This grandmother has been left to care for these children whose parents were killed in the fighting. Photo: World Concern/Tearfund
17 June 2009
Tough conditions facing Sri Lankans uprooted by the country’s civil war will continue to pose major challenges for months to come, according to Tearfund partners.
Some 280,000 people were displaced during fighting between government forces and the Tamil Tigers until the latter were defeated a month ago.
Church support for Tearfund's Sri Lanka emergency fund has been vital in enabling us to respond.
Tearfund has funded £400,000 to three partners in Sri Lanka - World Concern, Leads and Habitat for Humanity - as they help the Tamil people, the vast majority of whom are now being held in government-controlled camps.
They’ve been providing food, water, clothing, hygiene packs, shelters, kitchens and environmentally-friendly toilets and cookers.
But overcrowding – with some people sharing a tent with ten others - poor diet and water shortages remain an issue.
The stark reality of a camp for the displaced at Pulmoddai, Trincomalee in northern Sri Lanka. Photo: World Concern/Tearfund
Tony Senewiratne, Director of Habitat for Humanity said, `I believe that the people in the camps are having a really tough time despite all that people are doing to alleviate the situation.
`This is not going to change in the short term.’
Selina Prem, Country manager of World Concern working on the east coast, said food shortages had eased over the last few weeks but the big problem now is wells are drying up in the dry season.
For 8,000 people in north Trincomalee there is little water available locally and thousands of litres are needed daily.
Commenting on how the displaced were coping, she said, `People seem generally to have accepted the fact they have to stay in the camps but their desire is to go home or to be able to travel to other camps to meet up with family members.
Food distribution is among the activities being carried out by Tearfund partners. Photo: World Concern/Tearfund
`They are glad the fighting is over but their concern for the future is not the political settlement but when they can go home, how to start again – all the personal worries of family, home and livelihood.’
Leads is providing meals at 11 kitchens for more than 18,000 people in Vavuniya and recently provided clothes and footwear for 10,000 people at camps in Jaffna, where building work is underway on 100 emergency shelters and communal kitchens.
Also it’s planning to build 200 emergency shelters and sanitation for people with disabilities once sites are secured.
Tearfund’s Clare Crawford said, `Our partners in Sri Lanka are the most amazing examples of teams of people, called by God, ready to give everything in the service of the wounded, the poor, the widow, the child.
`They are helping thousands of people who have gone through immense suffering and tragedies.’