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Resilience and Healing in Sri Lanka

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Resilience and Healing in Sri Lanka War Was a Curse. We Can live in peaCe Resilience and Healing in Sri Lanka Book coordination and writing: Nerea Bilbatúa Thomàs Project support: ZabraYu Siwa Photographs: ZabraYu Siwa Copy-editor: Sue Williams Layout: Boonruang Song-ngam Published: The Center for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS), 2017 Funding Support: MISEREOR ISBN-13: 978-999-63 War Was a Curse. We Can live in peaCe Resilience and Healing in Sri Lanka 1 2 3 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................9 THE PAST .................................................................................... 11 Chapter 1: “I am a child of war” ............................................... 13 Chapter 2: “You can’t imagine” ................................................ 29 Chapter 3: “It is very hard to recount this; to express our feelings” .. 101 THE PAST IS THE PRESENT ....................................................... 115 Chapter 4: “The trees were dead” ............................................ 119 THE FUTURE............................................................................. 127 Chapter 5: “I want a peaceful life” .......................................... 129 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................. 161 TIMELINE .................................................................................. 163 5 6 7 8 INTRODUCTION The idea of Future is one of the main casualties of war. The book you have in your hands deals with the issue of the Sri Lankan future. How can those living in this land move forward after decades of conflict, pain and loss? What has been learnt from conflict that can be used to rebuild broken lives and relationships? Which are the main obstacles in that process? And, what are the proposals to overcome them? In order to answer these questions, it is necessary to start from the Past, to look back in order to look forward. How was Sri Lanka twenty, thirty, forty years ago? How were the childhoods of the people speaking in this book? How did they imagine their lives when they were little? How did living, growing up in conflict, impact those dreams? What was lost? Was anything gained? And we need to talk about the Present: how are their lives now? Which are their daily struggles? What keeps them going, moving forward? What are their hopes and dreams? Even if the war in Sri Lanka ended years ago, its presence is still prevalent in people’s narratives about their Past, Present and Future. Because moving forward when the land where you built your home, where your children were born, where every tree has memories hanging from its branches, has not been returned to you, or when your husband, or son, or sons, are missing, their fate unknown, or when you still feel marginalized and dispossessed is an enormous task. The unresolved consequences of conflict make people stay in the Past, their Present shaped by absences, their Future unimaginable. 9 This book started as an exploration around the views on reconciliation in Sri Lanka. The timing seemed propitious, a number of initiatives had been launched by the new government, and it appeared that the moment was right to engage in the conversation. This book uses a “Peace History” lens. It tries to capture complexity and to show the greys between the black and white narratives that long, protracted conflicts produce. It welcomes contradiction, subjectivity, personal experiences and views. Experiences and stories are the Peace History raw materials. Both are important, but whilst narratives move across generations, experiences do not. Peace History weaves personal narratives together into a collective one, embedding both individual and shared journeys. Peace History believes that “We are the stories we tell,” both as human beings as well as a community, as a country. Those stories need to be acknowledged before they can be transformed. Those stories contain proposals for healing that we hope can contribute to the Sri Lanka discussions. Every story can be told in many different ways; this is one of them. We know that there are alternative narratives to the one presented here; they are equally precious. Conversations about reconciliation were difficult, both for the speakers and for the listeners. They were often shaped by fear, sadness, haunting memories, hurt souls, and resignation. There were also happy moments, optimism, learning, and a desire to keep going, and to make things better for the new generations. This is not an easy book to read. It is sometimes painful and raw. But we believe these are stories and perspectives that need to be heard, that they can contribute to the on-going wider and inclusive conversation about the Sri Lankan future. 10 THE PAST 11 12 Chapter 1 “I am a child of war” 13 My native place is an island. There are several islands in Jaffna. If you want to go to the place where I was born you need to take a boat. I am a teacher. I was born in 1935; I am 82 now. I still ride my bike everyday. This morning I rode for 10 kilometres. (6. Pandateruppu) I was born and raised in Mannar. This is where my family comes from. Mannar is the third biggest district in Sri Lanka. During the earlier times there were Muslims, Hindus and Christians living together in unity. The percentage was, 60% Christians, 27% Muslims and 13% Hindus. That unity was like anywhere else in Sri Lanka. This was the place where people lived peacefully and in harmony. (10. Mannar) I was born in Mullaitivu. I come from a family of fishermen. My father was a very well known fisherman, and I used to accompany him when I was young. I have four siblings. My mother died during my childhood, so it was my elder sister who took care of the family and raised me. I started going to school at the age of five, but I could study only until grade five. I attended the American Missionary School. I suffered a lot because every subject (except Tamil) was taught in English and it was very challenging. I suffered so much that I started faking stomach-ache so that I could skip school. But the school Principal noticed it and realized that I was having a hard time learning in English, so he moved me one grade down and I became the best student in the class, and was always among the best three students of my grade. So, even if teachers carried sticks and sometimes hit us, they also really helped me. Even if I could not complete my studies, I don’t think those having PhDs and MSCs can compete with me, because I had the power of handling so many people in my business. (3. Achchuveli) I could tell you about my childhood and everything, but that would be a big book! I was born in poverty because my father was ill, so I spent most of my time taking care of him and of my family. I only studied until Ordinary level, we call it “O level”, because I had to go to work and take care of my family. 14 From 1963 to 1967 I dropped out of school, and after the 1970s I got into the Technical College; I took late afternoon classes. This is where I learnt about tailoring and started working as a tailor. There is a local cigarette brand here in Jaffna, so I also started working making cigarettes because I really wanted to earn money. I was also working at a meat shop. I would work so hard because I was yearning for money to help my family. (2. Jaffna) I was born in 1948 and entered monkhood in 1962, when I was 14. I was ordained in 1972. I was born and grew up in a very rural part of Sri Lanka. My parents are no longer with me. They passed away. I have two elder brothers and one younger brother. We were a family of farmers. We were very poor. From a young age I started to think about the differences in this society. I realized that most of the people who live in this country do not have internal or external peace. We have so many divisions in our society. For example, we have so many ethnicities: Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, etc. Even in my village there were so many internal differences. I experienced so many divisions; poor and rich was a big division in my village. But we all lived together. I love my language, and this was my favourite subject when I was studying. And I loved History too. When I was a kid I loved listening to old stories. (19. Colombo) In the late 60s, early 70s life here in the East was very small. The population was very less, and people were scattered around villages. There was less people. This place was thick forest with lots of palm trees. People were able to find jobs. There was no problem in terms of money; everybody had enough to live. People had little money, but the cost of life was less. There were only one or two banks. The fishing was very good; agriculture was very good. People enjoyed life. There were some Sinhalese here, but most of the population was Tamil. The relationship between the two groups was good. There were no problems, we got along well. I had Sinhala friends, my sister’s daughter married a Sinhalese. My father was not educated; he did not help me to continue studying. When I was little he told me, “Find a small job that is enough to make a living”. But I worked hard because I studied in one of the prominent schools here in Batticaola called Saint Michaels College; this was a very prestigious school run by Jesuit fathers. All the people were high profile people. It’s like the Royal College in Colombo. (28. Batticaola) 15 I am originally from Jaffna. I am the elder child, and have two brothers and two sisters.
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