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| June
7 is Rana Viru Day The President got Dr. Tara De Mel to immediately organize a psycho-social unit called the Ranaviru Surakum Ekakaya (RSE or Human Intervention Unit) to cater to the needs of the demoralized service and police personnel, grieving widows and mothers, and the disabled and to drum up support, both financial and moral, from the citizens of Sri Lanka for their brave defenders. It was a small unit within the Presidential Secretariat consisting of an occupational physician, a clinical psychologist, a sociological biochemist, and a computer operator (Dr. Narme F. Wickremesinghe, Psy. Shehani De Silva, Dr. Visaka Dissanayake, and D.L. Maduka Chaturani) with several voluntary workers and counsellors. They obtained advice from a 'Cell' that met once a week with the RSE and consisted of a consultant psychiatrist (Dr. Damani De Silva) and 3 clinical psychologists (Gameela Samarasinghe, Kalhari Hewage - De Silva, and Rushika Amarasekera). There was another grassroots advisory body that met monthly consisting of the welfare and medical directors of the armed forces and police, representatives of organizations of the families of those missing, killed and disabled in action, Brig. Ananda Jayawardena of the Defence Ministry, Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne of Sarvodaya, psychatrists, and psychologists. A prominent role in this Advisory Body was played by Visaka Dharmadasa, Druki Martenstin, Lali Kobbekaduwa, Asoka Dayaratne, Charmain Mendis, Drs. Tara De Mel and Padmini Mendis, Psys. Piyanjali De Soysa, Nayomi Kannagara, Parvani Pinnawela, and Eshani Kalpage. Thousands of communications flooded the RSE (later the RVSA). Every letter and telephone call was perused for a solution and replied. A ranaviru help desk was established in every Government Ministry and Secretariat throughout the country (and in the Army transit camps and hospitals) to facilitate problem solving, minimize post traumatic reactions and for the quick processing of compensation claims. Needs assessment surveys showed that much of the morale problems besetting the combatants, disabled and their families emanated from social deprivations. Thus was born the Rana Viru Seva Authority (RVSA) on June 7, 2000 to attend to the social needs of Service and Police personnel, the disabled and their families, on public donations. The President declared June 7 each year to be commemorated as Rana Viru Day, and called upon the public for financial support. Dr. Tara De Mel organized the Rana Viru Seva Authority on modern management lines - minimum staff, maximum output, adopting a participatory approach and the cooperation of the private sector. Unfortunately the picture has changed drastically today. Dr. De Mel recruited a band of graduates with post graduate management training in the private sector to handle the workload for the welfare of those who maintain the peace and integrity of our nation. Professional committees assisted the Project Officers to give a rational methodology to project work. The RSE continued its 'Healing Minds' and 'Family Help' Projects and was later amalgamated with the RVSA, with Dr. Visaka Dissanayake as the Projects Coordinator. Meanwhile the business community contributed towards the welfare projects and got involved in the Housing and Skills Projects (especially Armyne Wirasinghe). The Ceylon Tobacco Co. was involved in setting up of the National Remembrance Park in Kandy and expended Rs. 7 million. Sri Lankans abroad, especially those in Saudi Arabia led by Lalith De Silva were the main contributors to the Educational Scholarships Project amounting to nearly Rs. 12.5 million. The President's Fund contributed 100 million rupees to the Housing Project and loaned 7 million rupees to the National Remembrance Park Project. Large numbers of expatriate Sri Lankans responded to the RSE website and contributed Rs. 5 million to the psycho-social project. People from all walks of life gave their mite. But for some unknown reason upto date there have been no contributions from any politicians. The staff, volunteers and advising professionals of the RVSA showed commitment to ensure the welfare of countless war affected persons. Their working motto was 'Care for those who dare'. All work of the RVSA in the first three years was done on private donations and returns from the Jayaviru Lottery (NLB). The major social project was housing, selecting 25 recipients in each district. 1000 housing units were built with the participation of the recipients and their neighbours in all Provinces outside the North and East. The project is now politicized and inactive. Around 1,000 scholarships of Rs. 500 per ranaviru child per month in grades 11 - 14 for two years, were awarded. Occupational training and psychological empowerment training for the disabled ranaviru and strife widows was conducted. There are over 10,000 disabled at strife but most of them are still retained in the armed forces and are provided marketable skills training for use when they retire by the army's Ranaviru Sevana. However, the police disabled are prematurely retired and receive a pittance. A few are bedridden and some are speech disabled but trained at the army hospital to return to normalcy by Dr. Shirani De Saram, the speech pathologist assisted by other volunteers from the Gen. Denzil Kobbekaduwa Trust. The RVSA also provided funds and made arrangements for the water supply to 5 ranaviru gammana which houses the disabled and strife widows. Presently, most of the welfare projects for combatants, disabled and families of the lost are done only by the Seva Vanitha Units and the Welfare, Rehabilitation and Medical Directorates of the Armed Forces and of the Police. Perhaps the most successful project was the psycho-social project, sadly no longer active. Women's empowerment training for strife affected women was conducted in 16 Districts to overcome unresolved grief. Psycho-sexual workshops for women soldiers and attitudinal seminars for arrested deserters were also conducted. Several workshops for relevant personnel in the armed forces and police with international resource persons were organized with the assistance of Psy. Padmal De Silva of the Institute of Psychiatry, London, and the Sri Lanka - UK Trauma Group. A project proposal for the re-intergration of retiring combatants and of the disabled into civilian life was developed with the assistance of the International Labour Organization. Although the RVSA has dropped this project which is part of the Government's Triple R Peace Programme, it is being implemented by the International Organization for Migration. The psycho-social project also attended to a huge volume of correspondence, visits and calls on personal problems where the requests were seen to a definitive conclusion - this was handled by 5 ladies (Jayanthi, Ganga, Shirani De Alwis, Thulani, Champika and Rasanjala). Legal and land matters were facilitated by this project, and mobile clinics organized. The project that leaves a permanent mark for posterity of the nation's gratitude to the armed services and police is the National Remembrance Park (NRP), established on the theme 'Peace and Life has come from Death and Strife'. It would not have seen the light of day if not for the dogged persistence of Lt. Gen. Denis Perera. The same project handled improvements to the transit camps. A new Women's Transit Camp was established. Land was obtained for a new camp at Ratmalana and Rs. 15 million collected, but again administrative bungling has thwarted progress. The
ballad of Billy Ray Cyrus adapted and sung at the Memorial Service
for the late Lt. Gen. Denzil Kobbekaduwa, remains apt: |
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