When a MAG Community Liaison team first went to Marathanmadhu in April 2009, the village had been deserted for over 18 months. Sixty-year-old Mr Soosai Marathin, the owner of a rice mill, accompanied them to inform the team about what happened in the village during the conflict – it was the first time he had been back since September 2007.
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Sixty-year-old Mr Soosai Marathin was able to return home after MAG surveyed the village. [Photos: MAG Sri Lanka] |
Following the survey conducted by MAG, the village was declared as having a low risk of mines and unexploded ordnance. This enabled the villagers to return home safely. Now he is back living in the village, the MAG team visited Mr Marathin again in July 2009.
He is currently living with his sister as his house was damaged. He said that it was very important to do the survey as people are afraid of mines and need to know if their villages are safe. He is very grateful to MAG for surveying his community. He feels very happy to be back in his community with his old neighbours.
When they were in IDP camps, they had to rent land, and because they didn’t know the land, some people weren’t able to farm successfully. They are happy to be back in their community where they own the land and they know it well.
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Mannar District is the first area of northern Sri Lanka prioritised for the return of people displaced by conflict. |
Seventy families returned to the village on 9 June 2009. Most of the homes were undamaged but around 14 houses need repair.
International Organization for Migration (IOM) have provided tents for those in need. Most households have begun farming before the rains start to fill the nearby tanks in September.
Until they are able to begin farming the paddy fields they are reliant on support from international organisations, in the form of support from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and ZOA Refugee Care who are providing goats and cattle and World Food Programme (WFP) who are providing food.
The school that had been standing empty when the MAG team first visited, is now back in use. There are 21 children in the village school between the ages of six and eleven. Most of the children attended the school before they were displaced. All the pupils said they were much happier back in their village and school. Forty-eight older children attend school in a nearby town.
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The school had been standing empty when the MAG team first visited, but is now back in use. |
Mannar District is the first area of northern Sri Lanka prioritised for the return of people displaced by conflict. MAG has completed its work in Marathanmadhu, but the need is ongoing for mine action survey and clearance in other areas of northern Sri Lanka in support of the safe return of IDPs.
MAG is grateful to partner organisation Stichting Vluchteling for providing funding towards this vital work.
Links:
- MAG Sri Lanka microsite - find out more about MAG's work in the country
- Donate to MAG online - more than 90 per cent of MAG's income is spent directly on clearance programmes
- Other ways to Get Involved - shop, run, walk, skydive, drink wine...
6 August 09
