Collection of Literary Pieces on the Theme of Forced Migration

Mohamed Feroz Pakkeer Mohideen

Introduction

End of war does not mean end of displacement and its consequential effects. The displaced people are facing immense difficulties in the situation of displacement whether there in Relief camps or with friend and relatives.

Many people are lost their place of origin, the properties, family members and life with dignity and liberty. The relief and humanitarian assistance could be support them to recover few of the losses. Here some of the literary pieces express about the suffering of war and displacement.

ONE: A Poem from a School Child
Written by: Sivaramya SriChandran,Ramanathan Hindu Ladies College, Colombo-04

Can the Dead be Resurrected?

Even if you roll on the ground
Lose your senses,
And give out sounds of distress
Will human beings grow back from the field watered by your tears?
Will the dead be resurrected?

This is the karma of this birth
The soil of our country is wet with our blood
How many of countless lives and
Property that we have lost…

We lost our villages, our identities, our loved ones
Our kith and kin….
Fall on the ground like dried leaves
Will there be rains for these withered plants?
Will there be dawn for us?

TWO: A Poem from a Displaced Young Woman

This poem was published on a quarterly journal (April 2000) in Sri Lanka. Ms. Nasrin who was forcibly evicted in 1990 from North Province of Sri Lanka wrote it. She was expressing her suffering of forced displacement within the own country.

Un-Dawn Nights
Written by:Ms.Nasrin,Pravagam (April 2000) Quarterly Magazine, Sri Lanka

We were fled on that evening
from our houses, cottages ….
Without unwilling minds

Any one of us were not allowed
to take our cats and cattle, …..
Even our young ladies were scanned
Without bear any rings & trinkets…

The darkness of the night was covered our young girls,
The trees were feed us….
The moon was directed us…
But
The human only were not showing his kind upon us.

We were fled on that evening
from our houses, cottages ….
Without unwilling mind

Three: A Poem from School Child

Leaving My Birth Place, and My Home Town
Written by: Shamla Yusuf,Muslim ladies College, Colombo

My happiness and sorrows
Triumph and loss
Friends and families
bidding goodbye to all
No more joy in my life
All I have is a ragged old bag and sweet memories
Why am I a refugee in my own country?
Why am I scared of my own people?
Why should I suffer in hunger and thirst?
The hunger for peace and thirst for happiness?
Is this what life is all about?
Then why should I live?
When I say this now
Hits me a gun shot
and I lay there in tears on the truck
a boy sees me and feels the same

Four: A Poem from an Inhabitant Child

We Need True Peace
Wrritten by: Ramyahasini Wijieyakumar,Vadivambika Tamil Maha Vidiyalayam, Chilaw, Sri Lanka

These arms have never bagged
Even though they were poor
(now) they have not only been made to bag
But have been made to cry in despair

Isn’t our soil one which has seen
Hard work and education?
Is it not fate that made (us)
Beg from all and sundry?

We don’t want dry rations
We want true peace
Even if old age overtakes
We first want peace

We need it so that
At least our future generations can live relived -
What is the cost of independence?
This is the situation of the people of the peninsula

Five: A Story

People Who are Hoodwinked by War
Written by: Kusala Chamari,Wejieratne Swarnapala Girls School, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

Even in our dreams we did not imagine this will happen to us. Our Chena cultivation has been destroyed, rendering us poor. Our lives and our children’s lives are endangered due to the war. We exported rise during the reign of king Parakrama, but now we are reduced to begging in the camps. This situation was so unexpected. We recollect our past when we were together, with tears strolling down our cheeks. But there is no one to wipe these tears away.

War destroyed everything. Need to overcome this situation. We need food and we need peace of mind. Will we even see the peace bird fly in our skies?