Stirring the embers of hope

Once upon a time they were a happy couple. They were educated, had good jobs, a beautiful son and the future, despite a war in their backyard, looked bright. Hopes of peace and tranquillity were hovering on the horizon, just within grasp, literally a hair’s breadth away.

And then tragedy happened. Dayagini’s life changed in the so called blink of an eye, leaving her paralysed from neck down, moaning the deaths of her unborn twin daughters and a life that was never to be. The fateful day, etched in hot lava in her mind, was May 16, 2009. Two days before a protracted war that leached away all essence of normalcy in Northern homes and wrought havoc elsewhere in the country, came to an end.

Dayagini, who used to work for the Rural Development Bank in Kilinochchi, and her journalist husband Murugaperumal Madhivanan, were among those who ran away from LTTE control in Mullivaikkal. She was five months pregnant with twins at that time and both husband and wife were intent on reaching the safe zone. But there was no safety for her.

Halfway through their flight, they were caught in the crossfire and Dayagini caught a bullet in her neck, becoming yet another casualty of a war that took so much out of everyone. Madhivanan, a provincial journalist for Thinakkural, dropped everything he was carrying and rushed to his wife’s side. Unsure about the extent of the injury, fearful that it might be fateful, praying for divine help, he lifted her in his arm and ran to safety.

Madhivanan carried his critically injured wife to the army camp. And that was the last he saw of her for awhile.

They got separated. She was sent for first aid and he was sent to the Settikulam Zone 4 camp.

Building a house for Madhivanan

The Jaffna Press Club, which initiated the move to secure help for Northern journalist in dire straits, had proposed three names, Madhivanan included, as journalist who needed immediate assistance.

According to R. Thayabaran, Director Jaffna Press Club, State media – Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) Independent Television Network (ITN) and Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd. (ANCL) – which had taken up the offer to help the Northern journalists, had chosen Madhivanan to assist with the construction of his house.

Construction work on the house is to begin tomorrow, March 28, under the auspices of Minister for Mass Media, Gayantha Karunathilaka.

“Madhivanan is living a difficult life,” says Thayabaran, explaining that for several years, Madhivanan had resigned himself to repairing electric equipment and odd jobs in area, due to his wife’s condition, before restarting his career in journalism about a year ago. “What should be understood is that journalists are not the LTTE. We are reporters, simple as that,” stresses Thayabaran, adding that since 2000, of the 44 journalists and media workers who have disappeared, been attacked or killed in Sri Lanka, 41 are Tamil. “Journalists, especially Tamil journalists, have undergone many hardships, and it is a relief to see them getting the support they need to start their lives again,” he says.

Thayabaran says the house Madhivanan and his wife currently live, is not suitable for a quadriplegic, explaining that even the basic lavatory facilities are not set up in a convenient way. The new house, he says, will have all the facilities she needs, including commodes, to provide a better living condition for Madhivanan and his family.

From the army camp Dayagini, who was rendered, paralysed from neck down owing to the injuries she sustained, was transferred to several hospitals in Padaviya, and two months later to Vavuniya, where she was informed that the twin girls she was carrying were no more. She was seven months pregnant at that time.

Sent to Castle Hospital in Colombo for the require surgery, she was later transferred to Ragama Hospital where she underwent physiotherapy treatment for 11 months.

Madhivanan meanwhile was wracked with concern about his wife. He had heard she was admitted to Vavuniya Hospital from an acquaintance. But he was not allowed to leave the camp.

Bitter sweet re-union

Later Madhivanan became ill and was admitted to hospital. From there he set out to look for his wife. It was four months after they got separated. The re-union was bitter sweet, for although he found his wife alive, he learnt she was paralysed neck downwards and that he had lost his unborn twin daughters.

Nearly seven years later, the happy future Dayagini and Madhivanan envisaged is reduced at a pathetic reality, where Dayagini is wheelchair bound and dependent on Madhivanan for everything other than her breath.

The couple currently live in a room in Dayagini’s sister’s house. They are dependent on her parents and do not have any belongings with them, as Madhivanan dropped the last of them when he carried her after she was shot.

Recalls Madhivanan, “We met in 2007, in Kilinochchi, where she was working as a cashier at the Rural Development Bank, which collaborated with the NGO I was working for back then, on a programme to assist children in the area.” GAQ qualified Dayagini says she was officially employed, even on the day before the incident.

Unable to pursue his career, Madhivanan spends his time taking care of his wife... feeding her, pushing her wheelchair to wherever she wants to go, being her arms and legs... Dayagini still finds it difficult to comprehend how her world changed within seconds, and tears up frequently, recalling the horrors of her ordeal and everything she lost.

With no steady income, except for the handouts from family and friends, Madhivanan doesn’t have the financial to continue with physiotherapy for Dayagini, “The physiotherapist charges Rs.1000 per hour and it would cost another Rs.1000 to transport her to the hospital,” he says, adding that Dayagini also needs a new wheelchair almost every year.

A house at last

Taking care of his wife and their five-year old-son, Madhivanan’s journalism is now limited to reporting on special incidents in the area, as he is unable to leave his wife alone for a long time. He and Dayagini qualify for a few benefit schemes due to their situation, but that has not been enough for them to build a house and settle down on their own.

Their many pleas to the Divisional Secretary’s office and NGOs have literally fallen on deaf ears.

However, after years and hardship and disappointment, luck seems to be finally looking their way, courtesy director of Jaffna Press Club, who has secured the help of Media Minister Gayantha Karunathilaka and the State media – Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC), Independent Television Network (itn) and Associated Newspapers Ceylon Ltd (ANCL) - to build a house for Madhivanan and Dayagini.

Work on the house is expected to commence tomorrow, March 28, and Madhivanan is hope this is the first of many step that will lead his life from darkness to light seven years after the war ended.

Madhivanan and Dayagini have lost a lot of things but they still have a dream, to live like a family. To have a house, and educate their son, who, Dayagini expects, will study and take care of her and her husband in the future.