Rice: A problem for the people

It was inevitable, but the global food crisis, was bound to rear its ugly head sooner or later in Sri Lanka…

The first incident was the unwelcome news that WFP and other UN Agencies were cutting their food aid to displaced people in Sri Lanka as a result of the rising food prices.  We felt it because our organisation had a joint school feeding program with WFP in the south which has seemingly stalled as WFP has literally pulled operations from the south.

The other incident which has come to my mind is the recent vesak holidays in Sri Lanka.  Billed as the last long weekend for a while in Sri Lanka (notorious for its numerous public holidays), it was supposed to be a time of great celebration (which is always welcome) with lots of lanterns and the provision of Dhansala, which can best be described as the provision of free food to the public.  Literally in every nook and cranny, a  stall is set up and people give away food to passers by.  Stop at a traffic light and you are bound to be approached  by someone bringing something to eat.  People’s generosity knows no bounds…..

This year’s vesak was a little bit subdued.  Whilst many would argue that the ongoing security situation (not helped by the bomb that went off on the Friday before the Vesak weekend) contributed it was evident that something else was wrong.  This was evident from the Dhansala that was being served.  Traditionally it is rice and some accompaniments that is served.  However this time, there was a variation from the 2 minute Maggi noodles, to soup to fruits, anything but rice.

‘You see rice is expensive and the cost of cooking gas has gone up and so we can not do these as we used to’, a Dhansala stall holder ruefully remarked to me, reflecting the pinch that many ordinary people are feeling in terms of cost of living increases and rising food prices.

As the ‘silent tsunami’ (as it has been called by the world bank) slowly engulfs us, many people in Sri Lanka will not realise their plight until they are struck.  Whilst it is the poor and the most vulnerable that will be the first to suffer, no one is immune from the rising prices.  Yet in a country such as Sri Lanka which has blessed natural resources, the mere fact that food still has to be imported is a wonder

Yet the worrying part is how little this is of concern for people.  Much more than any other issue is the issue of food security which should be gripping people.  The mere fact that some people are going to bed hungry whilst others have plenty to eat is from all spiritual teachings a crime.

There are still weddings taking place in grand hotels and exclusive dinners that are being held where food is being wasted and thrown without any concern for the value and worth of what is put on the plate.  There are still people who insist on eating rice three times a day because they want to.

The government like other governments has responded by importing rice from Myanmar, (a decision that became controversial as the first shipment came to Sri Lanka just days after cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar devastating its paddy supply) and seeking to artificially control the price rise and to stop hoarding.  However mere political and economic measures are not enough.

At times such as this, there is a need for dialogue and discussion on how collectively people can respond to this globally emerging crisis.  People need to be thinking of the short, medium and long terms in the case of addressing vulnerability.  Many countries have started food banks to address this issue, whilst others are talking about supporting better agricultural practices and addressing trade. Many people are talking about a change of diet and change of lifestyle. The key point is that Sri Lanka has been slow in starting or realising this point

Sri Lanka may still be a long way off from the food related riots that have gripped other parts of the world, but it may not be soon far from the handing out of dry rations which has so far been confined to parts of the country which have suffered from disaster.

Hopeless existence

In 1989, Mohamed Lateef had just got married and had taken ownership of a rice farm and was looking to settle down to a quiet life of farming and raising his family.  That dream quickly shattered in 1990, when Lateef and 70,000 other members from the Muslim community were forcibly evicted from Northern Sri Lanka by the LTTE, only taking with them minimal possessions and limited amounts of cash with everything else being confiscated by the Tamil Tigers. 

Without knowing where they were going, these desperate people moved south in whatever mode of transport they could find. Most of them trekked miles and miles, days on end with many perishing on the way.  Eventually Lateef and the survivors found themselves in Puttalum, a town with a sizeable Muslim settlement.  There they were received by the locals and housed in makeshift refugee camps.

Eighteen years on, and  Lateef is still in Puttalum with his family, living in the makeshift refugee camp, in  a coconut-leaf hut affording little respite to the elements, relying on daily wage earnings to support his family which has now grown to include 3 children, the oldest being 15, all born in the Saltern Internally Displaced People (IDP) camp in Puttalum.

“I don’t think about the past.  It just makes me sick.  There is no future for me to think about. I gave up thinking about the future a long time ago.  I just think about the present and how I can give my family at least two square meals a day,” he says wearily.

This incident has been largely forgotten in the annals of the Sri Lankan conflict.  Successive governments have failed to provide adequate reprieve and support for the displaced who find themselves in a political wilderness without much of a voice despite having representation in the government.  Problems with education, proper shelter and sanitation plague the camps and so the displaced people are dependent on menial jobs or handouts from philanthropists or the government and humanitarian organisations. On top of this, it has also become a delicate commercialized, criminalized and corrupt political scene.

