9 Portraits of elders in Batticaloa

The Jesuit priest

Father Harry Miller S.J.

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Father Harry Miller S.J. left Louisiana in 1948 for Batticaloa. The Jesuit priest talks about the development of the mission, his work in documenting the disappearances during the 1990s, and explains why Batticaloa is the only home he knows.

Recorded: March 22, 2012
Photographer : Dominic Sansoni, Kannan Arunasalam
Published: August 10, 2023
Main story:
I feel at home only here
23850 listens
15 comments
Subjects discussed:
Community, Conflict, Faith, Home, Occupation, Reconciliation
There are also 8 supporting stories

The Correspondent

Prince Casinader

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Former parliamentarian and retired principal of Methodist Central, Prince Casinader is also a correspondent. He talks about his love for the singing fish of Batticaloa and the conflict between Muslim and Tamil communities.

Recorded: July 10, 2012
Photographer: Kannan Arunasalam
Published: August 6, 2023
Main story:
In clear print it is stated ‘Land of the Singing Fish’
24610 listens
5 comments
Subjects discussed:
Community, Conflict, Displacement, Home, Marriage, Reconciliation
There are also 5 supporting stories

The Store Keeper

Mustaffa Mohamed Atham Bawa

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Mustaffa Mohamed Atham Bawa has worked for the family business since he left school at 10. He talks about the changes to working as a shopkeeper the terrible incidents of violence he has witnessed and how Batticaloan Muslim and Tamil communities have tried to move on together.

Recorded: August 6, 2012
Photographer: Kannan Arunasalam
Published: June 20, 2023
Main story:
He comes to my house. I can go to his. We talk.
11737 listens
4 comments
There is also 1 supporting story

The koothu master

Annaviyar Arasaratnam

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Seventy-five year old Batticaloan Annaviyar Arasaratnam is a koothu master. Hailing from Karavetti, he knows over twenty different koothus. He talks about the history and different styles of this ancient art form and his struggle to keep this traditional Tamil theatre alive today.

Photographer: Kannan Arunasalam
Published: March 17, 2023
Main story:
Both my grandfather and father were annaviyars
Subjects discussed:
Community, Family, History, Tradition
There are also 3 supporting stories

The sister

Sister Irene Bartelöt

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With Sri Lankan, Portuguese and French roots, Sister Irene Bartelöt is well placed to talk about the diversity of Batticaloa. She talks about the time when people didn’t ask what ethnicity or nationality you were. “People just mixed up”, she said, underscoring the concept on which the I Am project is based. She remembers the time when she felt the call of God, when she served as a nurse during the war and what Batticaloans can teach us about healing.

Recorded: December 11, 2012
Photographer: Kannan Arunasalam
Published: March 17, 2023
Main story:
When the call comes, it is from God
6664 listens
2 comments
Subjects discussed:
Caste, Community, Conflict, Faith, Home, Reconciliation
There are also 6 supporting stories

The English teacher

Ms Rajes Kandiah

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Mrs Kandiah had never even been to England but through the words of the favourite nature poets, she could immerse herself in the meadows and hills of the English countryside, without leaving her home in Batticaloa.

Recorded: September 10, 2013
Photographer: Kannan Arunasalam
Published: March 17, 2023
Main story:
To me England was just in my brain all the time
10420 listens
14 comments
Subjects discussed:
Community, Faith, Home, Language, Travel
There is also 1 supporting story

The matriarch

Margaret Outschoorn

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Margaret Outschoorn

The 92 year old Margaret Outschoorn is the oldest member of the Portuguese Burgher community in Batticaloa. Displaced from the Dutch Bar after the 2004 tsunami, she now lives in a new settlement developed especially for the community. She talks about displacement and loss of her unique culture and how she still misses her old life in the Dutch Bar.

Recorded: September 19, 2012
Photographer: Kannan Arunasalam
Published: March 17, 2023
Main story:
But Dutch Bar is the best!
21880 listens
14 comments
Subjects discussed:
Family, Home, Language, Tradition
There are also 2 supporting stories

The Fisherman

Seenithamby

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The 71 year old Seenithamby is still throwing his net on the Batticaloa lagoon. He talks about the changes to his way of life over the years, his father who taught him to fish, and the time he believes he first saw the ‘kadal kanni’, part of local folklore among Batticaloan fishermen.

Published: March 17, 2023
Main story:
I used to throw much bigger nets than this. But now I can’t lift them
Subjects discussed:
Culture, Family, Mythology, Occupation
There are also 2 supporting stories

The Veddah Elder

Byron Unmani

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Byron Unmani was an elder in the Veddah community of Vaharai. Displaced several times, they had to adapt to their new environment, and were now fishermen, living off the sea when they once lived off the forest, hence their name, the ‘Sea Veddahs’.  He talks about the loss of the native language of the community of Sri Lanka's indigenous inhabitants or Wanniyala-a-Aetto literally 'forest-dwellers' as they call themselves.
Recorded: September 18, 2013
Photographer: Kannan Arunasalam
Published: March 17, 2023
Main story:
Our ancestors were hunters
7796 listens
1 comments
Subjects discussed:
Community, Family, History, Language, Tradition, Travel
There is also 1 supporting story