Sunday Celebrity: S. C. Chandrahasan and his OfERR offer top service to displaced Tamils

There are umpteen number of people connected in the Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) as also in human rights activities through efforts in the media, justice system, youth movements, political establishments, international organizations, advocacy, literacy, community development, health care and such other ways.

But there are very few, who despite threats to their life, stand up for what they believe in, within the framework of the system. It is, however, very rare to come across a human being involved in the peace process, from the young age of twenty years, continuously for forty-seven years.

Samuel Chelvanayagam Chandrahasan, now sixty-seven years old, has been providing hope to many of those who lost it, especially the Tamil refugees. Through his work, commitment, dedication, he has identified himself with his life’s mission, and that has earned the respect, high regard, esteem and love of the people he serves—the refugees. And he is affectionately known by the Tamil honorific of “Ayya.”

S C Chandrahasan is the son of the late S J V Chelvanayagam, Sri Lanka’s iconic Tamil politician, better known as “Ezha Thanthai Chelva” compared to Mahathma Gandhi.

This writer met him at his office in Egmore for Asian Tribune’s Celebrity column , last week. My Chennai Tamil was no match for this pure chaste Tamil of Yazhpanam. Seeing me writhing, later he switched over to English, which was again flawless. This writer enjoyed listening to him.

Chandrahasan was repeatedly telling, during the course of talk, he was not important, but his organization. His work should not dominate that of the others in the organization. “It is a collective work, I don’t want to take all the credit,” he said. That is his humility. But we need to say what he is; hence he may excuse.

That he lives, breathes and thinks about the Sri Lankan refugee community every waking second and all the actions he undertakes are for the welfare of his community, is evident. All talks were centred on them.

The services to the refugees in Tamil Nadu he offers through OfERR an organization of, by and for the benefit of refugees, is enormous.

As chief functionary of the OfERR, he has been organizing relief for his fellow Sri Lankan refugees, welcoming and embracing them as they pour in here. That he has been here during critical times is a great blessing to the fleeing Tamils from the conflict zone for the past 25 years.

With the vision of helping refugees get back to the island after empowering themselves to rebuild their homeland on return Chandrahasan’s the main thrust is on educating them. Through OfERR cent per cent literacy has been achieved which is unique in refugee camps anywhere in the world.

Chandrahasan is close with the Chief Minister Karunanidhi. He talks very high of him and is very thankful to him, especially to his Rajya Sabha MP-daughter Kanimozhi, who he says is very sympathetic to the cause of the Tamils here. “Tamil Nadu government’s largesse on the displaced Tamil community here is enormous. A slew of concessions upto thinking of offering citizenship to the refugees is a great blessing,” he says.

Chandrahasan is happy the IDPs in the Northern Lanka are also getting settled in a phased manner. “The reports coming from there through the recent visit of the TDamil Nadu MPs and other sources is encouraging,” he says.

Into social service from age 19

Even at the tender age of 19, Chandrahasan’s bent of mind was on social service, alleviating the sufferings of his brethren in Sri Lanka. In 1961, he formed an economic group called “Eela Porulathara Abiviruthi Sangam” where the local products of the people in the North and East parts of Sri Lanka were brought to a point and sold/marketed. This helped marketing the products of the poorer sections of the community against stiff competition with imported goods. The produce of one place was taken to another place, which meant traveling between the North and East extremes. Subsequently, when there was restriction of imports, the activities of this group was considered a blessing in disguise.

Chandrahasan then organized a pioneering group of Tamil youths and introduced them to hands-on farming as an alternative to government jobs (due to the shrinking economy and the Sinhala-only policy). This was done as an example in the 1970s, whereby, while practicing as an advocate, he opened up a farm in the North of Mannar – setting a personal example of – “Don’t just talk – Do,”. This period ( 1971-1983), saw him advocating the development of farms. At weekends and holidays, he physically worked in the fields. This went a long way in encouraging others to revert back to land.

From the 1960s, Chandrahasan has been working on eradication of caste differences. In 1977, during the general elections, he became campaign manager of an oppressed caste member, who had to contest against eight other candidates of the powerful (numerically and economically) caste groups – (in Sri Lanka, there were no reserved constituencies, unlike in India), so this became a real challenge. The people overwhelmingly voted for the oppressed member to such an extent that it resulted in all the seven candidates losing their security deposits.

In the later 1960s and early 1970s, Chandrahasan worked with the Ilangai Thozhilalar Kazhagham (ITK), which was set up for the plantation members of Indian origin, with a view to restore citizenship to them in the aftermath of the 1977 racial riots. A lot of them who were flushed out of the Sinhala areas and facilitated to settle in the North and East of the country were rehabilitated by the Tamil Refugee Rehabilitation Organization (TRRO), of which he was a founder.

