The church feels somewhat hamstrung, as no one at present is allowed into the "welfare" camps, if you can call them that. We took a trip on motorbikes to one of the camps where "Dillon" a wonderful and humble brother has been placed. Dillon, a pastor on Leslies team, went up into the Vanni region at the end of December to visit the churches and to take the Calvary staff their wages and Christmas gifts. He was subsequently caught up in the fighting and could not return to his wife and three kids, who live in the Manner region. He has been moved by the Armed forces to Vavuniya for process. Dillon, like many others, has been away from his family for almost two months, only recently did word get through that he's ok and now in Vavuniya. I cannot imagine the distress and anxiety this has caused his wife and kids. Not knowing what has happened to your husband and father. I wrote a letter on behalf of the Calvary Church community to the government agency that deals with interments requesting Dillon's release and explaining who he was and why he was caught up in the restricted zone. Lets pray that the Lord softens hearts, and releases Dillon so he will be reunited with his loved ones. This is just one account. There are, as you may already know, 35,000 displaced people in Vavuniya ( I believe this has been reported now on UK news stations as well) with a potential 200,000 caught up in the escalating conflict. The refugee situation will no doubt get worse before it gets better. Nothing is clear cut, it seems that the LTTE are using the innocent village people as a shield. The Sri Lankan army are claiming to do all they can to avoid killing innocent people, but reports and rumours are contrary to this. While in Vavuniya I saw some horrific photos of villages that had been napalmed – Fire bombed. Children and women burnt alive. It was horrific. On Monday I had the opportunity to head across to Trincomalee and I interviewed a wonderful Christian doctor that worked in the Hospital there. There have been three large shipments of over 450 people at a time from the war torn area. She has been treating mainly women and children, with burns and seeing large numbers of patients undergo painful amputations. She, for obvious reasons couldn't talk openly, she mentioned that patients especially the young adults are interrogated, and after treatment are removed from the hospital. She and her staff have no idea where they are being taken. It's very distressing seeing armed men enter the hospital and remove patients. She said the Army has total authority and no one can or will speak out against this kind of behaviour. They are being kept in the dark. However she commented that the Lord had placed her in that hospital. he is clearly doing all she can to save lives and bring comfort to those that are injured. She mentioned that huge numbers of people are showing clear signs of psychological trauma due to their terrifying ordeals. The NGOs, UNICEF and International Red Cross have little access to the camps due to the stringent security. This is deeply concerning that there is no monitoring of the situation by the international community, or human rights watch dogs. This has produced a vacuum of information and the environment for potential serious ethnic exploitation. From my observations I feel we should pray and lobby in any way we can, so that the international community can have access to the camps in Vavuniya, and for these agencies to not only assist in the running but in the facilitation of humanitarian resources. Financial resourcing and humanitarian aid must come through these agencies rather than through the government agencies. I had the opportunity to talk with one of the UNICEF emergency response directors, he agreed that transparency is absolutely paramount and it will not come unless they are allowed into the camps to facilitate the aid. I was in Vavuniya when a representative of the UN was there – it was a little bizarre as he drove past in his armoured motorcade and I was in a three wheeler. The Church leaders and the representatives of the IRC informed me that he visited the best camp in the area and it was clear that this was not a true representation of what was really happening. I'm sure he will see beyond this, surely he isn't that naïve. The long term forecast is hard to predict for Calvary Church. All of the churches in the Killinochchi and Vanni areas have been scattered. There is no information on the where location or condition of these believers. Some have ended up in Vavuniya and beginning to gather to pray and worship in the camps. Dillon informed us, as we stood on one side of the road, he on the other, inside the camp. Due to army restrictions, they had begun to gather some of the believers together. But it's a difficult situation. Sometimes over thirty people are sleeping in small classrooms with Armed guards patrolling inside as well. We know very little about what is really happening behind the military screen, rumours are frightening and people fear the worse. Young people are being targeted for interrogation as you might well have guessed. Families are being separated for intelligence gathering.
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