chaos and uncertainty

Today has been an entirely chaotic day, not unexpected.  By the time I got into office, I had already had about 10 different phone calls all about responding to what is now a dire humanitarian crisis.  As is symptomatic in Sri Lanka where there is a calm before the storm, the sleepiness of the last 10 days when there were extended holidays in Sri Lanka was suddenly shattered today as there were frantic and almost panic ridden attempts to get access into areas where the IDPs are being kept.  So far there has been very little access given as a result of what can best be described as a political tennis match being played in Colombo between heads of NGOs and the government.  Between the two parties, it is very clear that the eventual losers will be those 100,000 plus who have been displaced, all in all, a very frustrating thing considering what is happening in the north.  It is as my colleague said ‘it is a crime that we are sitting here with all our equipment ready to help people and not doing anything’.  Whilst the need to sign an MOU of operation with the government has been an unwelcome additional bureaucratic hurdle, what has also been unhelpful has been the attitude from some of the NGOs.    As one weary ministry official told me, ‘look we have learnt from the tsunami. You guys came in with loads of money and promised the sky and the moon.  Some of that was not delivered and some of that ended up in the wrong hands.  We don’t want to take any chances’.  There is very little you can argue with that but just to persevere.  Thankfully it seems that access will be granted and we will be let in.  So today has been spent trying to ensure all our equipment and supplies and staff are primed for entering.

This week in particular, we have watched images flashed across our screens of people crossing lakes and rivers and being met by the Sri Lankan armed forces. ‘the biggest humanitarian exercise in history’ as the president claimed. As the physical battle seems to be reaching to a logical conclusion, the battle has been moved to cyberspace with claims and counter claims being levelled at each other.  It is obvious from following the discussions on you tube or face book or even for that matter alertnet that feelings run very deep on both sides.   This has also been played out on the streets of Europe much to the surprise of many here in Sri Lanka as well as disgust.  One of my friends told me ‘you know I can understand the deep distrust and resentment of Tamils to the Sri Lankan government.  They have suffered in the past.  What I don’t understand is why they choose to fly the flags of the LTTE?’  This is the one argument that is on everyone’s mind. 

When looking at these, I can not help but be reminded of the analogy of the shattered mirror.  Each one of us holds a piece of that shattered mirror and ‘‘you will find parts of the truth everywhere and the whole truth nowhere’’.

This past week, more than ever has there been a need to cast aside those preconceived notions.  If the images of malnourished women and children have not struck a chord in your heart, then surely the sight of over run hospitals with the injured and wounded should have.  The need of the hour is for a moratorium of these thoughts.  For once in a long time, why can’t the thoughts be about those innocent civilians who need our help?  It is not about the politics of the situation nor about right and wrong or about unfettered access or limited access.  It is not about forgetting past grievances for to do this will dishonour all those who have suffered.  We should not forget the blot on Sri Lanka’s history that was 1983 when Tamils were forced to leave Sri Lanka in their thousands; nor should we forget those Muslims who were forced to leave Jaffna in 1990 and who have been in refugee camps since then; nor those who have been killed directly or indirectly as a result of the conflict particularly the poor rural Sinhalese villagers who comprise most of the armed forces.

The need of the hour is that 100,000 civilians plus through no fault of their own are now in desperate need of help.  It is obvious that this is a logistical nightmare for any government to handle.  The need of the hour is for support to be given from all stakeholders.  It is now time to rise and cast aside the shackles of our discontent.  Already there are signs that people want to help.  Our office has received many offers to help and donations for the IDPs and even offers to help on the ground.  These are from people who genuinely are feeling for the plight of these helpless and voiceless people.  In this light, these singular offers of help emerge as small shards of glass brought together by the crisis to form an embryonic union, and a template for a larger cosmopolitan mosaic.

