Oh Sea Goddess, we pray to you because we believe that sea water is holy. We, as your children, play with you. We bless you for your sea wealth. We enjoy the food and other benefits that you provide us with. We pray to the Sun, Moon, stars, wind and you. Oh Goddess, you make our lives happy. We row your hard waves and receive a good catch. Without your blessing our children would starve. We play with you; swimming and diving but have no power over you. The Sri Lankan Army and Navy burnt your childrens’ fishing boats and trawlers. For more than two decades, troops did not allow us to touch you, Sea Goddess. They enclosed our coast with barbed wire. They did not allow our children to swim. They did not allow us to sleep on the beach. Before, we used to sleep on the beach on moonlit nights. On full moon day you were very happy and your waves shone with that happiness. We enjoyed you both; moon and beach. Now, everything has gone. The Navy shot at us from the sea. They robbed us of our catch at gun-point. They burnt our shipyards. We were driven out time and time again by the Navy. They destroyed our huts and homes. They turned fishermen into beggars, making them beg from the troops, yet we have helped every Sinhalese ruler increase the country’s wealth by our labours at sea. Can we tolerate living everyday in fear of our lives? Children took up arms to regain our sea and land for us. Food embargos, fishing embargos and the establishment of high security zones have all brought suffering to we Tamils. Riots, pogroms and military operations have forced us to flee from our houses to the jungle. After an enjoyable Christmas, the mid-December floods made us all refugees and we had to take shelter in school building. Schools, temples, church and hospitals were all bombed. They detained our children in prisons and allowed Sinhalese thugs to break in and kill Tamil prisoners. Sinhalese troops arrested Tamil youths who then went ‘missing’ and their mothers have been shedding tears for them ever since. Oh Sea Goddess, your giant waves washed away all our lives and what little belongings remained. We have been stripped bare and left with nothing. What have we done wrong to you Goddess? Daily, we have faced cruelty from Sinhalese rulers and our tears have been shed as a result of riots, war and bombing. Now, our tears are falling because of the giant waves you have sent us. We have been victors in sea battles. We have seen bomber planes fall into the deep sea. Children danced when Navy ships were sunk. Mothers who fed them breast milk are no more. The Tamil people are between the devil and the deep blue sea. The devil Sinhalese rulers turned us into refugees and now the tsunami has turned us into refugees again. Although world super powers continue to remember the horrors of the two world wars and the holocaust, they have no concern for us; even though they have the means to go to the Moon, Mars and Saturn. Nature has created a fire in our stomachs through global warming, floods and hurricanes. When will anyone be concerned about the plight of the Tamils? Our forefathers have seen giant waves before, when they crossed the Atlantic Ocean by ship on 1st August 1938. Today, three generations have been washed away by the tsunami. I A Sivanantham. |
