Comments on: August 1987

By: PAC programme

PAC programme — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 04:35:38 +0000

"People who covered their faces with goni billas [gunny sacks] used to stay near schools and nod their heads to indicate those students who were allegedly involved in the insurrection. These people were informants who worked for the police or the army. All they had to do was give the nod and someone would disappear without a trace. No one would know what happened to them. This became the story that mothers told to scare their children: if you are bad the goni billas will get you". Male respondent from Hambantota talking about the second Southern insurrection. Source: Moving Out of Poverty in Conflict Affected Areas, Poverty and Conflict programme, 2006.

By: PAC programme

PAC programme — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 06:11:56 +0000

“Our livelihoods were badly affected by the conflict. People couldn’t think of earning a living or making profits. The only thing in their minds was survival. Kaapu kaama pichchennne nathi kaalayak thibuna. People went in hiding the entire time and the lands were just abandoned. In the beginning they were able to work during the day and went to their homes at night. Nowadays people peel the cinnamon [kurundu thalanawa, a popular livelihood for the area] until ten or eleven in the night. But then no one worked past four in the afternoon. Later, even this became impossible, when even the daylight did not provide safety." “We had to leave everything that we had to save our lives from those murderers. We just fled, not bothering about our livelihoods or our property. No livelihood was spared, everything was affected and abandoned for months and in some cases years. Cinnamon peeling was highly affected. There were reports of mothers and daughters raped in broad daylight while peeling cinnamon. After these incidents people were too scared to go out to the lands and work.” Perspectives of Sinhalese workers reflecting on their experiences of the second Southern insurrection. Source: Moving Out of Poverty in Conflict Affected Areas, Poverty and Conflict programme, 2006.

By: PAC programme

PAC programme — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 04:36:46 +0000

“There were outsiders in our village, we had to mind our own business. We suffered a lot during the insurrection. Since we were told not to light lamps in our houses we had to cover them with the kulla to feed our children. Our local school teacher, we called him ‘Kodikara sir’, was killed during this time. So was the principal of the school, ‘Jayawickrama sir’”. Male respondent from Gonadeniya, Hambantota talking about how the second Southern insurrection impacted on their lives.

Source: Moving Out of Poverty in Conflict Affected Areas, Poverty and Conflict programme, 2006.

By: PAC programme

PAC programme — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 06:09:12 +0000

“The youth was affected the most. Girls couldn’t walk on the roads. The students were taken away for protesting. The school was closed for 6 months and an army camp was set up in the school for 3 months. My son was not so old at the time of the insurrection but since he was tall for his age, I used to always bathe him whenever they came looking for him so that they would leave us alone. There were days that I used to bathe him more than 5 times a day! I would tell them that I was bathing my son, pretending that he was very young.” Woman from Gonadeniya, Hambantota talking about how the Southern insurrection impacted on their lives.

Source: Moving Out of Poverty in Conflict Affected Areas, Poverty and Conflict programme, 2006.