THE ‘INVISIBLE PEOPLE’ – AT THE MERCY OF NATURE

 

A few clothes hang on fences; toys are seen floating on murky brown coloured water; pillows clog the drains and people, already shouldered with life’s burdens, slowly and determinedly clean their mud stained wooden shacks, in a rhythmic and experienced manner.  These are the ‘invisible people’ of Mabola and Wellampitiya (towns just north of Colombo), daily wage workers living on the brink of poverty, who once again have been exposed to the harsh realities of an Indian Monsoon.  This time though, Mother Nature has been exceptionally harsh, with virtually non stop rain over the last couple of months.  November was particularly cruel with flash floods even being experienced in parts of Colombo.

 

These daily wage workers forced to settle ‘illegally’ on marshy land due to lack of adequate space are particularly vulnerable to flooding during these times.  Living downstream of industrial estates, they are not only at the mercy of the rising waters, but also  of polluted water as a result of the effluents released by these estates often serving top multi national companies.  Visiting these areas, as we tried to intervene for flood relief suddenly exposed me to another world on the outskirts of Colombo.

 

‘No one really cares about us’ remarked Pushpakumara, a trishaw driver and father of three, distastefully. ‘We are the invisible people, not showing up on anyone’s records.  These estates discharge their effluents into the river and when the water level rises, the dirty water with unbearable smells comes into our living rooms and kitchens.’

 

One is conscious of a pungent smell that permeates this area of largely stagnant water.  With the flooding of whatever sanitation that existed for these people, are deadly chemicals that have created a deadly cocktail of potential diseases for residents.  Wading these stagnant waters is to gamble with your health.  There were already reports of snake bites affecting the children plus one of my staff who had forgotten his protective equipment and stupidly decided to wade barefoot.  Luckily he received very minor graze and I was able to quickly put my first aid knowledge into practice for the first time.

 

At the local mosque, the only ‘community centre’ serving a mixed community of Muslims, Tamils and Sinhalese, Mr Rumy, a local businessman directed operations much like an army commander on the field. ‘These people have no representation.  Whilst the government recognises them by providing electricity and water connections, when such a disaster happens, they are left to fend for themselves.  If it is not for the help of local community people and other humanitarian organisations, they would have been left to suffer for themselves’ he laments.

 

 

Fatima was a former house maid (who worked in the Middle East) and is now living with her three children, ever since her alcoholic husband abandoned them, in a wooden 2 room shack that has been divided into 4 rooms that include a kitchen and toilet.  Standing in the middle of what was her living room, with a sad smile on her face, she recollects ‘We simply had to tolerate everything.  We had to flee to the mosque leaving behind whatever valuables we had.  Now the water levels are still high and we have a threat of snakes. Our children can not go to school as all their books and uniforms have been destroyed.’ 

 

Standing in this room, I was suddenly conscious of this new set of ‘invisible’ people as Pushpakumara had so eloquently put it.  These people who had not suffered from the ethnic conflict or the tsunami yet seemed to be living in much worse conditions than either of these two groups of people, with very little support from the government or other humanitarian agencies.  These people were only invisible because of their poverty and their struggle to improve their conditions but still needed support and a chance to be able to fend for themselves, the need to come together to help themselves.  Suddenly it became obvious for the potential of this community to be unleashed in order for them to pick themselves up

Bringing about Change

The election of Barack Obama in November 2008, brought an air of optimism that ‘change’ was possible in any situation.  There were many in Sri Lanka who also wrote with optimism of the possibility like in the US for someone from a minority to be elected president of Sri Lanka.  Many cynics will counter argue that perhaps Sri Lanka has a long way to go before that happens.  Of course incidents in Sri Lanka over the last couple of weeks such as the assassination of the editor of a Sunday news paper and the attack on a private tv station amidst signs that the Sri Lankan army is winning the war against the LTTE are indicators of the challenges that perhaps face the country in moving forward beyond the conflict. 

However one thing that struck me whilst watching as I am sure everyone did, the inauguration of Barack Obama was how much he talked about everyone needing to play a part in forging change. 

