Meeting the Challenges of displacement

What a difference a week makes.  In the last week, there seems to be some sort of order coming to the camps.  The task is momentous as the numbers of people are continuously increasing in parallel to the expansion of the camps, so to some extent things are happening simultaneously.  Despite all the preparations, the sheer volume has meant that the first week was always chaotic.   

It seems that those that have been displaced to Trincomalee, will eventually also be placed in Vavunia.  In hindsight, it may be a good move in order to facilitate the aid process, otherwise it does make things logistically difficult to handle especially for emergency relief.  As the dust settles, the authorities are quietly getting along with the business of getting the camps in order.  That business consists of getting in electricity, sorting out water supply, clearing land for more camps and ensuring that the beneficiaries are getting the best of what they can.  Credit needs to be given where it is due and in the face of such huge challenges it has been remarkable to see the authorities at work.  The forests are being cleared at a terrific pace, the tents are being put up (there was a rumor that about 12,000 tents were put up in one day) and it has been fascinating to watch the electricity being put in.  Within two days, the pylons were up and the wires being set up with the intention of electricity being given within a day.  When things need to get done, it appears that  it is being done.  As a colleague wryly remarked ‘If only they could be this efficient in Colombo!’

One image that seems to be associated with this current situation is queues.  As you drive up to Vavunia, you arrive at Medavichia (about 35km drive south of Vavunia).  This is seen in some circles as the last point between the ‘north’  and the rest of the country.   If you are lucky you can only spend an hour at this checkpoint, otherwise on average, it is about 2 – 3 hours and no one is spared.  Everyone is expected to be searched and then let through.  In previous times, vehicles were not allowed to go past this checkpoint without a Ministry of Defence pass.  Hence what a lot of agencies have ended up doing is to drive up to Medavachia and then swap vehicles with ones coming from Vavunia.  In any case, whatever happens, the vehicle also inevitably is put on a ramp and checked. A hassle, nevertheless but what about those who are in public transport?

The day we entered, there were about 40 vehicles parked in front of us waiting for clearance.  Many of them were from corporates sending in relief items.  There was a fleet of about 10 fire and rescue ambulances and trucks from various municipal councils.  They were getting the same treatment.  The police officer who checked us was very polite but unapologetic ‘Sorry sir, we have a duty to check to ensure security and safety’.  You can’t argue with that.  They check all your luggage and go through the car with a fine tooth comb.  I just pity those who have to unload items from a truck and then put it back.

Before you enter Manic Farm, which is the site of the largest camp holding the most number of displaced people (around 170,000), there is a queue whilst the Military Police check your access pass and go through the vehicle.  All precautionary security measures.  People are inevitably nervous.

Once you enter the camp though, then you see the real queues.  People are queuing for water, food, to use the bathroom, to get some relief item and so on.  ‘It has been quite orderly.  When we first started, there were mini riots as people surged to get things.  It was as if they had not seen these things before’, remarked one NGO worker.

This is what strikes you about the current situation.  The people are so desperate and have been deprived of so much that anything for them now is a luxury.  This is not just because of the current situation but one can see the effect of long term deprivation.  Many of the mothers who have been coming to our mobile hospital are suffering from malnutrition, not because they have been hungry for the last couple of months, but because easily for the last 3 years or so, they have been deprived of essential food and nutrients.  So there must be some truth to the photographs that were shown on state media purportedly of how government food aid that was sent to the LTTE control areas ended up in LTTE bunkers or in the warehouses owned by the LTTE leadership.  From what we are seeing on the ground, it certainly did not necessarily go to the people. 

Most of these displaced people have been mentally brought to a point of desperation with many of them being continuously displaced since 2006.  A few have just expressed relief for the fact that they are able to sleep in some aspect of comfort without the threat and sound of shells.  Talk to them and you get a sense of how fruitless their lives must have been, just moving from place to place, being caught up in a battle that they knew nothing of or did not want to be a part of.  Many of them speak of family members who were forcibly conscripted to fight.  Yet in the midst of all this pain and suffering, there doesn’t seem to be much sorrow.  It is as if they have lost the capacity for sorrow . Most of them are though hopeful for the future.  As one IDP told me ‘I just want to go back to my place and restart my livelihood.  I don’t care how long that will take.  I cant be a refugee’.

This seems to be the message that one is consistently hearing.  There is no sense of grievance or anger against the government or the army.  Many IDPs have spoken of their surprise at the gentle way they have been treated by the army and the government, the ‘perceived’ other side.  The message is one of going back and restarting their livelihood.

This is a message that even the government seems to have heard.  Yesterday the President convened a meeting with heads of agencies and the message that came across was very simple. ‘We need to work together to help our people return back to safety and normalcy.  This is our  responsibility, duty and our plan’  Powerful words coming directly from the Head of State.  The hope is that this message is consistently played to all stakeholders and sectors of society and that this is the way the future is played out.