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| Sunday, 25 August 2002 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Incest, teenage pregnancies, sexual promiscuity: The plantation dilemma Steve A. Morrell
Fathers having sex with their daughters! Teenage girls acting promiscuously! Married women having multiple sex partners! Womanizing husbands.... Sensational stuff? Not in the plantation sector, where such exceptions to the rule have become a way of life and have often been relegated to the backburner of crucial social issues. But knowing that the problem exists is no excuse to adopt an 'ostrich' attitude and hope if would quietly go away. What is required is a concerted effort to understand why moral standards have disintegrated and set in motion a system of changes that would arrest this predicament of decay. Fortunately for the plantation families, Dr. Indira Hettiarachchi, Director Health and Women's Programs, Plantation Housing and Social Welfare Trust, has been doing just that and much more. The incident that follows is true, but names and places have been changed to prevent identification and embarrassment. Kangaroo Court
On Ertsegine, an estate in the highland district of Rubadunia, Sri Lanka, about five years ago, a young woman, 18 years died at child birth. She was not a resident worker, but was afforded care and attention usually attributed to workers, (Her parents said at the time they did not know she was pregnant). Poovai, her name, pleaded with the estate medical assistant, (EMA) not to inform her parents. She had an elder brother, working on the estate, a younger sister schooling in the Esnoron day school and also a younger brother. She was in advanced pregnancy, when her condition became serious. They requested transport facilities to take her to the Nriac Nelg hospital. The Superintendent (PD), Mr. Thorntree readily released the estate lorry to transport the patient. The ambulance was en route to Tipwa the main city with another patient. The lorry however, had left the estate on an out side trip and was late to arrive. Meanwhile, as Poovai's condition deteriorated her brother Sellan with a few friends carried her to the factory strapped to a chair. The lorry arrived a short while later. As they prepared her to board the lorry Poovai died. The workers attributed her death to negligence of the PD and struck work. The entire work force numbering about 500 converged on the factory demanding the PD's presence for a Kangaroo court hearing and sentencing. The PD sensing danger to his life avoided the factory and escaped to the police station. For purposes of brevity the gory details of this tragedy would not be chronicled . At the coroner's inquest the EMA confirmed that Poovai had already died before she was brought to the factory. He also said that death could have been avoided if as instructed the patient was warded in the hospital at least a week earlier. The family wanted to keep this under wraps and threatened the EMA to make a false statement. The girl had an illicit affair. Two weeks later the strike was called off. The Silo Diata Tea Co., Limited lost at least Rs6 million. More importantly a young life was destroyed. The landscape of tragedy
The short narrative above is just one of many that cloud the darkened landscape of tragedy. Tragedy where everybody loses. But could such trauma be avoided? Is anything being done to stem the trend? The context of this manuscript is not to portray industrial disputes, but primarily to accentuate social and health problems and arrest a predicament of decay if at all there is one. There are many theorists who have ascribed the perplexity of teenage pregnancies and incest to many causes. But now after most have been identified, and all excuses exhausted, action has been relegated to high octave where something is happening. Dr. Indira Hettiaratchi, Director Health and Women's Programs, Plantation Housing and Social Welfare Trust (The Trust), has been at the helm of this wide ranging subject since its formation in 1992. She is not in an enviable position. Make no mistake though, her achievements of leadership have filtered down to base level and there are now structured innovations being slotted in which have begun to claim wide ranging improvements in this sphere. The evolution of action as it is today has brought to bear an intense degree of concern which has galvanised strategies for grass roots level action. This might raise many eye brows, but to corelate to this out look the labour Unions have implemented their own strategies to introduce programs on gender related issues which have accentuated sexual harassment at work and at home. The Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) has made a note worthy contribution which is perhaps a bright silver lining to this dark cloud. The plantations collectively number just about a million residents who live and work on estates, spread over approximately 423 of these holdings. (Average extents range from 300 to 500 hectares, or 900 to 2,500 acres). This is an enormous population base for one industry. The social and health problems that have been addressed by the Trust are by no means conclusive but the concerns are so important that significant inroads have been made to improve conditions. Particularly child care, maternal health, and over crowding. Evolution of plantation health services Tracking inter-related problems which could be broadly defined as health, social, physical,improvements in