Beginning again

A year ago I decided to start life in the Eastern Province as a teacher. I knew it would be a life-transforming experience to live in the very epicentre of post-war rehabilitation, but what a surprise it was! I came full of plans on what can be done to uplift the lives of this deprived community, especially children. But as it turned out it was more of an unlearning process where I was opened to a stark reality that was so heart-warming and refreshing.

In stark contrast to the picture we have of the arid East, the lush green grasslands sprouted by the seasonal rains, the tilled soil prepared for paddy cultivation, huts gradually taking the shape to decent housing, all combined promise the dawn of new human habitats in a land once called “a no man’s land”.

The journey to Anuradhapura via Morawewa and Gomarankadawala speaks a story of these Internally Displaced people struggling to start life with dignity and meaning. The community in Peraru and Morawewa North is struggling to get their act together towards a new beginning, despite the immense challenges facing them.

Towards Morawewa – Gomarankadawala

Our first stop was at the ancient archaeological site of the Rangiri Ulpatha Temple which was recently renovated and declared open by the Commanders of the three Armed Forces in honour of the fallen soldiers. The Chief Incumbent of the temple Ven. Ahungalle Seelavishuddhi Thera welcomed us (the writer and Group Commander Leonard Rodrigo of the Air Force in Morawewa, who was my able guide) and with his blessing we began our journey into the Peraru jungle in search of the new settlers.

Inside the Peraru jungle

Amidst the thick undergrowth and lush green grasslands winds the new Morawewa-Peraru road way. For the first time the vestiges of war are evident. Isolated bunkers with 2-3 soldiers remind us the sacrifices they have made to preserve the integrity of this island nation. Heavy drops of rain were falling along as we left the Peraru Deployment on our way to another detachment – Kurumiyankulama.

Kurumiyankulama is a temporary settlement supported ably by another detachment of the Air Force. These dwellers have occupied these shelters for nearly six months, with nothing to preserve them from the stormy weather and rampaging elephants other than the polyurethane roofing and the armed Air Force personnel. Most of the farmers had gone to the temple to meet the Bank of Ceylon officials and S. Rathnayaka (64) and P. Tikira (70), the only men there told us that there are 50 tents and 62 families living there. With the sporadic attacks of the LTTE these farmers left their livelihood and the village of their birth in 1985. Most of them were like nomads moving from one location to the other and most settled in Kahatagasdigiliya in the North Central Province.

Two farmers: S. Rathnayake and P. Tikira (above) and (below): The writer with Ven. Algama Pannawansa Thera

On their arrival here, they have started tilling the land for cultivation as the rains come down. They are already late as by mid-October they should have started the planting. And for that, if not for the assistance given by the Air Force, they would have had to hire a tractor for Rs. 6,500 a day. For a population that has nothing to claim for themselves this amount is a fortune. Tikira tells me with a guileless smile that they want to start life again.

They are not without social and demographic problems. Throughout this journey one key observation became recurrent – most of the farmers were either middle-aged or elderly. Where are the children and the youth? Whenever this question is asked, they are silent as if to say, they were the last of the survivors and the next generation has gone in search of greener pastures.

Human cost of war

In the banks of Kurumiyankulama tank lives 50-year-old R.B. Shanthapala who, with his brother R.B. Sumanaratna (42) labours to start life again in their own ancestral lands. It was in 1985 that tragedy unfolded when around 11:30 a.m. one day, they heard gunshots in the vicinity of their farmland.

Horror engulfs his face for a split moment as he narrates the tragic events that kept them away from their land. In a way it surprises me how they had returned to relive those tragic memories of their loved ones being brutally massacred. With both Kurumiyankulama and Ottachchankulam prone to attacks the 30-year journey began with no realistic end in sight.

Shanthapala is the eldest among eight other children. Though they returned for a short time during the Nordic-mediated ceasefire, the killing of six people in the adjacent Kallampaththuwa village drove them away yet again. He had attended primary school till Grade 4. Being the eldest in the family, his life was always to do with fulfilling responsibilities involving the younger siblings. He and his father had worked as hired labourers to finance the family cultivation.

The undaunted leaders

At the Morawewa North (D-8) settlement we are welcomed by an elderly monk with a pleasant demeanor living in a shabbily constructed building with a few chairs, some bags of cement and a heap of roofing sheets. The monk Ven. Algama Pannawansa Thera of Keththarama Purana Rajamaha Viharaya urges us to work for the common good and not for individuals. With much frustration he complains, “when we build there is somebody to destroy”, referring to the emerging illicit liquor menace, popularized by a politician of the area. Amidst these challenges, he in close collaboration with the Air Force is putting up a school for the children of the area.

War makes people refugees within their own confines, irrespective of caste, creed or ethnicity. What is important is not who suffers or to what ethnic group they belong, but the fact that a part of humanity is deprived of its very basic rights.

True humanity is rare in our city-centres. It is found in the poor neighborhoods abandoned in their misery, in refugee camps, in corners of the world where people suffer and are oppressed or excluded. It is the arena in which we come to the edge, to the border of what is human, that we discover the total meaning of being human (from a prayer by Adolf Nicolas SJ). As these men and women, together with their leaders who travel that extra mile to make life better for their people rebuild their lives, it is essential for us reflect on our role in this process of restoration and reconciliation.