War Displaced Sri Lankan Children Back to Books

Ten-year-old Priyanthi is yet another war displaced child in a relief camp in Vavuniya, but she is special because she had scored 162 at the recently-held Grade Five Scholarship Examination -- the highest marks among all children in Sri Lanka's northern Vanni area formerly dominated by Tamil Tiger rebels.

Some months back, Priyanthi's parents carrying her and her younger brother ran from one place to another to save their lives. As the fighting between the Sri Lankan military and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) getting worse, they were compelled to vacate their house in Kilinochchi, the capital of the LTTE which was finally defeated by the troops in May.

"We ran for months. I saw lots of wounded people and dead bodies. My brother and myself cried a lot," said Priyanthi.

The bare-footed, slight girl was clad in clean white school uniform and carrying the books given by the government so carefully.

"I love my books," she said.

So did her friends -- boys and girls -- of the Kadiragamar School of the Menikfarm, because they all want to study.

The bell rang for the interval. Unlike other kids in normal schools across the country, most of the children in the school do not run out of the makeshift class rooms to play.

With the new school in huts and tents, Sri Lanka's "children of war" who saw enough blood and flesh are now back into their little world.

They said the books keep the horrible memories away from them.

"But sometimes I suddenly recall the dead bodies," Priyanthi said.

The mobile library that comes to their door-step full with story books gives them courage and helps to beat their isolation.

Like Priyanthi, Sri Lanka's war displaced children including Tharmini, Veronika and Vishi are trying to erase their bitter experiences through education.

Most of them saw only guns and bombs since their birth. Some of them have not even seen toys. Today their precious friends are books. Their teachers and parents are ready to give support.

"I missed my education as we always live in fear of fighting. Now we want our children to study more," said Wasamma, Priyanthi's mother.

All these children were displaced several times. Their last stop was Puthumathalan in the northeastern Mullaittivu district, where the LTTE was accused of holding thousands of civilians as a human shield.

During the final days of the battle, they faced great hardships. It was a battle for life.

Recalling his long journey from Mannar to Puthumathalan, nine-year-old girl Tharmini said their biggest challenge was crossing the huge earth defense line and the lagoon to flee. The LTTE guarded them from all corners and shot all who dis-obeyed them, according to Tharmini.

"My father tried several times during nights. They once hit my father and one of his teeth was broken. We cried. My mother cookedrice and dahl with plain water as we didn't have salt. Finally, we stayed there without food," said the little girl.

These children are among 280,000 war displaced civilians camped by the government in several welfare villages in Menikfarm area of the northern Vavuniya district after the civil war. About one third of the displaced civilians are children.

With the silence of the guns, these small children are ready to study while hiding the nightmarish memories deep in their hearts.

Now they have chance to dream their future. Most of the children want to become doctors.

"Doctors help the wounded and save lives," said Priyanthi.

Their worst memories are witnessing their elder sister or brother being snatched by the LTTE.

"I can still hear how my brother was screaming when LTTE cadres threw him into a van. My mother and father cried. Today we don't know where he is. My mother says he is dead," nine-year-old Veronika's eyes were full of tears.

Sinna Thanmbiraja, the principal of the school said the children are so keen to study and there are lots of clever students among them.

"I have a dedicated teaching staff and they are giving these children their missed lessons even after school," said Thanmbiraja.

Thammbiraja, who also had a struggle to protect his two teen children from being taken away by the LTTE, said there is not a single child who had not experienced terror.

Donald de Mel, the zonal commander of the Kadirgamar Relief Village said the Army gave lots of support for the children to catch up with their education.

"These children are very talented and they know education is the best way to have a good future. Most of their parents want to give them a good education," said de Mel.

"We hate war. We don't want to see guns, bombs and dead bodies any more. We want books to study," said Vishi, one of Priyanthi's best friends.

(Xinhua News Agency November 19, 2009)