Thanamalwila :

Will it remain a tragedy forever?

by Ranga Chandrarathne

Slanting sun rays welcomed another day for the picturesque southern village of Thanamalwila. Abounding in natural beauty against the backdrop of lush forestry and tanks, at a superficial level, the village looks like a paradise upon the earth.

However, a visitor to this pristine village should not be beguiled by its unscathed natural exquisiteness or the mesmerizing sceneries of wildlife and placid lakes, for underneath this beauty lies the ugly story of devastating poverty amalgamated with ignorance. wretchedly, Thanamalwila is not famous for its natural beauty but for illicit plantation of cannabis or popularly known in the area as Kansa, and a high rate of suicides precipitated by abject poverty.

More than one member of each and every family in the village has either committed suicide or attempted to take their lives on diverse grounds. The villagers are eking out a living from the scanty wages they earn by working in sugar cane plantations in the area.

Their shanty houses, often wattle and daub and roofed with cajan leaves illustrate a grunge portrait of the veracity. In the foregrounds of some houses is the half-constructed foundation for a house which still remains a distant dream for these impoverished inhabitants. However, pictures of politicians, particularly those of founder leaders of the SLFP hung on otherwise bare walls indicating that they remain, in spite of copious hardships, true loyalists of the party.

We journalists who visited Thanamalwila on a field tour conducted by Basic Needs together with consultant psychiatrist Dr. Niel Fernando, stumbled upon several individuals and families who experienced utter privations.

A melancholy story of two women, a mother and daughter, was heard for the first time in our lives. The mother was three months pregnant when she was taken into the household as the wife. (They are not legally married) This "deal" was made on condition that if the child would be a girl, the husband should be allowed to keep her as a mistress.

The unfortunate child was a girl and now she also has a daughter by this man. The story was revealed when the small child told her teachers that she doesn't have a grandfather and both she and her mother calls this man father.

The 11-year-old girl, her mother and the grandmother are mortally scared of her father because he used to beat them on a daily basis and effectively immobilise them by breaking their legs and hands. He is keeping them forcibly at home. The neighbours told us that the man is ruthless and fierce.

A twenty-one-year-old girl suffering from epilepsy once tried to commit suicide by drinking weedicide. She had stopped schooling even before sitting her ordinary level examination due to an unbearable headache she suffers constantly.

She said "suffered a lot from the unbearable headache and epilepsy. It was very difficult for me to be in the iron-sheet roofed classroom. I was annoyed because my friends were disturbed by my condition as they had to accompany me. So, I decided to put an end to my education".

She used to spend the whole day at home. One day a boy from the village told her that her aunt who lives next door had asked him to somehow approach her and rape her. She was furious over her aunt's conspiracy and because of the unbearable pain of mind she drank poison to put an end to her misery.

By that time she was depressed due to the isolation and ill-treatment by the family members who considers her as a burden. This oppressive environment at home turned worse since she attempted to take her life which the family members especially her brother who is addicted to cannabis considered it as front to the family and started assaulting her from time to time.

This particular brother threatened the journalists not to publish this case in the newspapers. We firmly believe that kind of resistance is due to the dearth of education.

Another case was a middle aged woman whose husband is addicted to mooshone which is readily available in the area. Economic hardships precipitated by her husband's habitual drinking and resultant financial condition prevented her from realising her only aspiration, building the house. She became desperate and frustrated and lost interest in life. It became obvious that she could not pursue her dream and poured kerosine over her body and set herself on fire.

A youngster in his twenties attempted to commit suicide due to abject poverty as life was becoming more and more miserable. He is a father of one and he was thoroughly worried over his inability to build the house, and provide his wife with fashionable garments.

Also, he didn't have money to buy milk powder for the child at the time he tried to take his life. He drank pesticide and suffered for months at the hospital. Uncompleted structure for a new house was evident in the foreground of his compound.

Another schoolboy, a teenager drank weedicide following the death of his father. He said that he was desperate because the father was the sole bread-winner of their household.

A grandmother in her 60s tried to take her life because her husband beats her and abuses everyday. The husband addicted to moonshine is in his 70s, beats her everyday and the neighbours said that the quarrel, starting from 7.00 p.m., continues till midnight. She is also suffering from hypertension.

We heard enough of such stories but the reason identified by the researchers is the same. That is, poverty coupled with psychiatric disorders. The recently issued world health reports established the fact that poverty and psychiatric disorders are interlinked and act as a vicious cycle.

It is a pathetic state of affairs that these people were not provided with their needs such as education especially health education, employment opportunities, healthy living conditions, etc. Ignorance, domestic violence, incest, rape, sexual assault, marital rape are common among the community.

This situation contributes for the high degree of suicide and psychiatric disorders. The social stigma attached to suicide and negative perception of psychological disorders which are often considered as a disgrace, worsen the already chronic conditions.

'Basic Needs' in collaboration with provincial departments of health has been conducting awareness programmes with the help of experts such as consultant psychiatrist, Dr. Niel Fernando and the medical officers of health and other medical officers attached to government hospitals of the area, for affected persons and families.

A cluster of voluntary groups have been formed to educate the villagers and prevent further occurrences of suicide. It is the responsibility of citizens, voluntary organisations and the government to extend their support and salvage them from poverty and ignorance.

The cultural puritants who boast of history and culture and venomously attack on value-based works of art should realise that they have wilfully forgotten the children of this nation, our own brothers and sisters, who need a helping hand. They really need our time which we waste on slanderous speech, our energy, to uplift their standard of living.