Puttalam Refugee Camp, Boys in a Village, Armed Conflict, Conclusion
Puttalam Refugee Camp, Boys in a Village, Armed Conflict, Conclusion



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14. Puttalam Refugee Camp

Three hours by a bus towards north from Colombo, I and IMADR staff Prishanthi arrived at Puttalam. Welcoming us, one staff of Community Trust Fund (CTF) explained that it was established by the Internally Displaced People (IDP) who mainly fled from the north part of Sri Lanka due to the ethnic riots in 1990.

Most of them are Muslims, speaking Tamil. CTF are visiting camps regularly and having meeting for community building, aiming at solving daily problems. After having lunch that he and his family kindly prepared for us, we visited some of those camps.

The hard and red ground becomes muddy soon after raining. Running on the road about 10 minutes seeing beautiful ocean on the right hand, small houses made of coconuts leaves come into our sight.

People are living under the mental stress in a little-privacy life, on the land owned by government or private owners. It is hard for them, who fled from the fighting field for long time with minimum possessions leaving their property there, to pay the rent. CTF are lobbying to the landowners to reduce or remit the payment.

Since a field in Puttalam does not suit agriculture, some people go to work at the other fields as a day worker. It often is too far. Job harassments are also reported. The rest of life depends on the donation by the national/international organizations. As Prishanthi says, it is hard for people living in such a dependent life to have hope for the future. CTF are working to raise awareness among people to have subsistence life, letting them know their rights and obligations with national and international laws.

Some camp established a pre-school for three to five-age children in a room only equipped with children's paintings and small chairs. A trained teacher, one of residents in the camp, is teaching paintings or simple English. The public education starts from the age of five with provided school uniform and textbooks. In reality, many children do not go to school for several reasons. For example, although Muslims in Puttalam speak in Tamil, the number of a school teaching in Tamil is not enough and these are often too far from the camps. Most of them cannot afford to pay for the transportation. Some parents are not willing to make their children go to school.

But the life in Puttalam is much better than a fighting field or its border villages in north and east. Putttalam can be at least free from direct damage by the armed conflict. However, here is a tricky point. International attention and support tend to gather at the most devastating area, even though the other areas have not been improvement at all. At the 2001 Anti-Racism and Discrimination UN Conference, according to CTF staff, there was no mention of Muslims in discussing about Sri Lankan ethnic conflict. Many of the participants did not recognize the Muslim community such as Puttalam. CTF are willing to advocate Muslim community problems to national and international society. This visit made me understand how the problems caused by this ethnic conflict are complicated, and gave me a lesson to observe things from various aspects.

15. Boys in a Village

I joined my friend's father to go to a village for repairing his motorbike. I asked a paper and pen to a mechanic man, painting scenery on a bridge. Three boys came and spoke to me in simple English with friendly smiles. "Where are you from?" "What is your favorite colour?" "This is King coconuts!" "Why don't you come to my best friend's house? That is his house." The boy pointed the next boy.

Then he replied, "Yes, he is my best friend!" Everyone smiled. "Japan is very clean (they seem to have leant in a school text book). Is Sri Lanka dirty?" Soon after this question, foods or gavages thrown and rotten on the street, a large number of small insects (maybe because of its hot climate), cockroaches, mice or rats and panhandlers I saw daily in Sri Lanka, came up in my mind. I could not say anything.

The boys, who asked the question without any implication, soon moved to the next question, "Is nature in Sri Lanka beautiful?" I nodded strongly. They made their signatures in the right corner of the paper. $B!!!!(J

16. Armed Conflict

The parties of armed conflict are LTTE and the government army. I heard and read many cases of kidnapping, raping, murder and suicide bombing by LTTE. Though many articles and books on Sri Lanka often label the LTTE as an international terrorist, a leader of LTTE says, " we are clearly different from a terrorist.

Terrorists are fanatic, but we are fighting for the right to self-determination that is recognized by international community".

(Future )

On the other hand, there are many cases of harassments unreasonable arresting, raping, and murder by the governmental army. Some Tamil person says, "Everybody will be able to stand to some extent." However, if it exceeds some line, you have to fight to protect you and your family. For this aim, some sacrifice is unavoidable. LTTE is freedom fighters". Regardless of the name and its belief of each armed group, there are three common things. Firstly, most of the army members' motivation is poverty. Salary as a soldier can guarantee life of them and their family.

Secondly, people near the fighting field have to choose to live under a pressure from the armed conflict, or to refuge to another place leaving all of their property there. Lastly, the most victims are children. The conditions are the same among not only Shinhala and Tamil, but also Muslim and the other indigenous people. The newborn babies should be free from the past tragedy. $B!!(J

Although this does not mean to forget the grief, it is more important than sticking to retaliation, beyond assailant or victim, to learn the lessons from tragedy so as not to repeat it. I know it is easy to say and very difficult to do, especially for the people still have a memory of tragedy. However, future is up to our determination to forgive the others.

17. Conclusion

Co-existing extreme poverty and richness; devastating damages by ethnic conflict and rich nature. The contrasting sceneries made me recognize another reality. Stepping out from a familiar world is an opportunity to think about myself objectively and consider about the others. The curiosity to know another world and people is, I think, a necessity for life. I hope I could make you feel an atmosphere of Sri Lanka, stimulating your curiosity.

(Living on Surface of a Tree )

END