“THE SRI LANKAN WOUNDED” – By Des Kelly

It was heartbreaking enough to hear of all these people, (253 of them, now definitely identified), killed, on Easter Sunday, last, most of them, Sri Lankan, of course, but some, like the wife, daughter &;young son of an English visitor, who died at the Shangrila hotel, absolutely heart-rending to hear about the little children, boys & girls, who had died, minutes after receiving Holy Communion at the Zion Church, in Batticoloa, totally emotional to see actual photographs of these little martyrs, in their coffins, when they should have been outside, in the gardens of the Church, playing and enjoying the sunshine. ALL THIS, NEVER SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED.

Ever since this horrible, mind-numbing tragedy, I have been inundated with dozens of different aspects to this very sad story. Innuendos, excuses, retaliatory measures, expressed, most of them very angry ones, and for good reason, I have to add, but, after all is said and done, IT has happened now, and all we can do, is to say a simple prayer.

“LORD, please accept these Souls into your loving care, Amen”.

If I am angry at anyone (and I am), it is, with the Sri-Lankan Government.”PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE”

Not even after THEY were warned, quite specifically, about this “attack”, did ANYONE who is, or should be, involved in “looking-after” their OWN PEOPLE, move even one finger to try to prevent the inevitable. Instead, lame excuses, from the President down to the ordinary Parliamentarian, ensued from the mouths of these “Servants of the Public”, which is their job, meaning that, although nothing was done on purpose, THE GOVERNMENT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS.

That said, and I am saying no more, the victims have, by now, been buried, BUT, we still have to think of the wounded in hospitals, over there. Many are SEVERELY wounded & will probably need prosthetic limbs to carry on, with their normal lives when they leave hospital. I am certain that there are many affluent Sri Lankans in Australia, and also that we,as expatriots of our beautiful homeland, will give, or donate whatever we can, for this worthy cause. I am not certain about how we can do this, but, as I write this, on behalf of eLanka, the website for all Lankan/Aussies, plus

all Patriots of Lanka, everywhere in the World, THIS is a very sincere plea, on my part. Let us work out a way to help these “victims” help themselves (& live “life” again). I can be contacted, at any time, via eLanka.

Desmond Kelly