In 70’s as a human rights worker he intervened and saved the lives of many Sinhalese youths from being summarily executed in Ceylon in 1971; as a journalist and publisher using the printed word to advocate justice, peace and non-violence; as a lawyer has been providing free legal assistance for fifteen years, to many Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim people;

As the former Legal Secretary of TULF, he built awareness among the Tamil people. In early 80s when special laws were introduced in Sri Lanka and the authorities had a field day committing human rights abuses with temerity, hiding under the provisions of the special laws, he organized the people and community to be vigilant. There were two volunteers in each village who acted as informants when people were detained. If within 24 hours, if the prisoner was not produced before a court of law, habeus corpus petition was filed. As a result, the extra-judicial killings and torture were to a great extent prevented.

Escapes three attempt on his life

Being Convener of the vigilant group of volunteers and lawyers, three attempts were made on his life in July and August 1983 – but discretion being the better part of valour, he is here in India to tell the story.

In India he set up an organization called Pro-TEG, which collected information of all human rights violations in Sri Lanka and coordinated with international human rights agencies which culminated in a consensus resolution at UN Sub Committee on Human Rights at Geneva;
He campaigned against the 1985 killings of Sinhalese which resulted in the LTTE issuing death threats and made an unsuccessful attempt on his life in India in 1991;

He lobbied with the authorities to admit all refugee children to schools in Tamil Nadu with caste clause to be filled as “Ceylon refugees” without having to mention caste which has resulted in two generations of refugee children growing up, who do not segregate themselves on a caste basis and look beyond;

His advocacy made the Sri Lankan Parliament pass an amendment to the Citizenship Act in 2009 which now makes it possible for plantation workers of Indian origin, now refugees in India, to get equal citizenship on arrival in Sri Lanka;

Archiving Tamils history, books, manuscripts

After Mr. Chelvanayagam’s death, the Chelvanayagam Trust was set up in 1977 and after the burning of the Jaffna library, he started a campaign, as founder member, where the Trust engaged in the collection – preservation of records relating to the Tamil people in the island and also that of their books and manuscripts. The process of archiving has spread to other parts where the Tamil diaspora have gone (including India, UK and USA). This process was facilitated in India by OfERR and Proteg. The necessity now is to bring all the preserved/archived documents, books and manuscripts to a central point at a later date.

Chandrahasan leads peace building efforts in the Sri Lankan peace process and through OfERR, supports the growing participation of the community in peace building activities through formal statements such as the Nallayan, Chennai and Trichy Declarations.

In India, as founder of OfERR, Chandrahasan has set up a model farm, south of Chennai. This farm has introduced a lot of techniques available in India to the refugees who had earlier been farmers in their homeland. Vermiculture, organic farming, paddy cultivation with reduced water usage – all these techniques have helped in stimulating people from the farming sector, which will be put to practical use when they go back to their lands.

Chandrahasan founded OfERR, primarily with the vision of helping refugees get back to the island, educating themselves, improving skills, and helping in the rebuilding of their homeland. In this context, the main thrust is on every child who came in as a refugee, goes to school and is educated. To an extent, a cent per-cent literacy has been achieved. This is one of the unique achievements in refugee camps anywhere in the world.

He has also lobbied for special facilities for refugee students to enter colleges (arts, science and professional colleges). As a result of this effort, a large number of graduates, including doctors and engineers, have been coming out of such colleges Today the university of Madras is giving free education to the refugees; not only that the varsity has announced an extension coaching centre in Sri Lanka for Tamils.

Chandrahasan has introduced a method of working with the governments by supplementing the assistance provided to refugees and augmenting the human resource development which is a lifetime asset. OfERR has trained health workers, communication leadership, counselors, with the main emphasis being on the development of human capital, which would be the most valuable asset when they return to their homeland.

Self Help Groups in camps

In order to strengthen the refugee community, engaged in the campaign to give equal opportunities to women, women not only partake in the humanitarian work but also in the decision-making process. This has resulted in two-thirds of OfERR management committees being entrusted to women. SHGs exist in all 117 camps across Tamil Nadu. There are 610 such groups in total. Every SHG has a unique name and uniform, creating an empowering sense of identity.

It has been 25 years since OfERR was set up in Tamil Nadu. All the refugees are waiting to get back to their homeland. At the same time, they are grateful for the assistance provided by the Central and Tamil Nadu state governments.

In the immediate aftermath of the Tsunami, the refugees were able to demonstrate their gratitude to the people of the state by fully engaging in the process of counseling to get the victims out of the shock and trauma in the three districts of Cuddalore, Nagapattinam and Kanyakumari, as the first level of help.

The refugees were able to empathize with the victims because they themselves had gone through shock and trauma after being uprooted from their homeland. The Tsunami gave an opportunity to the refugees to show their gratitude to the Tamil Nadu people who had given them (refugees) space and had shared their resources with them. OfERR is still working for the rehabilitation of the Tsunami victims.

The nutritional status of the refugee children of the island had been of great concern because of the trauma of being uprooted from their homes. A nutritional supplemental process was set in motion and has now been strengthened by providing the UPMs (undernourished potential mothers) with Spirulina supplements. This nutrient, which is recommended by NASA, is being home-produced by the OfERR volunteer refugees in camps. OfERR has become one of the agencies which provide training of the practical production of Spirulina and people from all over India have benefitted because of the sharing of knowledge and experience.

Gallery – Click on picture to zoom.

- Asian Tribune -