A deadly bang, then silence

By Kumudini Hettiarachchi

She is four-year-old Nilmini. Unlike other children, she wouldn't look up when spoken to, neither would she smile. We understood the reason and didn't press her to talk. 

Yes, it was just two days after her birthday on August 16 that her life changed forever. She had just achieved the four-year mark, and there was a bang. Normally, for more affluent children it would have been the bang of the balloons left over from the birthday party. But this was the bang of live ammunition, four children had gathered from the "bomba pitiya" in Kalpitiya, to use as toys.......and it left her seriously injured, her nine-year-old brother, Susil Kumara dead on the spot and her cousin Amila Chamara (13) seriously injured, who also later died in hospital after an operation. 

Thanks to the efficient medical service in this country, the little girl is alive, to draw and paint again, to learn her letters in montessori and maybe to smile again, after the memory of the blast has dimmed. 

The children had picked up, what villagers in the area say, was live ammunition left by the security forces after exercises in the 800-acre zone demarcated by the government for such practices and marked only by small concrete pillars. We repeat the queries we made in The Sunday Times last week — Isn't it the duty of the government to make it a no-go zone by barricading the area with concertina, putting up a wall or some such thing? Isn't it also the duty of the security forces to check the area for live ammunition and clear them up? Otherwise, maybe the United Nations experts along with their dogs should be called in to do "mine sweeping". 

The tragedy is that not a cent has been paid as compensation to any of the victims in the two incidents on August 5 and 18, which were first brought to the notice of Parliament by UNP National List MP A.H.M. Azwer, who also wrote to President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. 

But so far there hasn't been a murmur. Not a sound from the authorities, even though two children are dead and three are seriously injured. These are children without a voice, children from the poorest of the poor. Maybe that is the reason there is a deafening silence and callous indifference to their plight.

To get back to Nilmini's story, after The Sunday Times article of September 5, there was a call. It was from the Family Rehabilitation Centre (FRC), an NGO which is attempting to help "those affected by the armed conflict", the target groups being torture survivors, their relatives, families of the disappeared, war widows, children of war including orphans, unaccompanied children and traumatised children, bomb blast survivors and displaced people.

"We've traced her," FRC's Administrator C.T. Jansz told The Sunday Times and put us on to social worker Chandrakanthi Pathinige, who after seeing the first reports of the blast on August 20, had got activated. Having links with medical personnel at the Colombo National Hospital, she had contacted them and urged them to find the injured survivor. The doctors in turn had traced Nilmini to the Lady Ridgeway Hospital, Ward 11, Bed 16.

The efficiency of the medical service deserves high praise. When Nilmini was taken to the Kalpitiya Hospital, seeing her serious condition, the staff had started a blood transfusion and rushed her to the Puttalam Hospital, where an emergency operation had been done on her. From there, as she was in a critical condition, Nilmini and her mother had been transferred to the Colombo National Hospital. After treatment there, as she is under 12, she had been taken on August 21 to the Lady Ridgeway. The care at this children's hospital too has been excellent, with all staff working towards her recovery, even though the wards are overcrowded and they are over-worked. She is being given special nutritious food and also sent to the Eye Hospital for regular check-ups. 

Ms. Pathinige says that when she visited Nilmini on August 27, the day she was able to trace her, her mother Irene said, "Nona mage langata enna epa. Ma langa gandai." ("Don't come near me, as I'm stinking"). She had been in the same dress that she was wearing from August 18, when she rushed Nilmini to Kalpitiya. The girl had been provided clean clothes by the hospital. Thereafter, Ms. Pathinige has been visiting them regularly, checking on the girl's recovery and also providing clothes for both and the small "extras" like paper and crayons for Nilmini.

When we met Irene she related the events on that fateful day. She was working in the fields as usual, cleaning onions for Rs. 1 for each kilo that day too. She cleans about 100 kilos and earns Rs. 100 a day when there is work. Around 10 a.m. she heard a blast and thought that someone had shot an animal. "Then my 14-year-old daughter Siromi came running with Nilmini in her arms. 

"There was blood all over and Nilmini was unable to talk. I rushed to my sister's hut and saw that my son was dead in the compound. I left him there, and took Nilmini to hospital. I kept Nilmini with Siromi in hospital and came back to see my dead son."

By that time the villagers were making arrangements to bury Kumara, her son.

Says Irene, "There were tears, but there was no time to mourn. I hurried back to Kalpitiya, just in time to accompany Nilmini to Puttalam, after handing over Siromi to a nurse to look after until my sister arrived to take her home. From Puttalam, we came to Colombo and then to the Children's Hospital. Until I met misi, I didn't know what had happened to Siromi who is a lamissi and my other two sons, who are just 12 and six."

Ms. Pathinige explains that on hearing that Irene was not in touch with her other children, another search began. Several lengthy telephone calls later, Ms. Pathinige spoke to the postman who covered Musalpitiya, where Irene has put up a small cadjan home. 

He went looking for the children and informed her that they were with "Somapala aiya". Irene when told, had not been aware who Somapala Aiya was. Many more telephone calls and it had been found that Somapala was the father of the man, Irene's sister was living with presently. That is the situation as of today. 

Irene is living in fear of the dangers her three children, especially the teenage daughter may be facing. She is also wondering whether they are starving, but unable to do anything about it as she is needed at traumatised Nilmini's side. Isn't there anything, anyone can do?

The other simple question is: Doesn't seriously injured Nilmini, who says she still can't see with her injured eye, deserve any compensation? 

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