Fortune smiled on forty seven year old Premadasa when he won a lottery of three million rupees a few weeks back, but tragedy was to follow equally suddenly. Premadasa was shot dead by a group of unidentified gunmen on a Kaduwela street on June 21, leaving his innocent family shocked and grief-stricken at the turn of events.
Premadasa who was in the habit of buying lottery tickets, for many years finally hit the jack pot on May 27 when he won the Govi Setha Lottery. But he did not live long enough to enjoy his gain, or share it with his family. Killed at Kaduwela by a group of unidentified gunmen his young son and workers too suffered injuries in this attack. Mystery still surrounds his death. Were the killers after his money? or was there any other motive behind this gruesome act?
While rumour has it that the killing had a political backing, the family, however believe that jealousy led to his murder. Premadasa's wife Manel employed in Italy returned to the island the day after the shooting. Still shaken by the loss of her husband she spoke to The Sunday Times about his enthusiasm over his win and his plans, which were sadly not to materialise.
Manel having completed her two year job contract in Italy was to return to Sri Lanka on July 9 but after his win, her husband had insisted that she return earlier to share his happiness.
"The day after he won the prize he phoned me saying he had some good news .
The first thing I asked was whether our youngest daughter had attained puberty. When he told me that he had won a lottery I was taken aback and told him to be careful, and look after the children. I asked him if anyone else knew about the prize, and he said that the entire village was aware of it. But he was confident that no harm would come to our family as he had no enemies. He even told me that he would not plan anything until I returned ," she said.
Manel in fact had to change her ticket five times, putting forward the date of her return on her husband's insistence. Finally she made arrangements to return to the island on June 20. "My husband spoke to me the day before saying he would be at the airport with our son , " added Manel.
However, by the time Manel landed in Sri Lanka her husband was lying in his coffin and her son was struggling for life at the Accident service of the Colombo General Hospital. "Once I came to the Airport I could not find my husband, and came out thinking that they would not have been allowed in because of the security.
Her relatives who awaited her had been reluctant to break the news suddenly and had told Manel that her husband was going through surgery and her son was at the accident service.
I insisted that I see my son. My heart tore when I saw him lying there. He was injured very badly. He had received gun shots on his left thigh as well as the shoulder, and even been assaulted she said.
The greatest shock however was yet to come "Nearing our home I saw white flags and banners. I knew it was the end. I still can't believe this has happened to our family," she said.
Though Premadasa's business was quite successful, Manel had left the island to earn money for their three children. "My husband's shop was doing alright and he was able to provide us with a good life but I thought I should save some money for our children. But our life was never a bed of roses - we came up the hard way. This lottery prize would have helped us a lot, but I am no longer interested in the money. The saddest thing is that my husband never told me the exact amount, he said that he wanted to tell me directly when we were home together" said Manel.
Manel strongly feels that her husband's killers will harm her family again. I think they would have wanted to kill my son too. I have already told the Police that I will not allow them to record his statement. He was an eye witness to the entire episode. Even now mentally he is upset, but I insisted that he attend the funeral, otherwise it would haunt him for the rest of his life," she said. She had requested Police protection for the funeral.
On that fateful day Premadasa and his son had gone to Kaduwela with some of his workers, to inspect a construction site. My son had asked whether they could go the following day, but my husband had said that since I was coming home they would be busy and that he was planning to stay away from work, for about three days," she said.
Manel remember her husband buying lottery tickets regularly but says he never won such a big sum. "The most he would have won was about 500 rupees. But I was told that on this occasion he had bought two tickets. He had won thousand rupees from the first, and then the ticket seller had said that he should buy another as he was lucky, sighed Manel.
Ironically when Premadasa had gone to the Lotteries Board to collect his prize money, a very unusual thing had occurred . Just as the official was to hand over the money the lights had gone off. This had happened more than five times and many interpreting it as a bad omen had warned him to be careful. Working Director of National Lotteries Board Mr. Liyanage says its the first time that such an incident had taken place.
"Just as we were about to hand over the money, the lights would go off. Finally a labourer had to hold on to the plug until we had the presentation". Premadasa was the 37th Winner of the Govi Setha lottery.
Counselling for victims of trauma has never been a greater priority in Sri Lanka than right now. Predictions that the country is heading towards a societal crisis of no mean proportions is borne out by statistics, often conveniently ignored or under emphasized.
Quite aside from Sri Lanka recording the highest suicide rate in the world, the figures on the incidence of domestic violence in the country is startling. The dept. of Census and Statistics highlight that 31% of women are victims of violence within the home. During 1993 for example poolice statistics report 67 women were killed by their husbands and 37 women battered to death by their cohabitants.
gravity of the issues involved are also not acknowledged by the country's state and community leaders. No serious attempt is made to use available international and national resources to set up structured community help systems.
