Pattim Home, Mannar, Sri Lanka . . .

Regular readers of this blog will be familiar with my occasional references to Sr Anastasia and her work in Sri Lanka. She also sends me links to amusing videos and slide shows which I've sometimes posted here.

Her latest email was in reply to my request for some information on a selection of photos she sent recently.

The photos, as you can see, show the residents of a home run by the Sisters where they care for elderly refugees displaced by the war.

Sister Anastasia writes . . .

'Pattim Home is an emergency extension to our already existing Home for elders in the village of Pattim, Mannar.

We originally had a small home for 24 war destitute in a largish garden. When the refugees flocked to the camps this May the army and the government agents etc after a while decided that those over 65 would be released from the IDP camps and Religious were asked to volunteer to take them in. Now this was impossible in the existing structure and so the Sri Lanka Red Cross constructed some cadjan huts (you see the inside of two of them) and now we have over 200 in these conditions living there.


The dry rations are given us by the Red Cross and the IOM which is an NGO has constructed some bathing facilities and temporary toilets. The old are still being brought in and now we have no room. There is an offer from a donor to buy an adjoining plot of land and to build on this for the people. Hope it happens soon as now the rains have come. In addition I am trying to get them an ambulance or van as the people are falling ill and the nearest hospital is over 8 km away and three-wheelers public bus is difficult to use. And then we have to go to the camps to fetch the people too. Sometimes the elderly just die there.'


It makes heart-breaking reading doesn't it? What is amazing is that the Sisters always seem to manage somehow in incredibly difficult situations.

Sister Anastasia will probably 'kill me' for including this picture! Here you can see her in illustrious company!

Update: The Pater Familias suggested I include a glossary!

IDP - Internally Displaced Person
IOM - International Organisation for Migration
NGO - Non-Government Organisation

News from afar . . .

Occasionally on this blog I’ve posted amusing stories which I’ve been forwarded by Sister Anastasia.

Today, I thought I’d share something received recently from her of a more serious nature.

Sister Anastasia who is based in the capital Colombo, has recently been to the North of the Country to visit others of her community in the area and to see what progress has been made since the ‘end of the war’ and to assess the situation for herself.

I was moved by the letter she sent and thought I’d share a few extracts with you.

‘It was nearly a year after my last visit to Jaffna. On that occasion, the war was over in the east, and the Sri Lankan military was battling it out in the north. Late in the night we could still hear the thunder of artillery firing in the distance. There were hardly any visitors to Jaffna. The tension in the air was palpable and the people melted from the streets by 5 pm.

On this occasion when I visited Jaffna the war had been over more than four months. The streets had people on them well past 9 pm and the tension was much less with the sound of thunder being only caused by lightning . . . .

One of my purposes in travelling to Jaffna was to find out how life there had changed with the end of the war apart from being with the sisters.. The first encounters, however, were not favourable ones . . .

In a manner that was similar to the physical travails of travel to Jaffna, the outer appearances in Jaffna were also unfavourable. There was the appearance of a run down town with ramshackle roads and the fearful scars of past battles in the form of massive physical destruction of buildings.

On the positive side, conditions also have improved. There has been a reduction in the level of tension, and people feel more secure about their safety. The last time I went to Jaffna people showed me where someone had been shot and another had been abducted. That was a time of great tension when half a dozen or more such incidents could occur in a day. This had all stopped . . .

The resilience of people was to be admired with the Saraswathi pooja being celebrated the schools and the children had daylong programmes for a week. It was a happy time for them. Also catechetical day fell during my stay. All the young ones are being encouraged in many ways but one cannot forget the cloud that hangs over them from the past and the long awaited bright future.

So, some signs of hope at least, thanks be to God, but oh boy, doesn't it make you think? It's reading things like this that puts it all into perspective for me. How fortunate we are with not much more to complain about than the weather and the price of our weekly supermarket shop!

The photos above are of Holy Family Convent in Jaffna.