154 vernacular village schools for children from families who were willing to send them,and ‘Free Boarding English schools’ in places such as Tellippalai, Vaddukoddai, Uduvil, Uduppiddi, Chavakachcheri for religious instruction and western education).

Missionary-in-Residence in Tellippalai was the Priest of the Church and at the same time managed the educational, medical, industrial and social service institutions within the said premises and in the surrounding villages. (This arrangement continued till 1935, when a leading national layman of the mission in Mr I P Thurairatnam to look after all the mission institutions, while the Tellippalai Church was in the charge of national ordained priests.Mr I P Thurairatnam continued as an employee of the Mission until the Government Take-Over of assisted schools in 1961/62. Priests-in-Charge of the Church were residing at a Mission property at the junction, known as ‘Old Parsonage.’)

· Mission House was ‘vested’ with the Government of Ceylon by the Act of Ceylon Parliament in 1961, later ‘divested’ with the American Ceylon Mission in 1968 in exchange for another mission property (Old Parsonage) by an agreement made between the Mission officers and regional Ministry of Education  officials after a long negotiations. (A record of this ‘transfer’ published in the Church annual bulletin, and later a ‘correspondence’ between the President of ACM and Ministry of Education in Colombo confirm this transfer);

· There are evidences to prove that the ‘Mission House’ was occupied Priests-in-Charge of the Church since 1969 till Dec. 1990; Similarly, the transferred ‘Old Parsonage’ was occupied by the teachers of Union College since then;

· Renovation of the Church Building was a priority in 2012 on return from the ‘displacement period’ under High Security Zone from 1992 till 2010. Former members of the Church contributed to complete the restoration to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the Mission in October 2016. Until then partial renovation was done in 2014, 2017, and 2020 at the Mission House for the use of Worship and Church activities. Rev Vasanth Anand and his wife of the Church occupied when he was appointed as its Priest.

We are of the opinion that the present generation are not aware of its history and the contribution made to the Jaffna society at large from this premises. We want to see this property to be preserved and protected as an ‘icon’ of the American Ceylon Mission and its heritage for the present and future generation.

Yours truly

Mrs Vasanthi Ariyaratnam [Nee Selvaratnam Old Student U.C and daughter of Primary school  teacher of Union College [1939-1971] Mrs. Rajeswari Selvaratnam  known as Rasa Acca teacher