Sri Lanka: Building Lives Is Part of Development
By Chandi Sinnathurai
11 July, 2010
Countercurrents.org
All the talk of national reconciliation and restoration and reconstruction pales into insignificance when those individual lives affected by the war are yet to see any flicker of hope. When we hear stories like these one begins to wonder whether the Rajapaksha regime are serious about 'walking their talk.' One begins to question their motives. Their integrity is certainly on the line.
The following is published by Lakbima - A Sinhala On-line publisher. The story is authentic.
Heartrending tale of Jaffna family
Nowhere to go...
By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan
If you tour Jaffna and happen to visit the Jaffna railway station, you will not miss a family of three residing in one of the abandoned office rooms of the station.
Selvaratnam Jayalingam (48) his wife Jayarubi and their girl child Dharshika (4) have been living there for the last four months surviving on the food and money given by visitors of the South who are going in large numbers to Jaffna these days and also soldiers who are in the vicinity.
The displaced family from Vasavilan, Palali, has lost everything in life. Selvaratnam limps with one artificial leg and Jayarubi has lost both her legs and all 10 fingers in a shell attack in 1992.
The handicapped couple with untold hardships left Palali to Oddumadam, Pommaveli three years ago. They settled in a house of a Muslim family who were displaced and living in Puttalam.
But when the war came to an end, the family from Puttalam returned and Selvaratnam and family had to vacate.
Having nowhere to go, and unable to rent a house, the Selvaratnam family moved into the dilapidated Jaffna railway station.
Dharshika does not attend school. She spends her days playing alone in the room with her parents. They can hardly do anything for the child. Since Jayarubi is unable to move or cook a meal, they leave the child to attend to her own little needs.
“We want our child to attend school, but a nearby Montessori is asking for Rs. 7, 000 to enroll her. We have no money. We are like a ‘showpiece’ to the public who visit the railway station. They talk to us and give us food and money and we live by that,” said Jayarubi.
They approached MP Douglas Devananda to give them a house and he promised to do something. “It was two months ago that he spoke to us but we have heard nothing since then. We even approached the UNCHR and the ICRC but they are not in a position to give us land or a house,” Jayarubi said.
Selvaratnam used to prepare sweetmeats (Muscat) which were supplied to shops. “I can do that if I have the facilities,” he says. But their worry is about the child who needs an education and a proper shelter.
“There are hundreds of such families...and before talking of massive development plans in the North and East and boosting trade and tourism, it’s necessary to concentrate on such families who have no food, no shelter and no education”, a disgusted Southerner said before leaving the railway station. [http://www.lakbimanews.lk/archvi/lakbimanews_10_07_11/news/laknew10.htm]
This writer wonders whether Douglas Devananda, a Tamil Minister in the Rajapaksha government is just a puppet with out any clout to help such families but only concerned about himself getting a lion-share. Should he were to become the Chief Minister of the North it seems that there will not be any improvement to the poor and the needy - in spite of his revolutionary pep talk!
There are a crowd of people who want to become leaders of the Ceylon Tamils in the country, as well as in the diaspora as "global Tamil leader" - the likes of Rudrakumar. Ego is the size of the Himalayas, but not much substance nor action on the ground! Just piffle.
In this crack-pot scenario, sadly it is the desperately poor who are always left to face the brunt of evil. Rhetoric or spin doesn't come to their rescue.
The truth begins to surface that actually the Emperor has been naked all along...That's worrying.
