No Words to Describe

A brief report on our visit to the IDP camps in Chettikulam on the way to Don Bosco Murunkan, with the Hon. Deputy Minister of Aviation, Mr. Sarath Gunarathna. We were able to get a firsthand experience of the ground situation at the camps.

At the camp, we met Brigadier Lakshman Perera and Mr. Lalath Abeygunawardena – Director General of the President, Special Project and Operation. Brigadier Lakshman Perera, who, I must say is exceptionally efficient and knowledgeable about the prevailing situation. It was heartening to see, a tough looking Brigadier Perera who not only knows every detail and need of the people in the camps but also pays personal attention to every situation, giving his kind advice to those who need it most.

Hon. Deputy Minister of Aviation, Mr. Sarath Gunarathna, braved the heat and dust of the camps to distribute relief materials worth Rs. 5 million donated and transported by Don Bosco to the camps for the IDPs of Zone 4. The very fact that one of our Ministers has reached out deep into the camps, has reassured the thousands in the camps of a hopeful future.

At the end of our day-long visit to the camps, Brigadier Perera was kind enough to have a meeting with our team along with the Minister and discuss issues like, how Don Bosco could help the Army and the Government to rebuild the lives of the IDPs. Although, the needs of the hour are many and urgent, we were told that medical help, counseling of the children of the orphanage being constructed within zone 4 and supply of complimentary food would be highly appreciated. Therefore, we assured the, the following from our end as help for the IDPs.

We will have mobile clinics with a ten-member medical team i.e. 2 pediatricians, 3 physicians and 5 nurses. The medical team will work in the camp for one month on a trial basis and on reviewing the situation after a period of one month; we shall decide on extending the service further.

We are ready to periodically supply complementary food for the children of the orphanage. As psycho-social assistance for the children is of immense importance, we have a team of 5 councilors who will provide counseling service to the children at the orphanage.

Apart from this we will identify children and youth from these camps who can be given basic technical training within the camp in trades like House-wiring, Carpentry and Plumbing. These children can then, after a certain period, be professionally trained at our technical centres so that they can be skilled, productive and law-abiding citizens who, tomorrow, will contribute in their little way towards the building of our nation.

Salesian of Don Bosco highly appreciates the praiseworthy work the Government of Sri Lanka is doing for the IDPs, although it is by no means easy to manage over 250,000 IDPs on a day to day basis. The challenge for the Government is huge and Fr.Pinto, as the Provincial Superior of Don Bosco Sri Lanka assured them of every possible support from Don Bosco.

The overall situation of the camps is heartbreaking. It was like visiting a human zoo. I use the term ‘Human Zoo’ because this visit reminded me of those days when I was a little boy and would visit the zoo and be intrigued by the way the animals would look at me trying to say something which they desperately couldn’t. It was the same feeling when I visited the IDP camps. As I was trying to peep into the tents where the IDPs live in, to take a few photos, it made me feel like I was intruding into the privacy of these suffering people, but soon I realized when I turned to my right and saw, at a distance of about eight feet, people taking bath in the open, that perhaps it was only a few who were thinking the way I did, whereas most of them must have forgotten what privacy or self-esteem is all about, especially after having lost everything they had in life because of the war.
The scorching heat was too difficult for me to bear and I was always sipping water from the bottle I was carrying with me in order not to get dehydrated, whereas there are thousands of these refugees living in that heat and having to stand in long lines with their water cans, braving the hot sun although they are well aware that by the time they reach the head of the line and it is their turn to collect water, it may just be that the tubewell may be broken or that it may run dry.
The word Hygiene is non-existent as toilets are too few and bad odder and over flowing drains are making the situation even worse. Food is cooked by a select few for each camp under absolute un-hygienic conditions and since water is a scarcity, these people find it too difficult to cook. One of the officials informed me that there is a total of 126 tubewells drilled by the Government for these camps. Arithmetic for this calculation is very simple, 126 tubewells for 250,000 refugees means, 1 tubewell will have to be shared by almost 2,000 refugees.
Temporary shelters in some of the camps are made out of corroborated tin sheets which makes it even worse for people to live inside their shelters. Most times they prefer to be in the open, outside their shelters.
Outbreak of various diseases is imminent. As of now one, of the major disease I have seen people suffering with is ‘Chicken Pox’. One of the officials told me that there are approximately 800 people in the camp suffering with ‘Chicken Pox’. As we all know this is one disease which actually is highly contagious, therefore we can imagine what is in store for many more in the camp. Similarly many other diseases especially water borne diseases may turn out to be an epidemic of sorts.
There is a huge number of orphans is each and every camp. Therefore the government is in the process of building orphanages within the camps. There are very few mobile / temporary hospitals to cater to the needs of the IDPs. All these mobile clinics have burst beyond its capacity. Doctors and nurses treating these patients are overworked and soon may reach breaking point. As I visited one such clinic, which was fairly large, it was a sickening sight for me as an onlooker to see people getting their large wounds treated by the medical staff. Outside these clinics people were standing in the scorching heat waiting for their turn to get medical treatment, which they themselves are unsure of.
‘Pathetic’ is the word I thought of using to describe the situation in the camps but I guess words are not enough to do so. Truly it is beyond words, but what I feel after my day long visit to the camps is ‘Depressed’, especially when I get the thought that perhaps these people should not be called IDPs but, ‘A Multitude of Lost Souls’ who have nothing more to lose other than their lives. To rebuild their lives, well… well… they really have to start right from the scratch.