Building Bridges between Communities

Thashreeq Moulawi still remembers his childhood well.  A 4-5 km walk one way to middle school in Muttur was a chore.  Growing up in the village of Arafa Nagar separated from the Mainland by a river, children from the village had to take a long detour round. ‘It used to take a whole hour to get to school’ he reminisces.  ‘There was a lot of discussion on putting a bridge across the river, however it somehow never used to materialize.  There were numerous attempts to put a temporary bridge and then the rains would come and wash the bridge away’.  So crossing the river meant swimming or using boats.  Life in the early seventies seemed much simpler then.  After school it was helping out with the family farm.  Thashreeq Moulawi’s forefathers had first settled in the village in 1914 to cultivate.

In the early eighties, the scenario started to change.  The politics of the land started to catch up with the small community of Arafa Nagar.  A predominately Muslim village surrounded by 5 Tamil villages, Tashreeq remembers the growing mistrust that started to emerge between the two ethnic communities.  ‘As a child, I remember having Tamil friends and playing with them in the fields that divided some of these villages.  As I became a teenager, we stopped playing with each other and our village elders would warn us about associating with the Tamils.  There emerged this mistrust’.

In 1985, following an escalation in the conflict, the outskirts of Muttur was occupied by the LTTE and the muslim village of Arafa Nagar was displaced to the mainland of Muttur.  For twenty plus years or so, from Muttur, they looked across the river at their deprived fertile lands as they noticed it being occupied.  Gradually these lands were also abandoned and became overgrown.  The people of Arafa Nagar had to change their lifestyles as production levels decreased and they were forced to take on other jobs to survive.   As the years passed by, Thashreeq Moulawi began to lose hope in ever returning to the land of his forefathers.

In 2006, following an escalation in the conflict between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan army in Muttur which saw about 50,000 people displaced from Mutur to Kanthale a town 60 miles south, Thashreeq Moulawi lost all hope of things going back to normal.  The 2006 conflict also saw the inhabitants of the  Tamil villages of Amman Nagar and others which surrounded Arafa Nagar also being displaced.

One month after the displacement, Thashreeq Moulawi was repatriated in Muttur and along with his friends and family were exploring the extreme possibility of returning back to Arafa Nagar.

‘We were skeptical, but somehow we wanted to believe that we could actually return back to Arafa Nagar’ he reminisces.  Getting together with other village elders most of whom were all childhood friends, a plan and proposal was prepared for resettling back in Arafa Nagar as a duty towards building a better Muttur.  As the friends discussed, they identified that if they were to return back, it would take one thing.  Building a permanent bridge across the river!!

An assessment team by Muslim Aid, in October 2006, looking at ways of rebuilding the shattered town were approached and the proposal was discussed with them.  They added that if given access to these lands once more, they could return to their hometown and restart their lush cultivations once more. The idea was initially met with skepticism by the team.  Thashreeq Moulawi explains ‘we had to convince them that this idea was valid.  It sounded too far fetched.  If returning to an area to restart livelihoods after 20 years  sounded crazy, our assertion that building a bridge across the river would cause this to happen was nonsense.  However we took them to the area and showed them the river and the land’.  After much persuasion, the assessment team agreed to take this proposal into consideration.

It was in April 2007, that Muslim Aid (this time with another organization Americares) came back  to do the initial groundwork and surveys.  The people of Arafa Nagar buoyed by this unexpected development came together to form a community based organization, Rural Development Society (RDS).   They could see a faint light at the end of the tunnel.  The organization resolved to show the two organizations that they were fully behind the building of the bridge and started to organize go and see visits to the area using local boats.  Eventually they organized cleaning up programs and the whole area was cleaned in preparation for the return.

As the construction proceeded, once, they were assured of their safety, the community started the resettling process and together with support from Muslim Aid and other organizations cleaned up their village, roads, and wells etc., before they got down to cultivation. Simultaneously,  other agencies  have intervened and put up temporary shelters for the people, barbed wire to fence off their respective plots and jack, papaya and other useful seedlings to help make the village a hub of production. As a direct result of this, today we see 400-500 acres of land being cultivated on.

  RDS resolved to build a temporary bridge in order to aid returning farmers.  Thashreeq Moulawi was one of the founding members ‘We were so excited about the building of the bridge.  I remember that when it first started, we would be bringing food and drinks for the laborers.  We felt that these people were not doing a job, they were doing a service and for that we wanted to show our gratitude.  We wanted to encourage people to go back so that by the time the bridge was built.  So we built a temporary bridge to facilitate this process’.

