CLEARING THE MINES SO NAGARATNAM CAN RETURN HOME

For 21 long years, grandmother Nagaratnam and her family were unable to return to their home in Intherapuram Village, Sri Lanka. It was in 1995—as the fighting from Sri Lanka’s Civil War spread from the north—that the villagers were forced to flee, taking refuge in a crowded welfare camp in Vavuniya.

Even when the fighting ended in 2009, Nagaratnam, her granddaughter Kalavathany and great granddaughter Kavi, were unable to go home. Thousands of landmines had been laid by the retreating troops, forming the vast Muhamalai minefield. But in 2012 HALO began work to make the land safe and by early 2016 a section of the village had been cleared and was released back to the community.

Nagaratnam was one of the first to return, keen to be back in the village that had been her home since the mid 1980s when she moved here from Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo: “We lived a good life here,” she explains while removing the scarf from her head, a customary sign in Tamil culture when speaking of the past. They have been joined by 13 other families in this part of the village—all of whom HALO have provided with semi-permanent shelters and toilets through the NGO, RAHAMA.

A determined figure, Nagaratnam is the matriarch of her family, and like many in the conflict-affected areas in the north it is an all-female household, spanning four generations. Sadly, both Nagaratnam’s and Kalavathany’s husbands passed away several years ago so they have received priority support for resettlement due to the economic disadvantage that often affects female-headed families.

Since returning, the family have been slowly rebuilding their lives. Kalavathany works nearby at a food packing factory in Muhamali Town. Meanwhile, Nagaratnam has started a small basket business, crafting beautiful baskets out of palmyra leaves to sell. They also grow their own beans and okra in the garden beside their house.

Nagaratnam is well known and respected in the village, visitors gravitate to her for news or to ask for directions if lost. There are signs that normality is returning, children play cricket between the houses, neighbours chat in the street. However, there is still work to do. Nagaratnam warns the children not to hit the ball too far—just a few hundred metres from the resettled portion of the village HALO deminers are working to clear the next sector of the Muhamalai minefield. With a sense of pride Nagaratnam can be heard warning visitors: “We’ve survived many years of war, let’s not lose our lives on the minefield.”

But soon this warning will be redundant. HALO’s deminers will clear the remaining section of Intherapuram village allowing a further 130 families to join Nagaratnam in the joyful return home.