Online edition of Sunday Observer - Business: "A different story must be told of Kalmunai. The situation is outrageous. The displaced, especially the women and kids appear to the visitor as beggars for they have no decent clothing and no shoes or slippers; the children look sickly and are just filthy. The sanitary conditions are absolutely pathetic. I have no words to describe the plight of these people to you. They are sad - it is written all over - yet they smiled and are friendly. We spoke to the STF at the Vivekananda Vidyalaya Camp where they have 290 people. 32 are kids of school-going age who have absolutely no school clothes or books to resume school life. There are 28 infants, who need clothing, medical care and definitely some nourishing food. In all, there are 82 families. We were told by one of the refugees that most of the camp people were running a temperature (flu symptoms); he was himself recovering from illness. You must avoid falling ill yourself when visiting. The STF mentioned that the people are very sad and definitely need visitors to talk with. The sanitary conditions in this camp were awful. The kids were extremely dirty and the mothers too. Being a woman I could peep into the rooms of buildings: the living conditions were horrible and the cooking areas as well. "
Monday, February 07, 2005