The government of Sri Lanka is not going to care for these victims of war, nor will it allow any NGOs to effectively care for them. The LTTE will not have the necessary funds to finance their needs. The international community will turn a blind eye to the suffering of Tamil people as they have always done in the past. It is only the expatriate Tamils who have the means to rescue these innocent people and children from this disaster. It is estimated that there are close to 1 million expatriate Sri Lankan Tamils, or about 250,000 households. If each house contributed $100 per year, that would be $25 million, or over 290 Crores rupees per year. It would not be enough to care for the needs of all our people in Sri Lanka, but it would be a great start.

You may ask why you should spend your hardearned money to help people that you do not know. If you carefully analyse the issue, you will see why you should spend that $100 or more a year. We do not want to see our kids embrace certain Western life style such as dating many different partners, common-low spouses, unwed pregnancies etc.. Despite living in the Western world, we all want to preserve and practice our culture, traditions and identity.

In order to do that, we need to have a base. That base is none other than our traditional Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka. Three of the leading media sources in Canada recently promoted a fundraising campaign for C.A.R.E., which is an organization that raises funds worldwide to care for the well being of our orphaned Tamil children in Sri Lanka. Even with these media sources’ involvement, C.A.R.E was wellbeing of our orphaned Tamil children in Sri Lanka.

Even with these media sources’ involvement, C.A.R.E was able to raise only about $100,000 in Canada. Canada has an expatriate Tamil population of about 300,000. Despite our large numbers, our people contributed only 33 cents per head. While we appreciate the donors, we as Tamils in Canada should be ashamed of being so irresponsible about the wellbeing of our children in Canada. I say our children in Canada because if our homeland ceases to exist then our children will not have their roots.

Our own media should have played a bigger role in educating our people and reminding us of our responsibilities. Unfortunately, they too have failed in their responsibilities just as much as most expatriate Tamils. Our media do not have to take a political stand, but they have the power and reach to educate the Tamil diaspora about our responsibilities.

While the media has a bigger role to play in promoting the wellbeing of our people in Sri Lanka, our community organizations can also play a pivotal role. Our past pupils’ associations, village organizations, religious organizations, professional organizations and other not-for-profit organizations such as TRO, C.A.R.E., CAFFTAR, etc. can and should actively raise awareness through discussions, pamphlets, newsletters etc.

We cannot afford to sit on the sidelines and wait for others to take the initiate and take action to preserve our identity and culture and look after the wellbeing of our people back home and in foreign lands. We all need to have a place and people to identify ourselves and our culture and tradition to our young generation.

Dear expatriate Tamils, we have the power and means to preserve our tradition and culture regardless of our political opinion or where we live. If we want to see our children lead a moral and ethical life, a family life that we are so accustomed to and embraced, then we need to have a strong foundation that our children can relate to and express. That example and foundation can only be provided if we have a reality to relate to. That reality is none other than our homeland. If our people perish or become destitute in our homeland, we will not be able to express our desires and hopes to our children. We will not be able to guide our children to the healthy family life that we hope for them to have. So for the betterment of our children in the foreign lands that we reside in now, we need to help our people in our homeland. So let’s help our children by helping our people in our homeland.

Tamil People Living In Our Homeland Are Our Present and Future