'Ranawiruwariyan'

are they a forgotten lot?

"Our aim is to work in harmony with all the ex-service women of all three Forces - Army, Navy and Air Force.

by Lakmal Welabada

"Very few know that women soldiers have also sacrificed their lives for the country. Everybody is talking only about 'Ranawiruwan' (men soldiers) and not about 'Ranawiruwariyan' (women soldiers).

Still there's a big gap in between. So we thought that it's our duty to fill that gap," says Sergeant Ramani

 Jayawardana who sworn as the third executive President of the Sri Lanka Army Ex-service Women's Core Association (SLAEWCA) few months back.

"Our aim is to work in harmony with all the ex-service women of all three Forces - Army, Navy and Air Force. We assist our members in counselling, finding them jobs and in all the other aspects as far as we can," says the new President. Sergeant Ramani won the Trophy for the Best Leadership in 2006 at the 11th Anniversary celebration of the SLAEWCA.

After serving at the dancing troupe in the Sri Lanka Army for 15 years Ramani retired in 1997, and joined the SLAEWCA in 1999. "I was born and bred at Kegalle, and studied at Kegalle Balika. I was talented for dancing even during the time of schooling.

Hence my parents got me the chance to learn it under Kamala Ranganatha at Warakapola Ranganatha Kalayathanaya. I studied dancing at school under Mrs. Gunawathi Thumbaliyadda. Though I did Home Science as a subject at school I always shone as a dancer.

So after O/L I just applied to the Army dancing troupe through my father's friend. Those days Captain Clarence Delwala was the Band Leader of the Army music group. He helped me to get the chance in it," she says.

"Those days Sri Lanka didn't have a women's core. So I had to join the Army cultural troupe as a civilian. We had many shows here and even abroad. I have travelled Hong Kong, Japan, Italy, Holand and Switzerland. We were paid Rs,25 per local show. It was really good," she says.

Ramani saw the gazette notice for women to apply for the women's core. "I was in the civil set up still. But was quite amused by the Army Force set up which I used to see in the morning and evening. So I also applied for it and got selected.

We had three months training including weapon handling. When we returned back, I felt the difference. Unlike when we were working as the civil servants, being an Army soldier was a different as well as comparatively tough experience as we were under the rules, regulations and strict disciplines," she says.

The cultural shows held in the war struck areas such as Palali and Trinco during the peak times of war were among the unforgettable moments in Ramani's life. "However, we never felt scared or drawn back. We held many shows in the open air at the Palali grounds before a big crowd, both the civil citizens and Armed Forces.

And for our surprise we had observed that LTTE members had also come to watch the shows. Sometimes, we used to travel in the aircrafts which were used as ambulance services to transport the injured soldiers. In such aircrafts there were no seats so we had to sit on the floor when travelling.

It was not a comfortable journey, but we never grumble about the uneasiness as we always thought it was our duty to go to war struck areas and give little entertainment to our brother Forces counterparts. We even had shows for the Indian troupe as well during 1990-1991," she reminisces.

Ramani got married to Hiran Wijemanna, a project supervisor in 1989. "Getting married to a civilian was not a

 problem as we had a good understanding between us. Now our sons are 17 and 14 years. We stayed at Army quarters for a long time. And now we live in Kegalle. For the first time in life now I'm a full time mother to my kids," she smiles.

In the later part of the service Ramani worked at the Panagoda Army camp, training six flatoons of Army women. "I invite all the ex-Army women to join with us. So far we have got about 300 memberships. We do a lot of welfare work for our members.

Especially there are 19 families mourn over the loss of their daughters while they were being active at the war operations. A few talk about them. So it is our duty to talk and look in to the needs of the ex-service women both living, dead and disabled, and also of their families. We have launched scholarship schemes for their children (of grade five, O/Ls, A/Ls and campus level) and a medical schemes. Apart from that we seek for job opportunities for our ex-service women as they retire early, and can continue to work once again," she hopes.