“Shelling all the time, the children screamed of fear”
Having been displaced in Mullaithivu 19 times, a young family with a one-and-a-half-year-old child finally arrived in Vavuniya on April 23. They now live under a tree. There are many families with her awaiting accommodation. But, as the mother said, she was lucky enough to escape along with her husband. This is her story:
When the major fighting started there, we were informed of the army’s advance by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and we kept shifting accordingly. Finally we all got trapped in a small village. A big sand bund with barbed wire was constructed by the LTTE.
We were provided meals. Sometimes Kanji (my one-and-a-half-year-old child) was given rice with one curry. As the days passed, even that was not available. Sometimes people who had some biscuits would share them with us. But my daughter was getting bored with this and started to refuse to take biscuits.
My child was screaming for food and I was not able to feed her because I myself was starving.
My husband decided to escape; he made nine attempts. On his third try he was caught by the LTTE and was severely beaten on his head. Finally, some men in the village got together and broke the sand bund and started escaping. I was holding a bag packed with my daughter’s clothes and my husband was carrying our daughter. We could hear firing from behind but we just kept running. When we came near Nanthikadal, we saw a bullet sort of thing coming towards us. Both of us just sat on the ground. However, it fell down and struck my feet. A little later, it started burning. My husband made me to get up and run. I had no option but to run along with him. I could not run fast due to the burning and pain in my feet.
When we reached Nanthikadal, we had to cross the river. The water was up to my neck. My husband was carrying my daughter on his shoulders. As we crossed the river, the army came and rescued us. At the army camp, the wounds in my feet were cleaned and dressed.
“My daughter was about 14 kg (31 pounds) three months ago. When we reached the camp, a medical team was screening the children and taking their weight. I was told by one of the doctors that my child weighed only 9.5 kg (21 pounds).
Now, we are here waiting for a peaceful day to restart our lives …
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