What do you see doctor…..?
He asked me at the end of a hectic day; we finished clinics and was walking out to the corridor.
It was a day that we were suppose to be on strike because of a TUA that I cannot remember… But since it was the mental health clinic day we couldn’t cancel clinics because If the patients miss this clinic they will not be able to get a whole month’s medications.
He, who asked me the above question used to visit us after he finished his work. He said he felt good when he spoke to us about the uncertain future. A future they were never prepared for.
What do you think you see here doc….?
Well…probably manikfarm
I see a tent…
A single pot …
Three kids…
One is helping the mom scraping coconut. Another washing something in a vessel.
Mom is cooking something for them noh….
Lots of greenery around…
But I don’t see a father figure…
Oh where is their father ?
Where is the home ?
This picture left us speechless. Even though we go pass this picture we never paused to have a look at it and realise what’s in it …. The core details.
We visited the IDP camps to conduct our clinics or workshops. I was the most junior doctor in the team, when I think about those days… I wish I had the present understanding and knowledge I have about the political scenario and past history. We were fresh out of med school recently-passed licencing exams too, so the knowledge about what happened in the north end of the country was not so great as the medical knowledge. The information we received were what drained through public or state media. (No smart phones back then). North taught me what we failed to understand for years. There was not a single day that I didn’t cry.
Just thought I’d share this story from the past…as the pic came up on my timeline.
I was so disheartened and dissapointed to see recent fumes and sparks towards whome to commomerate and why. There are no limitations for grief and absolutely no restrictions to remember those who departed.
The person that seem like a murderer in one’s eyes is a hero in the others….so it is crucial to think about how you have been responding to the other parties that have gone through the horrific brutality of decades long civil war.
I have worked in post war north and I’ve seen the most terrible sides of war… As I have explained in my recent Asian review interview we have been living in a war torn society where knowledge and information were not at our finger tips like today. So there were heaps of misinformation and this was in both sides.
Again it’s very important to understand that reconciliation is also both ways… Every person has gone through sorrow, death and disability due to war. So it’s very important to address such issues related to the past carefully. it’s important not to hurt anyone at all times. This understanding should come from all parties.
No more tears ! We have gone through enough aiyo 
Dr. Bodhini Samaratunga
