After travelling for 8 hours I arrived in “Kilinochchi: The city rising
with peace, hope and harmony”. The city that saw such a large part of three
decades of war, Kilinochchi is rebuilding after experiencing unimaginable trauma.
4 years after the end of the war, the infrastructure is looking good. The road through town is a dual carriageway with the median strip planted out with flowers. The shops are open and full.
I was promised carpet roads, and for most of the trip I had them. It is
amazing what can be achieved when the military machine needs it. The city has
new buildings, hotels, community facilities, a large and well equipped hospital
and schools. On the surface it seems to indeed be rising. But I wonder about an
administration that whilst announcing “peace, hope and harmony” maintains such an
overt heavily armed military presence.
Just after leaving Puttalam the highway becomes a carpet road: an
essential arterial for the transport of goods and services to the North in the
vital work of re-establishing community and society – also pretty useful for transporting
military supplies for maintaining peace and harmony.
At very regular intervals along the road are the military bases that during the war were
home to thousands of forces. They look impressive today with beautiful stone
work advertising their Brigade or Command numbers, their grounds are well groomed and as we drove past soldiers were maintaining the road
fronts – keeping it all looking nice. I have no idea how many military personnel
are deployed behind the fences, but the bunkers, the towers, the pill boxes are
still manned with heavily armed soldiers – so I imagine a few.
So why, if this is now a country at peace does this part of the country
in particular need to maintain such a high military presence?
I’m here because there is a project that I need to check on. For the
past 3 years our teams have been working with the Hospital, the Government Health
Department, the Psychiatrists Board and others to implement a process whereby
people who have suffered mentally as a result of the war are able to receive
help. We have trained community engagement officers who offer support,
friendship, and guidance in partnership with the hospitals. We have worked with
doctors and hospitals to ensure that people who need it can get access to the
system. We have worked with the Government
to make sure that when our funds run out next year the system and the process is
sustainable.
The project has received critical acclaim from the Sri Lankan
government and from donors. It looks like it is doing well and it is making a
huge difference for many people in the region. So yes, the city is rising, but
beneath the surface, beside the carpet roads, there are people who are still
suffering. Mums who still grieve lost sons. Wives who still look for husbands.
Children who still look for Dad.
I’m not sure that hope and harmony have returned yet, to all people –
but that’s what we are attempting – to try and restore dignity and hope in all
people, particularly the most vulnerable - children, women, disabled and mentally
distressed.
