Lankan Refugee Kids worried sick about siblings

Lankan refugee kids left Bangalore for Tamil Nadu late last night, desperate for information about their siblings

Nishanthan (18) took a train from Bangalore to Rameswaram late last night, in the hope of hearing about his sister Mayanka, who lives in Jaffna.

He is terrified that Mayanka, and his grandmother, might be dead in the war between the LTTE and the Lankan army. The fighting claimed about 1,000 lives yesterday.

As news of the deaths reached Bangalore, refugee children tried to gather information about their relatives over the phone, and when that failed, decided to travel to camps in Tamil Nadu.

The children study in a residential school run by an NGO.

'Nobody is telling us what happened'

No phone

When MiD DAY visited Indira Gandhi International Academy in Jakkur yesterday, we found that its only phone, a landline, was not working.

"I want to see my parents," said Nishanthan. They stay at a refugee camp in Rameswaram, on the Tamil Nadu coast.

40 students

He is not the only one suffering such a plight. About 40 of his friends in the school hail from north-eastern Sri Lanka, where civilians are dying.

"Nobody is telling us what happened to my relatives in Vavunniya," said Rekuki Dhanush, 18-year-old daughter of a refugee couple now in Erode, Tamil Nadu. "I'm confused."u00a0 Her uncles and aunts live near that town.

Several boys and girls between seven and 18 left Bangalore for refugee camps in Tamil Nadu last night. That state has some 150 camps for Tamil-speaking refugees from Lanka.

Home thoughts

The children in Bangalore want to be reunited with their families, and hope to get back to Lanka some day.

"Repatriation is what everyone here wants," said Yesudas, who teaches at the Indira Gandhi International Academy. "We are trying to reach families in Lanka with the help of the authorities there."

Where are they?

It has become difficult for the academy to locate parents of children studying here, and hope is fading even for the children. "Even if we get to Lanka, the authorities don't allow us to enter areas where our relatives live," said Janardhan K, whose parents are from Yelpanam in Lanka. "But I hope to meet my grandmother some day."

The children haven't talked to their relatives for two months, since the war broke out between the LTTE and the Lankan forces.