Local
Young Tamils searching for roots, peace
Nicholas Keung, Toronto Star
Sep 27, 2004, 22:38

Jothi Sockalingam’s last memory of home is tied to the white jasmine-scented house on the small island of Velanai, Sri Lanka. At midday on Aug. 24, 1990, the Tamil girl, then 13, spotted military bombers circled about her home and ran to hide with her family in a small brick storage area under their kitchen stove. One of many bombs hit her house, blowing the roof off.

No on was hurt, but the family knew it was time to leave.

With her widowed mother, four older brothers and a younger sister, Sockalingam moved into a relative’s house in nearby Jaffna, home to four other Tamil families who had also lost their homes in the drawn-out civil war between the Tamils and Singhalese.

Since her arrival in Canada with her family a decade ago, Sockalingam always wondered what had become of their home in Velanai.

A ceasefire between the Tamil rebels and the Sri Lanka government in 2002 gave Sockalingam the opportunity to find out. She returned last year.

“It’s a scary place to be. The thing that I last remembered was the bombers in the air,” said Sockalingam, now 27 and chemical engineer in Toronto.

“But I wanted to go back to see what’d happened to our home, which is a monument for our father. It is where he died.” (of cancer about a year before the attack). Other than memories, little of the house remained.

Tens of thousands of Tamil Canadian – most of them from the 100,000-strong community in Greater Toronto – travelled back to Sri Lanka after peace was temporarily restored.

Some of the Tamil youth who made the trip formed the Canadian Tamil Students’ Association this summer.

This afternoon, thousands of Tamils are expected to gather on the front lawn of Queen’s Part for the association’s first Pongu Tamil (Tamil Pride) a peaceful demonstration to draw attention to the plight of the Tamil minorities in Sri Lanka.

“We saw the devastation of the war and how it drained out the lives of the people,” said association spokesperson Thiva Paramsothy, who left Sri Lanka at the age 3 and stayed in India as a refugee before his family landed in Canada 17 years ago.

At today’s event, Tamil youth will share their experiences about visiting their homeland and show a documentary about the Tamil’s history in Canada.

Stung by what the community believes to be unfounded allegations of fundraising for Tamil terrorists, there is will be no fundraising at the event, which claims to mobilize the community to lobby the Canadian government to take an active role in the Sri Lankan peace process.

Last year, Kanmani Rasanathan went to Jaffna with her university friends. Before that, she had no recollection of the country she left when she was 3.

Now 23, the university of Toronto Student visited 500 Tamil orphans – children who lost legs and arms during the civil conflicts – in Killinochchi.

These Kids had never seen a computer before. They didn’t; even know what (modem) speed was when showed them our laptops,” said Rasanthan, who was shocked by the children’s reluctance to get close to them.

“We are speaking the same language with them, but they didn’t view us as Tamils. They only looked at us as Canadians. But it is important for them to know they are not forgotten, that they are not alone. It gives them a glimpse of hope.”


© Copyright 2003 by TorontoTamil.com