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Children of a lesser God
Will you travel 60 km to cast your vote?
But for the villagers of Pookulam, -a small fishing community bordering the Mannar coastline and the Wilpattu National Park in Puttalam– this has been the reality. There has never been a polling booth in their village. The 261 voters had to travel 60 km to the polling booth at the Eluwankulum polling centre.
The first ever polling booth at Pookulam since independence…
During the 2009 poll not a single voter from the area cast his/her vote and the Election Commissioner declared the poll void.
This year a polling booth has been set up in the church. But villagers say they are unsure as to whom they should vote for.
“The village has no tarred roads. It has a single toilet. The one-roomed school and the church were destroyed during an LTTE attack in 1988.
We have no roads… but now we have a polling booth
“Today the Wildlife authorities are preventing us from building a school, saying the land belongs to the Wildlife Department,” said Amaladas Cruz, secretary of St. Theresa Fishermen’s Society. “Today, there are 50 children of school-going age in the village, but they do not have a school to attend.
“We are fifth generation settlers, our ancestors lived here for over 300 years. We are victims of the 30-year conflict, still suffer from extreme poverty and lack basic facilities”.
Simone Elizabeth (54) said “the land is barren with no vegetation. Our meals are limited to rice and fish with an occasional coconut thrown in. We have no amenities… we will vote for those who provide us with basics and our children the right to an education.”
There are no schools for these kids
“If we travel to Kalpitiya by boat, the cost of diesel alone is Rs.7, 000 and it takes us almost a day to reach Puttalam.
There are no buses to our village. Most often people who fall seriously ill die on the way to hospital. Expectant mothers are the worst affected and suffer most.
If anyone falls seriously ill, they often pass away on the way to hospital. Expectant mothers are worst affected and suffer most,” she said.
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