PLAYING AT KARUNA SEVANA: REFLECTIONS FROM SRI LANKA
RACHEL GALEA
Hyderabad, India
Rachel Galea reflects on her experiences in Sri Lanka where
she is volunteering on a joint ACMICA-Centre for Religion
and Society community development project.
Morning comes and I waddle my way down for breakfast. At
8am, there is not a child in sight as they are all off doing
chores. Aruna (social worker/dad) does the polite thing and
sits with me as I eat breakfast. It's Saturday. Aruna and
I engage in the normal morning chatter - hot weather and activities
for the day. The conversation soon shifts. He opens up and
confides many personal aspects of his life along with the
children at Karuna Sevana. He recalls disturbing anecdotes
and is comforted by the fact that I am listening.
The stories of poverty, social inequity, unemployment, violence,
exploitation and oppression role off his tongue. I sit and
am unsure how to react. We hear such stories on many occasions,
empathy sets in and we think for a minute and comfort ourselves
through the mechanisms of our privileged and comfortable lifestyles.
As he speaks, suddenly all I can hear are his words, no
other sounds resonate, all I see is his face, no other sights
visible. Human suffering. These people have adapted to it
in a fashion that is unexplainable.
Through these peoples' dispossession and helplessness they
impart an unrelenting energy. Energy of survival. Energy that
many of us will never have the misfortune of drawing upon
each day.
The children here at Karuna Sevana have been abandoned and
neglected; they have seen sights that even Hollywood producers
dare not screen.
The children here at Karuna Sevana have witnessed atrocities;
they have been physically, sexually and mentally abused. They
have been abandoned and neglected; they have seen sights that
even Hollywood producers dare not screen. They have had to
beg and steal, and have had any innocence that is endowed
with childhood stolen from them. They have not experienced
love and affection from family members, they have not had
time to play.
Karuna Sevana is a place of refuge, solidarity and affection.
The 40 children who live here come from all different ethnic
and religious backgrounds. They together form a family, a
family grown out of hardship and a family striving for a future.
Thirty boys and ten girls aged between 5 and 20 comprise a
group of people who are diligent, funny, witty and wise. They
are glad to be here and enjoy living. Their daily chores include
tending to pigs, chickens and cows, cooking, cleaning, working
in the garden and on the fields. They get up each morning
at 5am and go to school at 7:30am. After school they eat,
do their chores, and they play. Here they play!
A right that many children in the third world never realise
is the right to play. The right to run around, get dirty and
imagine. I believe that this right allows innocence to create
a world that many of us are striving for now. A world based
on equality, non-violence and genuine justice.
Being here among such life and vitality I am grateful for
the opportunity that I have to allow myself to run around,
get dirty and imagine. In playing with the children I find
myself all the more wiser, not needing words.
Andiambalama, Sri Lanka, 15 Feburary 2003
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