health have emerged as substantial. Infant mortality (IMR), is now a satisfactory 15 per 1,000 births. In real terms the total recorded is 275 during the surveyed period for 2001. This national comparative numeral is approximately 16 per 1000, which to say the least is a substantial improvement compared to what Dr. N. Vidiyasagara, (Has to say). Writing in 'The Journal of the College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka' (Millennium Supplement 2001) in a well-researched paper, he says that from 1972 to 1975 infant mortality in the estate sector was 100 per 1,000 births. A staggering figure which portrayed the poor quality of health services obtaining at that time. Within the same reading he goes on to trace the evolution of estate health services alluding to the immigration of Indian workers. Sanitation and good drinking water was a problem and resulted in epidemics till in the administrative report of Sir Allan Perry, (In 1903) it was made mandatory that the Planter's Association adhere to the construction of toilets and was urged to take remedial action. The planters of that time and age were a powerful lobby of men who tried to resist, but were dissuaded and eventually construction of toilets became compulsory Similarly maternal deaths which was an endemic malaise in the plantations is now hardly a scandalous blight affecting plantation women. The plus factor is that health services in the plantations since privatization have improved as never before. Positive improvements through the direct intervention of the Trust, and enthusiastic support from plantation companies, planting staff, and worker unions, is a well-defined success story in population welfare and social development. But as Indira Hettiaratchi stressed, this could not have come about without financial assistance from donor countries. The Netherlands and Norway have consistently supported the plantations through good planning and execution of a broad spectrum of activities directly contributing through grant aid. This is perhaps the only assisted program which has evolved to being implemented without expatriate supervision and is an index to local expertise and integrity. The Trust has been the catalyst in implementation and the visionary leader in this sphere. The UNICEF, which also has been a contributing shareholder in childcare and health on the plantations, can be attributed with a major allocation in the perceived successes. The UNICEF has been with the plantations since nationalisation in 1976. A long and enduring partnership in the long road to worker dignity. What of the tragedy of Poovai? Will it be repeated? On a totally personal subject such as this, nobody can pontificate on the do's and don'ts of society. The plantations are no exception. They have accentuated their strategies in maternal care and family planning, mainly to prevent calamity as vividly explained in this article. The Trust through such Donor interventions have made marked in-roads in social issues, that young people, supported by their parents have accepted instruction and advice on preventive measures. Worker education through Community Development Volunteers, has progressively radiated a glow of hope. The bright side Usually bad news is something sensational. Like the story of Poovai. Similarly good news too can be equally interesting. Women, particularly are now additionally sniffed up to be the decisive influences in the family and are now more or less of similar mind set as their male opposites. They have claimed and are respected as equals in their family circles. Not least being that they earn more and deserve the kudos and attention, that the men more often than not lack. This is one aspect of alcoholism among men which has been examined by ADIC, an NGO working with the Trust, to minimize this scourge. The breakthrough in gender concerns and equality, although a long way to go, is quite substantial. This has to be distinguished within credentials of the plantations culture of over 175 years, where the men always decided. Now, with young women educated and demanding equal opportunities domestic brutality and marital rape have regressed. An important step is that family planning methods and effective instruction which is now freely available on plantations has had formidable influence on families. As the saying goes a win situation has emerged. Unions and management: Can they see the same picture? I have mentioned intervention of the labour unions. I have also stated corporation from management companies. If these two powerful entities are at conflict over industrial demands it is then tangible that mundane squabbles have been set aside for the greater good of the major component of the plantations, healthy family and well being of plantation workers. The plantation unions, notably the CWC have put together fresh innovations in gender awareness and are making concerted efforts to build a more confident female worker who could hold her own within her family circle and at work. Women workers are more educated now. What has been the impact of social interventions? Will there be another Poovai? May be so may be not, but the broad cross section of social development will minimize similar adversity. It is then the intrinsic responsibility of both unions and management to apply a few consensus parameters to ensure retention of workers. With out them there would be no unions, and there would be no management. |
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