The key is to start with ourselves as Mahatma Ghandi once said that ‘if you wish to see change in the world, you should be that change’.  This is none more apparent than here in Sri Lanka.  We can argue till the cows come home about political and military solutions and the failures of our leaders and there have been failures from all sides in this conflict; Failure to ensure the safety of civilians; failure to tolerate dissent; and failure to enjoy media freedom. The tragedy though is that we are as guilty as those we complain about.  I have been struck by how much we ourselves have to be self critical when I read some of the comments in response to my blog.   Whilst the comments have complained about the bigotry and intolerance of others, the comments and view points themselves betray their writers’ own intolerance and bigotry.  This is indeed the sad fact of the conflict in Sri Lanka.  And so there is no hope of moving forward if we cannot even remove the mistrust, intolerance and hatred. 

We have to have the intellectual empathy to acknowledge that everyone has justified grievances.  The Tamils (as do the other minorities) has justified grievances against the State to their treatment.  This of course does not justify armed struggle or the slaughter of civilians or for that matter the acts of ethnic cleansing against the Muslims in the northern province in 1990.  The State has the right to ensure that everyone within its shores are looked after justly and equitably and that civilians are not harmed in any way.  Because let us face it those who are fighting and those who are backing the fighting are not necessarily those who are suffering from the results of the war.  It is the civilians who are the biggest losers. 

Moving beyond the conflict will have to require everyone to play a part.  The most important legacy that we can leave our children’s children is a country that is united in its diversity.  However this is no easy task.  I recently was in the company of a few young men and women in their mid twenties.  One thing that stuck me was their ability to look beyond the differences that existed between them.  However what also struck me was of their ignorance of what was happening in the country, who the key stakeholders were and what the issues were.  I remember thinking to myself, that if this next generation who are born and bred in Sri Lanka coming not only from Colombo but from other parts of the country are so indifferent and apathetic to the suffering of the people of their country, then there is certainly a lot to be done.  People need to be educated to help them understand the mistakes of the past so that it is not written.  The new Generation will have to understand that you measure someone based on their character, behavior, attitude and moral integrity and not on which community they belong to or how rich they are or what their faith is.

This is the monumental task to be done by all concerned, State and Non State actors, organizations and individuals. At the 2007 Commonwealth People’s Forum in Kampala, civil society leaders called for ‘the creation of an enabling environment to foster: unity in diversity, where there would be respectful and meaningful dialogue and collaboration between people with different identities and values; and practical grassroots action and community linking partnerships to build peace, prosperity and well-being for all Commonwealth Citizens’.  It is with this vigour that people will have to work to create that environment.

Whilst Barack Obama’s election brought optimism for change, the War on Gaza at the beginning of the year has shown us how great a challenge lies ahead in order to move away from political violence flavoured by faith (culture and identity) where the world is seen through a singular lens of ‘good’ and ‘evil’, ‘us’ vs. ‘them’.  The inability for the world to respond shows the weakness that still exists.  However the key thing is not to lose hope.  This is the key message for Sri Lanka as well.  It is for everyone to be loud so that we can shout against injustice no matter where it is committed and who commits it.  For as Martin Luther King said, ‘the tragedy of  the situation is not that the bad people are loud but that the good people are very quiet.’

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4 years on...

It is strange that the most vivid memories that stay with you are the ones which have caused you the most torment.  I can remember it as if it were yesterday.  At 4.30am on the 26^th of December 2004, my phone started to ring….. It was my mother on the line from Colombo frantically saying that there was ‘severe flooding’ in the east of Sri Lanka and my grandmother had been affected.  The rest of the day will always be a blur to me on a snowy Boxing Day morning as reports came in of the tsunami.

 I took one of the first flights out to Sri Lanka still unsure as to the gravity of the whole situation. The effect of the tsunami were realized when I boarded a half empty Sri Lankan airlines plane to Colombo.  It seems that there were at least 150 last minute cancellations.  Touching down early morning in Colombo, I was struck by the air of gloom that seemed to be in the air of the airport as staff seemed to be moving around filled with some sort of despondency, almost glad to see the arrival of someone to their country after the rapid departures of so many people. The atmosphere in Colombo was tinged with an element of sadness, as everywhere from rickshaws to private houses were flying the traditional white flag of mourning. 

