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| Sunday, 12 December 2004 |
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Junior Observer |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Caught up in someone else's war Most of you may be getting ready for Christmas and New Year by now. There is festive joy in the air and it may be hard for you not to get into the mood. When you are out with your parents, shopping for food, clothes and the numerous other items that you need to celebrate the season, think of the many kids like you who may not be in a festive mood due to the absence of their parents. There are thousands of children in Sri Lanka who have lost one or both parents to the war; imagine the grief and emptiness they must be feeling especially at this time of the year. Santhos Kumar (13), Kishok Kumar (12) and Dilan Kumar (10) are three such kids who may not have much to celebrate this season. They are children caught up in someone else's war. Their father, Dinesh Rajaratnam, who was working for a Kuwaiti company in Iraq was kidnapped some time ago by Iraqi guerillas and is still being held hostage. His wife Doreen Rita and his three sons are eagerly awaiting any news of him and praying for his safe return. The boys, students of Roman Catholic Tamil School, Wattala, have appealed to the authorities to rescue their father and send him home soon. "Our father went to work in a foreign land to earn money to provide us a better life. The only thing we want is to see him back with us safe and sound. We appeal to all to hear our pleas and work towards his rescue," they said. Environment as a school subject Environment and Natural Resources Minister A.H.M. Fowzie will submit to the Government a Cabinet paper proposing the inclusion of Environment as a subject in the school curriculum from Grade 6, and to make it a compulsory subject for the GCEs. The environment is now been destroyed at a rapid rate, resulting in adverse effects to humans as well as animals, the Minister said during a recent visit to Haputale. The environmental laws which are currently existing have to be revised and strengthened and punishment should be meted out to those found guilty of violating these laws, he said. Minister Fowzie stressed that schoolchildren were the best vehicle to carry the message of environmental protection to elders. To achieve this goal, it is important that Environment becomes part of the school curriculum. The Minister added that in filling vacancies in his Ministry, preference would be given to those actively engaged in environmental protection. The Minister visited the Horton Plains to view the development work being carried out. This includes the establishment of a visitor centre and provision of facilities, constructing an entrance to the park, parking space for vehicles, viewing decks over the World's End and park trails. Water at last for Halgahakumbura Safe drinking water, as we know, is one of the prime necessities for all human beings. However, 70 per cent of Sri Lankans do not have access to piped drinking water.Did you know that there are areas in Colombo where residents, children and adults alike, have to undergo severe hardships due to the lack of piped drinking water. Halgahakumbura, a low-income tenement, close to Baseline Road, Colombo was one such area till recently. The 600 poor families in the area now have this basic necessity, thanks to a project launched as a private-public sector partnership. A water supply scheme was inaugurated for the area as one of four such demonstration projects implemented by the Pro-poor Public-Private Partnership Project of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). The project, funded by the Netherlands government, aims to get the help of the private sector in providing piped drinking water to low-income urban settlements in Colombo. The Sri Lankan Government has also identified the provision of safe drinking water as a priority and aims to provide safe drinking water to at least 85 per cent of its population by 2010. |
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