The construction of the bridge was not without problems.  Initially beset by design challenges and ignorance of the ground conditions, a change of contractors and laborers was not helped by inclement weather conditions and political interference.  At one stage the army who has a base close to Amman Nagar declared parts of the area a high security zone, which meant that returnees would not be able to access their lands, a problem compounded by the return of the displaced Tamil community back to Amman Nagar.  RDS approached the Tamil community and together made representations to the Army commander who initially allowed people to return during the day to look after their farms.  This has since been overturned and people are now allowed to stay during the nights.

‘The returning Tamil communities from the neighbouring villages was a concern initially for us’ remembers Thashreeq Moulawi. ‘After decades of being apart and having the mistrust, we were initially apprehensive.  However when the army declared it a high security zone, both communities got together on this common issue.  We wanted the right to return and rebuild our own lands.  This was the start of the thawing of relations.  We began to understand that we not really that different.  All our communities wanted to do was to do our livelihoods, out a roof over our heads, food on the table and send our children to school.  This  understanding was vital for us and in fact the building of the bridge in some way was the catalyst for us to start cooperating’

Chitra a resident of Amman Nagar, agrees ‘ previously we would have had to walk around 3½ kms just to access a hospital or school, before. Once we returned after the displacement we were keen on rebuilding and restarting our lives.  This bridge is helping us in terms of economic enhancement whilst also helping our communities to come together’

This past year, the communities have celebrated each other’s religious and cultural festivals whilst also providing support to each other in terms of livelihood. 

AmeriCares and Muslim Aid finally ceremonially opened the bridge nicknamed ‘The Friendship Bridge’ on 26^th February 2009. The bridge will play a twin role of linking these two agricultural villages to the mainland, and also, the more significant role of “building bridges” between the two communities. The main objective now for both communities seems to be, to work towards making their villages a joint hub of production, from where they can export their produce to the main market in Dambulla which is about 125km south of Muttur. Their joint cultivation area spans over about 400 acres of land, at present.

What is most significant about the building of this bridge is the bringing together of the two neighbouring villages of the predominantly Tamil village of Amman Nagar and  the predominantly Muslim Arafa Nagar, a village.  Both communities are now living and  Muslims working together side by side, retaining their own identities and also co-existing without misunderstanding.

As Thashreeq Moulawi says ‘Now, because of the bridge, it takes our children only about 5 minutes to do the trip. Having only recently moved back to Arafa Nagar as an Imam in the village mosque, I too have now begun cultivating and returning to my old way of life. Earlier, there was also a lot of mistrust between the Muslim and Tamil communities living here, as Arafa Nagar is surrounded by 5 predominantly Tamil villages. Nearly 500 families cross this bridge on a day to day basis. We hope this new bridge will bring about peace between the two communities’” 

 I reflected on this the day I drove into Arafa Nagar on the day prior to the opening of the bridge, and saw a Tamil family and a Muslim family sipping tea together under the shade of a tree, looking on as their children laughed and played nearby…  the natural sense of synergy had just been achieved.  I knew that one part of our work was done but there still remains much to be achieved on this long walk. 

long walk to freedom

Over  the last couple of months I have become increasingly frustrated with the state of affairs in Sri Lanka. 

As a humanitarian worker, it has definitely been frustrating not to be able to respond properly to the emerging humanitarian crisis in the north.  The deteriorating security conditions and the government’s reluctance to allow access into those areas have meant that response has been patchy, mainly through the government channels or through local partners.  There is of course concern about the plights of the civilians who are not only trapped within the slowly decreasing area held by the Tigers but also concern for those who have made it into government areas particularly with regards their future state.  It is not clear to anyone what the future plans are.  The speculations and rumours though mount.