Counselling services and crisis centres are presently being operated by some committed indivicuals and groups labouring under tremendous financial and human resource constraints. Towards Change this week speaks to one such Colombo based centre that has been a pioneer in providing holistic advice to victims of familial and societal trauma.
Towards Change talks to Executive Director of Women in Need , Chinta Balasuriya who explains the work done by them and puts forward her own perceptions on thisissues involted i the present debate.
Q: The acronym WIN has a certain puckish sense of humour to it. Can you explain how this came about?
A: The letters WIN denote two meanings. Simply and very obviously, it means Women in Need. But WIN could also be understood in a broader sense in that we want to win back the family that has been shattered by violence within. Real victory or winning is when all members of a family relate to one another in a healthy and harmonious manner. Harmony within the family inevitably leads to harmony within the society and the country.
Q: What was perceived to be the need for the setting up of WIN?
A: In 1987 Jane Mary Vale, a Canadian volunteer worker started WIN on a small scale to help women victims of family trauma. She felt that there was a deep hunger for the services that such a centre could provide. At that time however, our people had almost no exposure to these type of crisis intervention centres.
Q: How did the public respond to the setting up of such a centre?
A: Between 1987 and 1990, people responded rather slowly. Most women were not aware that WIN could really help them out. In Sri Lanka, people are more used to going to the police station to resolve violence. In cases of domestic battering however, the fact that it was the husband who was the offender often inhibited their making it public.
WIN offered an alternative whereby both parties could talk matters in a peaceable atmosphere and come to some agreement. With time, by word of mouth and some publicity, the number of women coming to us have increased dramatically.
Since 1990, WIN counsels at least ten individuals a day. The centre records a large number of phone calls and letters from women seeking advice. There is a full time woman lawyer in the morning for legal advice free of charge and two female doctors for medical consultations. Twenty trained volunteers befrienders/ listeners also work at WIN daily on a roster basis.
Q: Since 1990, has there been more visible changes?
A: Yes. We have been focusing on speaking not only to women victims of violence but also to the men who inflict that violence. By doing this we try to obtain their guarantee that they would not continue the cycle of violence.
We try to win over the men and to make them realise what is happening within the family, and to find a solution together.
Q: Has this exercise been successful?
A: Our experience has been that though most men promise to reform, once they return to their particular environment, they resort to the old violence. For them, violence is a form of power and control of situations and this violence is not sufficiently condemned by society, so they feel justified in their actions.
Society looks at the differences between men and women in a very superficial manner. Just because of biological differences which gives men the physical strength, women are considered to be inferior. Women can then be dictated to and men can make the decisions. This reasoning is utterly superficial, but the tragedy lies in the manner it is used to justify violence against women.
Q: How does the centre for battered women set up at WIN operate?
A: The shelter provides women with much needed "cool off time" specially after a traumatic period of domestic abuse. Women and their children are allowed to stay here for a maximum period of six weeks. During this time, they are provided with special counselling. Most women have confided with us, saying that if they had not been giving this breathing space, they might have committed suicide.
If we could establish more centres like this, it would be of immense value. Lack of finances however have prevented us from expanding.
Q: What efforts have WIN made to counsel people in war torn areas?
A: it is an accepted fact that during a war, the women and children are the most vulnerable. Operating within considerable financial constraints, we have trained community and youth activists in Batticaloa to counsel victims of war in that area. We hope to shortly expand this programme to the North as well.
Q: Has WIN concentrated on working in the prisons?
A: Quite interestingly, laws that discriminate against women have resulted in women prisoners facing immense hardships. Under the Vagrants Ordinance for example, women suspected of loitering on the streets for no reason are picked up and remanded. This is primarily meant to control prostitution. But many innocent women are also remanded. They lack the money and the legal knowledge to be released. We take care of the children of such mothers as well as providing them with legal advice.
Q: In what other areas of concern does WIN operate in order to change society and to bring about a healthier awareness of complex social issues?
A: We emphasize working with couples and young adults about to make social commitments. We have programmes of premarital counselling where we point out the seriousness of purpose that marriage demands.
Special importance is given to communication skills, marriage dynamics and conflict resolution methods. We are also engaged in consultations with UNICEF in order to initiate a programme for the young adults and A level students on healthy behavioural patterns between both sexes.
WIN has embarked on these social awareness programmes in the firm belief that prevention is better then cure. Sri Lanka is today driven by conflict. The only hope lies in educating our youth of the importance of healthy cohabitation.
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