NO MORE WAR PLEASE

NO MORE WAR PLEASE
May be I am loosing my humanness. My heart is not responding to the human tragedy with pain and tears as it used to respond earlier. When people tell me their stories of suffering and seeing them living in a wretched conditions, infants and children crawling in sands and mud and when people cry, "no more war please, we don’t want war we want only peace, allow us to live". I just stand and stare at them I have no more compassion to show. The human tragedy now becomes numbers and statistics. I feel like getting away from all this madness.
The Sri Lankan army won the war in Vaharai on the 19th January but what happened latter was the exodus of more than hundred thousand people. At the time I was in Batticaloa listening and crying along with them when they told me their stories of suffering, and showing me their swollen legs because of walking nearly 70 kms in two days through the forest, rivers and thorny bushes.
I visited the camps in Batticaloa on the 10th March along with our International Director, Fr. Lluis Magrina. I could see the IDP’s settled every where schools, churches, and camps with tents and temporary shelters. We could see the people used to the camp life - living in tents, eating their food by sitting in the mud, unclean children with dirty dress studying in the JRS class rooms.
This was the typical response of many women in the camp when we asked them about their life in the camp, " It is too hot inside the tent, outside it is hotter because there are no trees around. It is like living in an owen. We get some rice and dhal but we don’t have vegetables, coconuts or oil. We don’t have kerosene cookers to cook, our children go to forest area to collect fire wood but it is really risky. Many of our children don’t go to school. To sum it all we are living a primitive life. We don’t want this war, can you do something to stop this bloody war" Our response was one of mute silence.
We continue to help the people of some camps with vegetables, fire wood, and other necessary food items.
We ourselves experienced the impact of war which is going on now in the south of Batticaloa. After capturing Vaharai, now the SL Army is in full swing to capture areas of paduvankarai and Pullumalai. The constant shelling and bombing with multi barrel guns and the sound it echoed though out the night and day not only creaked the building of St. Michael’s but also our hearts. We didn’t have peaceful sleep during those days. If it is the condition for the adults what would be the condition of the children ? Another fifty thousand people have already displaced and moved into Batticalao town.
The education system has completely collapsed because of two reasons, one is the schools are filled with the IDP’s, the other reason the Principal of St. Michael’s college informed the radio service, " Out of more than thousand students, only twenty students attended the classes. It is basically because of the sound of shelling and bombing." Even though it is exam time, the government has decided to close the schools in Batticaloa.
After bringing Vaharai under their control the government started resettling the people. Nearly 3405 families with 11506 members are settled. Many of them in their own village but some of them again in the camps since their villages are not cleared from land mines and bombs.
To see this resettlement process we have visited the area with the Bishop of Batticaloa and with other religious leaders on the 23rd March. It is not at all easy to share what we have seen and heard . One thing we can say is the place is completely under the control of the Government. We could see army every where and there is no trace of the LTTE or its offices. New check points and check posts maintained by the army and the police.
We could see the damages done to the trees and buildings because of the shelling. The scene reminds me of the caption I read recently "Not only trees are withering also our hearts". The LTTE burial ground was completely removed and converted into coconut development farm.
We could also see burnt vehicles including tractors, pick ups, vans and motor bikes arranged just in front of the DS office. All the Vaharai people are issued with a special identity card with their photos. It is to restrict any outsiders entering that area.
Some of the schools have already started functioning in Vaharai. We could see happy faces of the children studying. In the primary section we have seen boys and girls in the class room. But in the secondary section we have seen only girls, this was not a surprise to us because the parents still feel it is not safe for the boys to be in Vaharai. They are afraid that the army may round up the boys or the Karuna group may recruit them. This fear has to be cleared from the minds of the parents to bring back normalcy in that region.
We could meet people with two mind sets. Some people are happy and others are sad. Those who have gone back to their own villages are seemed to be happy and the others who are living in the camps are not that happy. They are waiting for their villages to be cleared. We met the civil administrator and he has promised to send all these people to their own village before 31st March. Many of them expressed living here in their village is much better than living in the camps in Batticaloa. We could see the food rations are supplied by the civil administration, and WFP. On the day of our visit Caritas also brought food rations to all the families and it was distributed by the bishop
After that we visited the Vaharai JRS office, we could see only the Skelton building and there was nothing inside. The doors were missing and it was broke open. The JRS name board, tables, chairs, bureaus, files and 20 tailoring machine were missing from the office. It was the case with the other NGO’s and ordinary people. The government spokes person refuted the allegation that it was done by the army. But the question is still hangs around who has done it ?"
We had also discussion with the army commander and civil administrator about the future involvement of NGO.s and JRS in the rehabilitation and development of Vaharai
After Vaharai my next important visit was to Muthur. First we met the people of Sahayapuram and discussed with them about their rehabilitation. The people are still living in the camps and waiting for the clearance from the army to resettle in their own village. We promised them to discuss with the Divisional Secretary about this matter. Then we visited the semi permanent houses we have built for the people of Iruthayapuram. It was a really a happy thing to see the people resettled in their own village.
So far 127 families are given the houses and when we met them in their own houses, we could sense the gratitude by their deeds and words, " Our house was damaged by shelling but now we have home, even though it is small one, we are happy to live in our own home with our children. Now our children are going to school, thanks to JRS for supplying our children with school bags, shoes, note books and stationeries."
Our next visit was to Muthur church where we have put up 35 semi permanent houses for the people of Muthur. During our meeting with the people, they have expressed joy and satisfaction about the houses but at the same time they have expressed their fear about moving outside the church premises.
Next day morning we met the Muthur DS and discussed with him about the resettlement of Sahayapuram and other places. He has promised to resettle this people of
sahayapurm by 10th April. He has also requested JRS to put up semi permanent houses for the resettlement of other villages.
After this we visited one of the biggest camps in Sri Lanka, the Kilivetti camp. More than 561 families 1960 members including 626 children are living in this camps. The people are mostly from Ichalampathai division and Muthur East. Most of them expressed that they have been sent to these camps by force. Even though they have been provided with food, water and toilets facilities, it is really a place people don’t want to live because of various reasons. There is a hope that soon these people would be resettled in their villages.
JRS is organizing pre schools and evening study centers. At present we have 4 centers with 6 teachers and 161 students. Another 10 teachers are taking care of the education and psycho social activates of 464 students. I felt very sad when I met these children because they really look terrible and no one seems to take care of them.
We have also visited two resettlement area Kilikunjumalai and konesapuri in Trincomalee where JRS has put up semi permanent houses for the people. I could see the changes in the lives of the people after having a small home of their own. The children are started going to the school and evening they are studying under the tree with a JRS teacher. . Home garden all around the houses, a small temple and a well they started to dig and we have promised to build the well for them. We have seen normal life in every aspect of life.