After an arduous 12 hour drive to the east to search for my Grandmother, what confronted us was beyond description like a scene out of a movie.  The sheer brute force of nature was easy to see.  One can only contemplate that in the face of such raw energy it was very apparent that man is but a helpless creature.  In an almost catatonic state, people were sifting through the destroyed remains of their homes. The detritus of disaster occasionally offered up possessions like mangled bicycles or touching mementoes of a life before the horror swept through. All too often, the smell of the decomposing remains of those who were not quick enough to escape the deluge, were yielded to those entrusted with search and rescue.  On one occasion, they had run out of burial cloth and had to make do with bed sheets and other bits of material.  Eventually the number of bodies became so great, that excavators were used to dig the graves and dump trucks were used to bury the bodies.  On average, everyone in the first couple of days of the disaster must have individually handled 100 bodies, from young children to pregnant mothers to old people.  The damage was so tremendous that even 5 weeks after the disaster struck, remains were being discovered.

The East of Sri Lanka bore the brunt of the tsunami with the village of Marathumunai being the first to be hit.  In one part of that village, almost 3000 people were killed as the only evidence of the existence of the village being the slab of concrete that signified the floors of their houses.

This unprecedented disaster robbed the country of children and elders. It was striking in all the villages one visited along this 25 mile coastal stretch in the east of Sri Lanka at how few children there were. Parents told stories of how they tried to hold on to their children, but were forced to let go when the waves crashed into them. Young bodies were tossed helplessly and washed up days later, crushed under the force of the water. “I could not hold on to him,” one grieving father at one of the camps cried to me. “I should not be alive. What kind of father am I that I live while my child, who looked to me to protect him, lies buried somewhere?” One of the first rescue workers on the scene told of how he found the small bodies of 4 children clinging to their father underneath the rubble of their house. Elderly people also were a rare sight. They, too, were unable to run fast enough and were either swept away or crushed in their beds. Whole generations were lost.  

There  are stories of courage in the face of adversity though, like the  story of a courageous primary school teacher who tried to get his 40 charges to safety by helping them on to the roof of their school house. The wave claimed the lives of all the children. When the teacher was found he was clutching a child under each arm, unwilling to relinquish his responsibility to the children he loved even when his own life was at stake. Villagers still speak of him in terms of a saint. He could have easily escaped but resolutely stood and faced death rather than abandon those he had sworn to protect.  

It is said that every Sri Lankan has been affected directly or indirectly by this tsunami.  There are whole families that have been wiped out (30 – 40 members) or where the grandfather and the grandchild have survived.  I  was able to find my grandmother, but lost  5 members of my  extended family.  My aunt who was 6 months pregnant miraculously survived because her husband managed to get to safety to avoid the rising water, losing his life in the process.  Today 4 years on, I find it hard to tell my 3 year old cousin that his father died in order to save him, when he asks me about him.  

There is something humbling about visiting a refugee camp to hand out relief aid, and the person who receives it is a relative of yours or a friend whom you played with when you were young.  How can you explain giving out clothes and food as charity to the people that you know?  It is also very distressing.  How do you comfort them?  How do you explain to your family that some members had to die and others did not?  How do you comfort parents who had a choice to make between which children to save?

Yet, amongst  all that carnage; examples of mercy were evident. The number of tremendous people who had gathered to provide support and assistance at such a time of need was evident of a higher spiritual cause that united  us in the humanity of mankind.  The response of the local people and organisations was  amazing, as everywhere you went, in their own way people are trying to  help.  For once regardless of ethnicity, religion or language, people were uniting to help each other.  ‘These are my fellow countrymen.  The wave was indiscriminate in its action, so why should we discriminate in our response’, was the most common expression.

These lessons of generosity, humanity and humility are lessons of a higher spirituality. I remember thinking to myself that these words gave light at a time of darkness.  

However 4 years on whilst many agencies are wrapping up their tsunami programs and going home, the work has not yet finished.  Not everyone has been given a house and a new livelihood.  To make matters worse, the conflict has meant that attention has been shifted away from the tsunami reconstruction. 

4 years on, we remember that for a very brief period the tsunami had achieved in a couple of minutes what people for the past 57 years had failed to do ‘Unite the Sri Lankan People’

4 years on, it is this that we need to remember when we remember those who perished.  Cities can be rebuilt.  It is the wounds of the heart and the mind which needs to be addressed.  Perhaps those who perished can serve as a reminder of the unity of diversity that we need to practice.   For it can only be with this unity that will help to lift Sri Lanka from the hole it has fallen into.  It will require the combined effort of everyone to heal the internal scars that has affected the nation.

