First, a little background: Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, is a small island off the southeast coast of India. Its people are mostly Buddhist, but also Hindu and Muslim; they mostly plant tea or make apparel to earn a living. The Singhalese, mostly Buddhist and the Tamils, mostly Hindu had been engaged on-and-off in a civil war until last year. During the conflict, the Tigers, a Tamil guerrilla group, perfected suicide bombings throughout Sri Lanka to carry out their fight for independence in Tamil-dominated areas of the island. Now, a cease-fire has been signed, and there is widespread optimism on both sides that there will be peace, and this nation of 18 million people will be able to prosper. In Sri Lanka, elephants are used as horses or mules are elsewhere, and they can pop
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