I woke up this morning in Colombo, feeling sorry for myself so, after chatting with the person in my life that keeps me grounded in reality and helps me keep perspective, I decided to go for a walk along Galleface green (the sea front). It was here, as I walked and talked with God, that I was reminded of another sea front that I had visited just this past week and the people that lived in the area - and I realised that I had no right to feel sorry for myself...
I was travelling through what to some has become known as "The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka". It is a narrow stretch of land that is between a beautiful lagoon and the open sea, in the District of Mullaitivu on the North East coast of Sri Lanka.
On December 26, 2004 thousands of people lost their lives and homes here. (But that's not why they are called the Killing Fields.) Over the next few years houses were rebuilt, lives were reestablished, families fought to reclaim 'normal' in an area that was a Tamil majority and a LTTE stronghold. "My life was pretty good here, my husband and I were quite well off, our children were at school, our house and our property were nice", said a woman who I met at a women's psychosocial support group.
But then in the 100 days prior to May 14, 2009 the "Tsunami' houses that had reestablished home and safety, were again destroyed, but this time many more lives were lost in what the Sri Lankan government calls the "Wanni Humanitarian Operation". The 'humanitarian' agenda was "wiping out the darkness of the North and the East... [to] conquer and protect motherland" (inscription at the Victory Monument at Pudukudirippu).
Some say as many as 300,000 (Tamil) civilians fled from their homes in the districts surrounding Mullaitivu and gathered in the same 32km area designated by the military as a "safe area, a No Fire Zone". By May 14, when the two Sri Lankan military fronts met in the middle of the safe area, at the Farah-03 a Jordanian ship that had run aground on the beach in 2006, thousands of people were dead - four days later the 25 year war was officially declared over.
Over the last 4 years the government have steadily removed any reference to the LTTE except what they choose to sanitise and use for their own purposes. Just out of town there was a LTTE 'Heroes' cemetery. But today, after bulldozing the site, it is one of dozens of Sri Lankan military barracks in the North and the East, heavily manned and a constant reminder of occupation.
It is in this context that our project Reconciliation through Mental Health Integration in Northern Districts (REMIND) seeks, with the partnership of the government health services, to help victims of psychosocial distress find ways to manage and re-imagine their future.
One of the vital elements of this project are Community Support Officers: community members, trained to identify distressed people, who offer ways into networks of support, whether that be medical care or support groups. The young CSO women that met me told me their own stories of trauma and loss, but when asked why they do what they do: "because someone needs to care and try and help - I can".
Yeah, really is time for me to stop feeling sorry for myself and do my job!
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| The Killing Fields: Mullaitivu |
I was travelling through what to some has become known as "The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka". It is a narrow stretch of land that is between a beautiful lagoon and the open sea, in the District of Mullaitivu on the North East coast of Sri Lanka.
On December 26, 2004 thousands of people lost their lives and homes here. (But that's not why they are called the Killing Fields.) Over the next few years houses were rebuilt, lives were reestablished, families fought to reclaim 'normal' in an area that was a Tamil majority and a LTTE stronghold. "My life was pretty good here, my husband and I were quite well off, our children were at school, our house and our property were nice", said a woman who I met at a women's psychosocial support group.
But then in the 100 days prior to May 14, 2009 the "Tsunami' houses that had reestablished home and safety, were again destroyed, but this time many more lives were lost in what the Sri Lankan government calls the "Wanni Humanitarian Operation". The 'humanitarian' agenda was "wiping out the darkness of the North and the East... [to] conquer and protect motherland" (inscription at the Victory Monument at Pudukudirippu).
 |
| Farah-03 |
Over the last 4 years the government have steadily removed any reference to the LTTE except what they choose to sanitise and use for their own purposes. Just out of town there was a LTTE 'Heroes' cemetery. But today, after bulldozing the site, it is one of dozens of Sri Lankan military barracks in the North and the East, heavily manned and a constant reminder of occupation.
It is in this context that our project Reconciliation through Mental Health Integration in Northern Districts (REMIND) seeks, with the partnership of the government health services, to help victims of psychosocial distress find ways to manage and re-imagine their future.
 |
| Mullaitivu CSOs |
Yeah, really is time for me to stop feeling sorry for myself and do my job!