                                        

sense of inevitability

There is a sense of inevitability in Sri Lanka at the moment.  Each day the sms news alerts and the newspapers tells a story of an advancing Sri Lankan army venturing ever so close to Kilinochi, the ‘capital’ of the LTTE self declared  homeland.  Each night the ‘embedded’ reporters of the mainly government run or pro government tv stations report from the front line.  Almost like watching a race in slow motion, the countdown has every one watching with bated breath, 15 km! 10 km! 5 km!  It has now become a question of when not if!

For the man on the street, it is obvious.  Strike up a conversation with anyone from a taxi driver to a grocery store keeper and the tone is the same ‘our boys are nearing closer.  We will win!!’

For the humanitarian organisations involved especially those at the front line, the ‘boys’ maybe nearing closer, but there is still the question of the civilians, who like in any other conflict are the real victims after being caught in the middle of something they did not start or want a part of.  The recent government request for agencies to vacate to safer areas was met with some reluctance.  Understandable to some extent considering the plight of the civilians especially as they face the danger of getting caught in cross fire, a concern as regards the mandate of the organisations, particularly as no one seems to have a grip on what the final numbers are.   But the reluctance was met with the usual cynicism from certain parts of the media and certain political parties who cried conspiracy theory accusing agencies of trying to create a ‘kosovo like’ scenario.

It is a tough situation and no one exactly knows what to say or not to say.   People within the humanitarian community are reluctant to comment for fear of sounding anti state but there is a real and genuine concern.  Whatever final numbers of displaced people there will be, the concern is always with regards to looking after them and their welfare and eventually their future.

This is something that people are not yet talking about.  The question of ‘what next?’ is not on the lips of people just yet, but it must be in the back of their minds.  As the guns go quiet and normalcy beckons, what is the next step?  How easy will it be?

Therein lies the conundrum.  After twenty plus years of conflict and even a greater number of years of ethnic polarisation, the wounds are deep and severe.   There will be the task of resettling people back to their homelands.  For some of these people, it will be after decades of living in refugee camps either in Putallum, the east or across the water in India.  Their families have led their lives for the last 20 years or so under these difficult situations, their children have gone to school, got married and had kids of their own.  What about the land rights or compensation?  How about livelihoods and infrastructure?

Houses may be rebuilt and people may be resettled but the real task is how do you reconcile the community?

The years have ensured that layer and layer of mistrust has been built up.  How does one even go about tearing down these walls? To truly reconcile this requires a change of heart .  The answer has to come from the people themselves.  They will have to reach in deep into themselves to come out with the answers to reconcile, to forgive and to move on.  That change of heart has to come from a strong spiritual foundation.  Hence a great role in reconciliation will have to be played by rediscovering the spiritual base and giving a greater role to be played collectively by the faith community.

It is not surprising because largely throughout history (give or take a few episodes), it has been the power of spirituality, flavoured by the various religious teachings, that  has sustained peace and harmony among the diverse citizenry.  Where this spirituality and responsibility has become diluted into faith and ethnic identity and rights, it has 

become ineffective to guide the people.   

In Sri Lanka the conflict has polarized different segments of the society dividing the communities amongst ethnic, religious and caste differences and instilling fear and suspicion amongst each other.

The success and stability of any solution to the conflict and post conflict reconstruction will depend among building trust, removing suspicion and eradicating the fear that prevails among the local communities.

There are three things that are essential for this to happen effectively:

• Intellectual empathy,
• Deep faith and rationality
• Spirituality.

These three factors ensure that dialogue can be done with patience and humility and done in a spirit so as a move can be made towards respecting, understanding and accepting each other and their differences in an atmosphere of justice and equality.  

The great leaders of the world such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela, have all professed and practiced non-violent social actions as a way of establishing peace and justice.

The role that spirituality plays in influencing this spirit of non retaliation and forgiveness can not be under emphasised. This requires not only no violence but also peoples’ awareness of their internal power and commitment to use it with responsibility.   A solution that does not involve respect for the opponent cannot resolve the underlying conflict and create an environment for consolidating a lasting understanding and acceptance.

Sri-Lanka has the spiritual base to make that change, to forget and forgive and to teach that  everyone came from the same source and everyone  has a space in it.