The brutal memories of the past war remain etched in the life of Sivanaiya Raja, a resident of Veppankulam, Kallaru in Vavuniya:
“My name is Sivanaiya Raja. This war took away the most precious thing in my life—my son. His name was Ravichandran. I lost him in 2006. My son had just returned from school and had been home for about two hours when chaos erupted in the village, with people saying that the Tiger rebels had attacked army at a nearby place. Then shelling began, and my house was hit. A shell landed right in front of my house and exploded. Then there was gunfire, and one of the bullets struck my son—right on his forehead.
“At that time, my son was just 16 years old. The military and police were all around, but it’s impossible to say who fired the bullet. But because of this war, I lost my son. When the fighting broke out, it was just me, my son, my wife, and my two daughters at home. The shell exploded right in front of our house, and that’s when my son was hit. We ran out immediately.
“Later, we came back to check. We carried my son and rushed him to the hospital, but he had already passed away. After that, we took his body to Vavuniya, went through the legal process, and finally got his body back. At the time of his death, my son was attending Chettikulam School.
“Our house back then was made of bricks, but after the shelling destroyed everything, we rebuilt it with these makeshift materials.
“We lived here throughout most of the war. In 1990, we sought refuge at the Madhu Church, staying there for about four years before returning here.”
