Journey through Sri Lanka’s refugee camps, where life is a daily struggle
Soon, the monsoon will affect people. There is hope that something will be done to help them. Some families who have relatives have been released. Yet many are waiting to be resettled back home; it is their urgent plea and hope. The elderly, mothers and their babies have been sent out of the camp without papers, and this is creating a problem when they return to their place of origin. However, those who have relatives take them to the GA and try to do what they can. The disabled, the mentally and psychologically disturbed, who have no relatives, seem to suffer in the camps. It could be better if something is arranged for them.
In Komarasankulam, people have some facilities like a big school housing 600 families or about 2000 people. Recently, IDPs in Zone 4 have been brought to this welfare centre. But there is a water shortage. They are given cooked food. IDPs take turn to cook the food. Relatives are allowed to visit them without barbed wire in between like in other camps.
I was allowed to meet them and assist at Holy Mass. Thus, I was able to help them, bringing school textbooks, clothing, spectacles and religious articles. I also helped pregnant women when they needed help. I gave cash to those who had no one and to widows. However, it is a limited help and I had to obey the rules, which change every time a new batch of officers come to the camp. Last week, I was told that I must get permission to come for Holy Mass.
In Vavuniya Hospital, I met many people from the Cheddikulam and Vavuniya camps. I went through many wards, including Accident, Eye and Psychiatry. I provided food, milk powder, clothing, medicine and anything they asked. It was easy to help people in the hospital.
Many women come with children and babies. Very often, they come to the clinic and are admitted. In such cases, they need help. Doctors Without Borders (MS) has an office in the hospital where some clothing is available in cases of emergency. MSF volunteers are working as caregivers and often come to me when patients need cash or more.
Often watchers are not allowed except for babies, children and very serious cases. Therefore, patients suffer very much. For example, Madasamy is a patient who had both legs and one hand amputated, and no one to help him. His family is in Cheddikulam camp and has been unable to visit him in more than a month.
Given living conditions =, it is no wonder that people are very depressed in hospitals and camps. Caritas-HUDEC and Caritas Valvuthayam Mannar provide camps food supplies on a daily basis, which IDPs can then cook. In other camps, refugees get rice, dhal, flour and some oil, and sometimes vegetables. For everything else, like medicine, clothing, stationery, baby food, etc., people have to depend on others, relatives and well-wishers.
Some people are ok because they have relatives who help them with cash and things. Others also get money from abroad from their children and relatives. But a good number of them have no one. In hospital, mothers often come with their babies with no assistance at all. The disabled suffer a lot in hospital and camps. In October, the administration of IDP camps came under exclusive government control and NGOs activities have been curtailed.
In camps, hepatitis, pneumonia, appendicitis and fever are on the increase. Very often, babies are brought to hospital with abscesses and youths suffer appendicitis. Many adults and children suffer from fever for long periods, and often have relapses because of lack of food and adequate medical care. For them, life is hard, having to depend on the good will of others, on NGOs and well-wishers. For them, it is humiliating and degrading, since many used to be well off and had everything. Now they have to beg. The disabled, those who lost their family and the elderly suffer the most. It is with the help of NGOs, Church organisations and others that they survive.
I visited Ramanathar camp recently. The hardship they go through for water is beyond words. They tie one-litre bottles on a rope for more than a mile. When the tap is opened the water is collected, 20 litres per person. By 11 am, the water is stopped and only 10 persons have collected enough water. One woman told me she gets her turn for 20 litres once every three days; that is six litres a day for drinking and cooking. Another 40 litres is provided once every three days for bathing, and this for a whole family. Tents are divided into two sections and two families of 10 live in each.
There are many orphans placed in different homes and camps. Among them, some are over 18 and live alone. They are in a very sad state with no one helping them, especially young women who cannot go and ask others for help with their personal and private needs. They need to be taken out of the camps and looked after in a safer place. When they come to the hospitals, we help them.
Every day, pregnant women, mothers with babies and the elderly are sent to more comfortable places in Vavuniya but since they have no papers, they cannot move anywhere else.
Earlier this month, 274 people who fit this profile set out for Jaffna, but were transferred instead to Sivan Kovil in Vavuniya. On 7 October, MSF took all of them to Eratperiyaulam where they boarded buses for Jaffna. However, that same evening they were brought back to Sivankovil. One can imagine the suffering and depression these pregnant women must have experienced. In this span of time, five babies were born, three on a bus.
Some families are being moved from one camp to another. They are pleading to be released, to be let free. They hope that their cry will be heard so that they will be able to live with dignity wherever they are.
If they are released, they will find a way to stand on their own two feet. All they want is to breathe freedom.
What is amazing is the faith these people have in God even under such conditions and this even if they feel depressed and disgusted.
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