Last modified on: 3/15/2010 2:47:07 PM Giving love and new life to children of terror

Giving love and new life to children of terror

www.defence.lk">"You are of no value unless you equip your life to combat and die for your people and be a martyr; then only you can add value to your life," said the LTTE leadership attempting to motivate and recruit children for their so called freedom fight for Eelam. Many had to accept despite the fact that living a free life was not on the LTTE's agenda. These children were born with the war; they lived with the war and never exposed to normal society. So they were easily moulded to carry out the LTTE's desire and unknowingly victimized in the brutal and repressive regime of LTTE.
Children's role
Child recruitment was intensified during final stages of the battle and the LTTE forcefully recruited thousands of children to bolster its strength. "We used to go to school, but during the final months of the war we were always in hiding. If the LTTE found out that we were at home they would catch us. They gave very little training and deployed us as LTTE fighters. They were very harsh on us and punished us for the slightest delay or mistake" said a child, who was formally associated with the combatant group, now studying at Hindu College Ratmalana told defence.lk.
Many children in the Vanni had to face this tragedy, except the children of the LTTE leadership who were privileged to enjoy a luxurious lifestyle with good education abroad. However, other children in the Vanni were forcibly dragged and utilized for LTTE's interests. They were given weapons and a capsule of cyanide instead of toys. They spent their childhood in a fabricated world of violence presented to them. That was far more convenient for the LTTE leadership since these poor little children had not seen the world beyond their boundaries from birth, and were unknowingly victimized in the process of LTTE's brutality, even to the extent of committing suicide for the interests of the organization.
Government's concern
During the latter stages of humanitarian operations, the security forces showed innocent civilians the way to escape from the LTTE and time to time rescued them from the clutches of LTTE. The numbers were counted in thousands, at the end of the humanitarian operations in May 2009 when the government troops achieved a record by carrying out the biggest humanitarian mission ever in the world history to rescue almost 300,000 civilians from the most ruthless terror organization.
The government successfully managed to accommodate these huge numbers of IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) in several IDP relief centres in the North and the East, catering to their basic requirements and other necessities until they are safely resettled in their native places.
Meanwhile, the government of Sri Lanka identified the even greater importance of retraining and rehabilitating the children, formerly associated with the LTTE. As a result the government officials, especially from the Ministry of Justice have launched several programmes under the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation for the purpose.
The school - Hindu College - Ratmalana
www.defence.lk">It seems to be a paradise for a set of children who lost their childhood in the hands of terrorist combatants and in desperate need of love and attention to be groomed as good citizens in the country. The government, by providing equal education opportunities to all school children, has granted hundreds of children who had been former combatants a free education, and provided all facilities to study in Colombo too.
Initially 273 children were enrolled to the school last year, in classes from year 9 to year 13, and provided with a promising support package including food, accommodation, uniforms, other civil attire etc.
Today, they study all subjects on the regular school curriculum like other students, and are happy to study in a peaceful environment at the school. 84 students among them sat the G.C.E O/L Examination in December last year and another 83 students expect to sit the examination at the end of this year. www.defence.lk">
The specially trained staff attached to the school is engaged in a genuine process of retraining and rehabilitating these children, carefully unwrapping their past experiences and bring forth the real child within them.
The school has arranged many events for these children to see the world beyond their boundaries. They have taken them to places where they have ever known before, such as the Zoo, Children's Park, big shopping malls, MacDonald's etc. For the first time the children saw a Santa Claus during last Christmas. "It was so amazing, the Santa gave us presents, we danced, we sang songs, and we enjoyed ourselves very much" one child recalled.
www.defence.lk">"We went to the zoo and many other places of interest in Colombo. We went to other schools and interacted with other school children. They also came over to our shool. We made friends. How nice it is. We would never have believed these things were possible before we came to Colombo." Another child marvelled.
It is quite interesting to see how they learn to live a social life extracting good values apart from the school subjects. This is being gradually inculcated with utmost caring. Now they know how to dress, talk, maintain personal hygiene as others who were not deprived of childhood do, and above all they know how to live like children. This is the objective behind the programme to give them back their lives and to raise them with a new hope of living in a societywww.defence.lk"> built on freedom. The effort made by the government in this regard is remarkable and will surely help large numbers of children who were associated with the former combatant group, enabling them to face future the world without fear.
Finally, when asked "what do you have to say to the world on this new life?" many came up and said "Please no more fighting, we had enough. What we want is to be safe and free from violent groups and a good life of this kind and to live in friendship with others in this beautiful country."
This gives us a clear message; all they need is freedom and a supporting hand to have a good life. Now the freedom is already being restored, while the government providing them with a strong hand, other interested parties and charity organizations can intervene in the process of fulfilling their expectations.