Visit to Welikakandy Village in Baticoloa district in Eastern Province the IDPs in SL

NAFSO take every possible step to make the displaced people to resettle with due respect and Human Dignity.
NAFSO attempted to highlight the plight of the displaced people with the wider society where we were able to bring the focus from various groups, individuals, institutions etc.
Mr.AlexVan Arkadie, a Sri Lankan, retired FAO staff member who is residing at Rome, Italy visited the Welikakandy community with NAFSO staff to see the situation of those people who have been displaced since the final war began 2006 in Eastern province.
After the visit Alex is attempting to support to the community through his liasion with his former colleagues which we want to collaborate as NAFSO.
Following is the report which Alex prepared and shared with us.

Wednesday, 10th August 2010 – 07:00hrs.

We were accompanied by three members of the National Fisheries Solidarity, Negombo (NAFSO), viz. Mr. Herman Kumara, Director, Ms. Geetha, Secretary and Mr. Jesudasan, committee member. NAFSO in 19… coordinated with the Fund for securing financial assistance for a successfully on-going community project in Sri Lanka, viz. inland fish farming in Polonnaruwa (Ref. SRL/…/…).

Riding in their rugged 4-wheeler from Negombo, a major fishing village on the Western coast, our journey stretched across the Central Dry Zone expanse of Sri Lanka along bumpy roadway and gravel track. In the arid heat, we drove past shelled residential areas, schools, market places, temples, workshops, office buildings, bridges, irrigation channels, marshland lagoons and water tanks. Even the sparse vegetation in between had not been spared from the brutal 30yr. ethnic war between military forces and tamil separatists.

Nearly 7 hours later our single stop for a hurried make-do lunch was at a wayside boutique in the town of Batticaloa by the Eastern coast on the opposite side of the Island. From there we drove another 90mnts. (60kms.) where we met a group of about 30 men and women.

Not only are they living witness to the scars and inflictions suffered from war, but they bear vivid testimony to the social discrimination and civil abandonment that have arisen therefrom.

16:00 hrs: Repeated security checks by military staff and road blocks or deviations for construction works delayed us from reaching Welegakandya community dwelling, approx. 20km. from the Maha Oya river basin. Our open-air ‘meeting point’ lay alongside the main Batticaloa/Jaffna Roadway.

Seated on a tarpaulin sheet from mid-day in the shady coolness of a single tree, one of them explained that a larger group representing 300 families of the Chenkalady village community just left on the last bus. District Coordinator (Amparai), Mr. Jabbar was present along with local lead spokesman for the community, Mr. Sundara. He showed me a type of log book with name list of the community group, and meeting notes from sessions held. They have an elected Working Group comprised of a President, Secretary and Treasurer including a Committee of 18 women who have already participated in a leadership training program.

Below is a Table of the prospective beneficiaries we met at Welegakandya and most of whose aged parents (widowed or otherwise), by tradition, live and depend on their married children for their daily needs and survival:

Name Sex Age Children
Sundara M 44 5
Thiyagaraj M 55 5
Arasaratnam M 52 3
Yogeswara F 20 -
Yairamuththi F 65 9
Selvarani F 42 3
Annaamma F 65 5
Sivapakiam F 57 5
Panjacheram M 35 1
Komalawathi F 53 2
Manohari F 57 4
Thangamani F 59 8
Manohar F 40 6
Danalaxmi F 56 3
Mageswari F 52 5
Magalingam M 66 2
Shanmugaraj M 55 2
Amurtalingam M 38 4
Kamalraj M 44 5
Selvanayagam M 56 4
Marthikesan M 52 2

When their individual turn came to share from the woes and sufferings, all spoke of their hopeless abandonment. ‘No sooner did the war end, the military picked us from the camp and brought us back in trucks, leaving us to suffer here beside this main roadway. Though we are more than 7kms. from our former homes and patiently remained here for well over a year expecting some government relief, nobody has arrived so far.”

“True, our homes are no more. But we all want to get back to our land. We can grow paddy, grain and other pulses there as we used to do before. With outside financial help, we can build our houses, latrines, tidy up our wells, rebuild our irrigation channels, raise our children and educate them. Together our families can raise poultry, cattle, goat, and find other means to earn some small income for our basic survival. Our members have already cleared 3 of the 9 water wells, but our homes have been flattened to the ground. Even our major irrigation channel is badly damaged and awaits urgent repair, all of which we are willing to undertake and carry out as a single community group for our family welfare. Today, we have assembled here together to prove that we can live and work together, provided we receive some external financial help.”

In answer I told them that I had volunteered to visit them purely on my own accord, but fully convinced of the unwavering dedication of long-time NAFSO associates who continue to serve the needy and the poorest (in spite of political abandonment, insolence and negligence).

Unwilling to assure definite funding to these helpless victims who have been displaced by war but now eager to resettle in their former habitat, I simply outlined to them without any definite committment the terms and conditions for seeking funding from the Rome 1% for development fund. The only promise I could make, I added, “… is to report to my colleagues in Rome your abandoned status and the urgent funding necessary to ensure basic survival for those in your community.”

We closed at 17:30hrs. as dusk began to fall across the arid plains. Only then did some person in the group forewarn us of a herd of elephants whom they had sighted and scared away to the distant fields same time last evening. We called it a fine day, and re-routed back homewards.