“Yes we get support” remarks A.B. Niyas, the camp leader of the Saltern IDP camp, cynically.  “Every so often we get the refugee tourists, who come and see us, take photographs, give us some money, promise additional help and disappear.”

Puttalam still houses approximately 100,000 displaced persons across 141 welfare centres, from the five districts of the Northern Province. Over the recent years, Puttalam has also played host to some Tamil and Sinhala IDPs who have been driven away from their homes in Batticaloa and Trincomalee.  The town is beginning to buckle under the pressure of hosting a large IDP population.

Recent incidents in the town have exposed these cracks.  There is now  a new fear that tensions between  the area's original Muslim inhabitants, who have grown tired of the newcomers taking their jobs and, increasingly, buying their land, could lead to further crisis.

"We did all we could for them when they first arrived," says Naleer, an amiable businessman and Puttalum Resident. "But they're placing an unbearable strain on resources. They work cheap, so they've taken people's jobs. They take education, healthcare, too.  They are supported by the government and INGOs on top of this.  We do not get anything from them. The situation has created a lot of hate."   Many critics go on to say that the refugees are perpetually in this situation of desperation without doing much to help themselves, since they know that there will always be sympathetic support.

This is a charge that M. Rahman, an activist from a local CBO set up by the displaced people refutes.  “We just want to go back home.  We don’t want to live anywhere else.  We are from Jaffna or Mullaitivu.  We lived side by side with our Tamil neighbors without much problem.  We want to go back to that”

Until the 1990 incidents, the communities co-existed fairly harmoniously in the north. Eighteen years after the evictions, the displaced Muslims still speak affectionately of their old Tamil neighbours and given the chance would return back to their home towns.  34-year-old Fatima Shafeek, a mother of two, vouches for this. “I was born in Jaffna and that will always be my home.  If I am given the chance I will go back“

After the Ceasefire Agreement was signed in February 2002, a number of these displaced families returned to their homes in the North only to find their houses  occupied by displaced Tamils, or rebels, or destroyed. Those who stuck it out once again left back to Puttalum when the security deteriorated. 

As for Lateef, what does he make of the situation? Well just ask his ten year old son Mujeeb where home is.  He will reply that home is the coconut-leaf shanty in a camp in Puttalam.

So as the world celebrates World Refugee Day, 18 years on from when they were first evicted, the flame of hope needs to be reignited for these forgotten IDPs of Puttalum, to one day find resolution to their problems.

The Spirit of Giving

What is it about religious holidays or disasters that ignite a spirit of charitable giving within humanity?  Is it the reminder of one’s own mortality in the wake of others dying  as a result of a calamity or the seasonal awakening of a conscience that is set in a rip van winkle like snooze the year round, that prompts people to give?  Nevertheless, one can draw a correlation between the amount and frequency people give and the time of the year, be it Christmas, Eid or any other holidays or any disaster that strikes as has been evident in recent years by the tsunami and numerous earthquakes and cyclones.  Whatever the reason, the motivation is still the same. It is done so that the donor feels an inner level of self satisfaction that help has been given out of sympathy to the helpless.

I have been reminded of this increasingly as a result of what has happened in the last couple of weeks.  With the cyclone in Myanmar and the earthquake in China, the humanitarian organisations have been in full swing hoping to raise money for two ‘politically difficult’ situations.  Nevertheless, people not swayed by political concerns have been moved to donate.  The other incident which has come to my mind is the recent vesak holidays in Sri Lanka.  Billed as the last long weekend for a while in Sri Lanka (notorious for its numerous public holidays), it was supposed to be a time of great celebration (which is always welcome) with lots of lanterns and the provision of Dhansala, which can best be described as the provision of free food to the public.  Literally in every nook and cranny, a  stall is set up and people give away food to passers by.  Stop at a traffic light and you are bound to be approached  by someone bringing something to eat.  People’s generosity knows no bounds…..

This year’s vesak was a little bit subdued.  Whilst many would argue that the ongoing security situation (not helped by the bomb that went off on the Friday before the Vesak weekend) contributed it was evident that something else was wrong.  This was evident from the Dhansala that was being served.  Traditionally it is rice and some accompaniments that is served.  However this time, there was a variation from the 2 minute Maggi noodles, to soup to fruits, anything but rice.

‘You see rice is expensive and the cost of cooking gas has gone up and so we can not do these as we used to’, a Dhansala stall holder ruefully remarked to me, reflecting the pinch that many ordinary people are feeling in terms of cost of living increases and rising food prices.

As the ‘silent tsunami’ (as it has been called by the world bank) slowly engulfs us, many people in Sri Lanka will not realise their plight until they are struck.  Whilst it is the poor and the most vulnerable that will be the first to suffer, no one is immune from the rising prices.  Yet in a country such as Sri Lanka which has blessed natural resources, the mere fact that food still has to be imported is a wonder

Yet the worrying part is how little this is of concern for people.  Much more than any other issue is the issue of food security which should be gripping people.  The mere fact that some people are going to bed hungry whilst others have plenty to eat is from all spiritual teachings a crime.

