“She was hit by a bullet and fell down”
As of early May 2009, there were still more than 50,000 civilians trapped between the government troops and the Tamil tigers (LTTE) on the battleground in the northeast of Sri Lanka. It has been called “a modern bloodbath.” Those who escaped and arrived at the transit camps can now tell their stories.
I arrived at this camp in Vavuniya on April 23 along with my husband and three children after being displaced from Kilinochchi about six months back. I am 36 years old. I got married in Jaffna when I was 23 years old. We were living together happily.
In 2006, I went along with my husband to Kilinochchi to see my husband’s sister who was sick. Since she was a widow and bedridden, I was helping her to look after her two children until her mother came. By the time we were ready to go back to Jaffna, the main road was closed and we were stranded in Kilinochchi.
My husband and I tried to go to Vavuniya, and from Vavuniya to Trincomalee and use the ship services to go back to Jaffna. Our attempts were not successful. Due to our age, the LTTE refused us permission. On one occasion, I was informed that I could go to Jaffna along with my children provided my husband joined the LTTE. Since we disagreed, we were not given permission. We were hoping and praying for the day that would enable us to go back to our own place in Jaffna.
The war broke out during this time and we were displaced many times in Kilinochchi. As the army advanced we moved with the other people further and further into the interior and finally reached Mulliaithivu.
We were a group of 20 persons and we all decided to escape to the government-controlled area. While we were escaping, the LTTE started firing from the rear. At the same time, the army was firing at the LTTE from front. During this process, my sister-in-law was hit by a bullet and fell down. We were not able to help her. She was shouting and screaming with pain. At the same time, she also said not to worry about her but at least to save her children. Once we reached the army point, we informed them about our sister-in-law.
Later the same day in the evening, the army informed us that they had retrieved some bodies and we were allowed to go and see them. I found my sister-in-law’s body.
At the army point we were given food parcels. For the first time in three weeks, we ate rice with curries. During our displacement all that we ate was “Kanji” (porridge) and occasionally biscuits or rice with water and salt. People who had money were able to buy items like soya meat, coconut, potato, sugar etc. But the prices of these items were so high that we could not afford it. A kilo of sugar was sold for LKR2500 ($21.00 USD), one coconut was LKR 3000 ($26.00) and 100 grams soya meat LKR400 ($3.50).
Our stay at the army point lasted for two days. Then we were brought to Vavuniya by bus. During this time, I had lost my sister-in-law’s children and her mother. Though I am happy that my family is safe and we are able to have a temporary roof over our head in this camp, I constantly worry about the whereabouts of my relatives who came with us.
(The names have been changed, for security reasons.)
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