The Beach

The beach in Mullaitivu is about 7 km from where we are located, with our MSF house and nearby local general hospital. We are, by reports, pretty close to where the war essentially ended in April and May of 2009. The Tamils, along with their families, were driven by a much greater army force to the waters edge. About 30,000 men, women and children, were killed in the final days. In fact, it was probably many more. Some sort of a rapid fire artillery was used, and it cut the tops off of the palm trees as the shells ripped through the air. Now one can see huge, palm tree trunks, that reach for the sky. No leaves are left on these trees. They stand like tall sticks, as stark reminders to the recent battles. I'm not sure how big our district actually is. But there are over 200,000 Sri Lankan Army soldiers still here. Most are pretty young, and most do not speak Tamil. I try to smile at them, as I believe that many of them were not in the army during the war. They will actually smile back, and sometimes, when we are at a checkpoint, they will come up to me and try out their English.