There are still weddings taking place in grand hotels and exclusive dinners that are being held where food is being wasted and thrown without any concern for the value and worth of what is put on the plate.  There are still people who insist on eating rice three times a day because they want to.  Such apathy to problems is reflected from the very top as well as can be seen from the acceptance of rice by Sri Lanka from Myanmar even after the cyclone had struck Myanmar robbing the country of vital rice stocks.

At times such as this, there is a need for dialogue and discussion on how collectively people can respond to this globally emerging crisis.  People need to be thinking of the short, medium and long terms in the case of addressing vulnerability.  Many countries have started food banks to address this issue, whilst others are talking about supporting better agricultural practices and addressing trade.  The key point is that Sri Lanka has been slow in starting or realising this point

Sri Lanka may still be a long way off from the food related riots that have gripped other parts of the world, but it may not be soon far from the handing out of dry rations which has so far been confined to parts of the country which have suffered from disaster.

Reflections from Myanmar

There is still an eerie calm in Yangon. Whilst the military have almost completed clearing the debris, the residents go about their daily business still evidently shell shocked over the worst natural disaster to hit Myanmar in 80 years.

For some of us who have been involved in other natural disasters, it is yet again a humbling reminder of mankind’s frailty in the face of nature and the Creator. What hit us when our team landed in Yangon, flying over the countryside, was a scene of total devastation, reminiscent of the tsunami that had struck 4 years ago, trees of 8 ft diameter levelled to the ground in the shape of a kneeling victim.

What we faced on the ground were challenges and resistance.  Resistance to outside help particularly from the west and resistance to foreigners visiting disaster struck areas.  Challenges, in terms of communications with mobile phones and CDMA reportedly costing $2000 - $2500 and internet facilities at hotels about $1 per 50 minutes.  On top of this, internet access is sometimes barred due to security reasons, and it becomes a game to see how alternative proxys can be used to send out information.

As in most other disasters, the NGOs gather around with the UN to form their cluster meetings and Yangon is no different, except for one thing, the cluster meetings are held largely in a vacuum with very little sense of what is happening on the ground.  The frustration is evident in every one’s faces as what we have to go on is the data (often under reported) provided by the government.

Before the restrictions on foreigner’s movement were made tighter last weekend, we were able to somehow visit one or two of the villages struck by the cyclone.  It is indescribable the appalling living conditions of those who have survived. In the  village of Kungyangon, in  an almost catatonic state, people were seen to be sifting through the destroyed remains of their homes. The detritus of disaster occasionally offering up possessions like mangled bicycles or touching mementoes of a life before the horror swept through the village. All too often though, it yielded the decomposing remains of those who were not quick enough to escape the deluge. 

The acrid smell of death permeated the atmosphere. There were bloated dead bodies still floating and lying in the paddy fields, which are also used by people for their drinking and bathing since there is no other source. 

It has taken us about 10 days to get our footing within Yangon and it has felt like a game of chess as we seek to make the most strategic move.  Despite the warmth and welcoming faces of the people as they realise that you are there to help, there is a feeling of being followed and being watched.  The Government Officials that we have dealt with have remarked in no uncertain terms that there will be ‘severe punishment’ for those that transgress.

In the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, Muslim Aid launched a £2,000,000 appeal which has so far seen the distribution of dry rations, medicine and water purification through local partner.  The local partners are being trained by Muslim Aid staff to carry out water purification and to take this into the worst affected areas. 

There is much to be done as very little aid has gotten through so far.  Essential needs are still not being met and with the threat of water borne diseases still dangerously close, the crisis is just beginning.  It has just been announced that Aid Workers will be allowed in, which means that momentum will be gained as aid gets through and essential needs met over the coming days and weeks.

There is much to be done. After taking in the initial shock of how powerful the cyclone must have been to leave so much destruction, one begins to look around and take note of some of the less apparent scars – those which will take longer to heal.  Cities can always be rebuilt but the wounds of the hearts and mind will take longer.  It is plain that these wounds are deep.  One of the striking factors of this cyclone like the earthquake in China has been that many children died.

In the coming months there will be a huge need for the relief efforts to be stepped up in what has been a largely neglected country.  For now the people are in shock and will need to rely on the generosity and goodwill of their neighbours, goodwill that has remained despite the various obstacles placed thus far. But this goodwill is as exhaustible as the supplies which are needed for the refugees to live. Eventually people will have to begin looking after their own families and homes will have to be rebuilt. The worry for many people is that when the world inevitably moves on to the next newsworthy story the donations too will stop.