However even more frustrating has been the attitude of several of my colleagues and associates who seem to take a ‘moral high ground’ by dictating terms and conditions to the government for responding to the crisis and thereby not really responding at all. There are of course two sides to the argument.  NGOs want unrestricted access and no interference.  With most of the national media questioning the impact of the work that some of these agencies have been doing in the areas controlled by the LTTE post tsunami and similar rhetoric from across the world in Sudan, it is no surprise that the government is being less than cooperative.  This does not however justify the stalemate that seems to have arisen vis-a-vis humanitarian response.  More than once, I have had frustrated government officials  and others ask me ‘what is the agenda of NGOs  apart from working against the interests of the country?  Why are they refusing to respond and creating problems?’

 I find myself at times also beginning to question the mandate and the interest of people of my industry.  Just what does it mean to be Non Governmental?  Is this an automatic assumption that we have to be anti government?  Is the NGO presence in a country somewhat symbolic of a bad and corrupt government who is not interested in its people and hence the NGOs are there as the saviours?  Or is it because we are there to complement the work  and bureaucracy of the government and getting into areas much more quickly than the government, pulling them up when things go wrong, but also working with them to ensure that things go right?

The rules and regulations and security coupled with the anti NGOs perception makes it a difficult cocktail to swallow in Sri Lanka.    It is a difficult yet not insurmountable challenge (Just ask those who are working in Myanmar about the difficulties of access and cooperation).  Yet I have been amazed by the resolve of some of the government officials and army officers who have set themselves the task of sorting out the current humanitarian situation.  Talk to them and you will find a commitment voiced to helping these displaced.  ‘We need to look after them and ensure they return.  After all these are our people’ has been a common statement that i have consistently heard.  Yet i know the cynics will claim that this is all rhetoric and one only  has to look at the extremist elements shouting here and there to know the real intentions of the government. 

This is the other frustrating thing about the situation.  There is no objective voice being heard.  Tune into the media and you will hear the pro government media waxing lyrical about the achievements and accomplishments against ‘the enemy’ and on the other side, you will hear the anti government propaganda, often led by arm chair exiles sitting comfortably in their cosy seats in the west, proclaiming the ‘genocide’.  No chance is being given to actually find out what is going on and no opportunity is being given to launch into any debate and discussion on the matter.  It seems that this public relations exercise is being conducted oblivious of the civilians who are caught up in this are being held to ransom and they are suffering for something that is not of their own doing.

I have also been frustrated by the public response or seeming lack of it.  There has been some muted support from individuals and organisations donating money and items but nothing along the lines of what we have seen before in times of crisis.  It seems that in the midst of the hustle and bustle of daily life, this is just one incident.  People can blame the current economic crisis or the security or the government, but what is striking is the apathy of people.   The humanitarian condition has not struck the hearts of people in Colombo, regardless of what affliation they are.   There seems to be no appetite to respond.  This is the saddest part of the whole situation.  There is instead resignation that once the major conflict ends, there will be guerrilla warfare and more suicide attacks taking place at public gatherings such as what happened this past week.  ‘Goes to show that we should not have public events with ministers’ was one comment i heard from people.  Not the type of response i perhaps would have been looking for.  This is not the attitude or the reaction needed  for change.  Tamils, Sinhalese and Muslim alike are reluctant, hesitant or indifferent to respond.  Blame is so easily shifted onto the government but this is not the answer.   The people have to will this change.   This last week, we have seen by the incidents of the Viva Palestine convoy that entered Gaza, that where there is a will, there is most certainly a way. 

Unless we individually as citizens of this country and collectively as a society realise that a suicide bomb outside a mosque is not just against the Muslims but against Sri Lankans; that harassment and infringement of the rights of tamils is an infringement of the rights of Sri Lankans; that an attack on Sinhalese farmers is an attack on Sri Lankan farmers; that the ‘country truly belongs to all’, no matter how many wars are won, this will continue.  This current war will end but what happens beyond the conflict?  What are we as individuals going to do within our circle of influence to ensure that nothing like this is ever repeated again?  The responsibility is ours collectively, citizens of this country; members of parliament and lawmakers; members of civil society and NGOs;  as a majority to ensure the minority are looked after and as a minority to ensure our voices are heard.  We can not afford to rest on our laurels  for as Nelson Mandela once said ‘ I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended’

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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