Giving back to the Lankan woman her essentials :

Motherhood, family and home

by Chandani Jayatilleke

Author, and social activist, Lorna Wright remains radiant even in her twilight years. At 79, she looks vibrant and is still very enthusiastic about her work of supporting the less privileged sections of society.

Throughout her life, Lorna has rendered valuable services to the underprivileged, the deprived, street children, slum dwellers and prisoners through the De La Salle Community Education Centre and Memory of Mother (MoM) Foundation in Modera where she was the Executive Director. She was immensely supported by Rt. Rev. Bishop Leo Nanayakkara and Rev Fr. Tissa Balasuriya in these endeavours.

She was born in Sri Lanka into the Burgher community. Most of her adult life was spent in various provinces in Sri Lanka where her husband served as a Government Agent of the Ceylon Civil Service.

Lorna, who is now an Australian citizen has been the recipient of many awards in recognition of her dedicated services, including the SAARC Excellence Award and the Order of Australia.

Last year on September 8, Australian High Commissioner presented her with the Order of Australia, one of the highest awards in that country. Apparently, this award is rarely given to citizens living outside Australia and Lorna was the first to receive it in Sri Lanka.

It was in recognition of services to the international and in particular of her "selfless commitment and long service to the community in Sri Lanka".

When she resided in Australia some time ago, she made a significant contribution in working with the Victoria Immigration Council and involved herself in Aboriginal concerns and refugee welfare.

In Sri Lanka, she formed the De La Salle Community Centre with a hostel, a bakery and facilities for hotel training and arts and crafts. Among the women, she promoted the idea of 'kola kenda' as a nutritious and inexpensive drink.

Recently, the Daily News met this interesting personality for a discussion. The discussion focused on one of her priority areas - promoting the mother, family and home concept among urban communities. Following are excerpts of the interview:

Homes, rich or poor, need knowledge much more than money. Women should be empowered with consumer knowledge - there should be emphasis on waste control, recycling, indigenous food and medicine and correct use of cleaning agents in this empowerment process. "We insist on empowering women with knowledge to earn an extra buck through hidden resources in their homes such as 'pol kudu' which could be reused or sold for other purposes."

Mothers are precious. They can be doctors, seamstresses, cooks, teachers, judges and bankers, laundresses, housemaids and gardeners and bakers and clock watchers. Their contributions to the family and children are immense.

Yet, women in this country continue to suffer.

Their faces demonstrate human grief. In their day-to-day lives, women keep thinking of how to feed the children and of how to survive. They are driven by economic and money complexities and the language of the markets.

Men at the helm of governance, forget the basic and socially endorsed identity of the mother in each ethnic group. Many do not pay tribute to women. "People call me 'old-fashioned' for highlighting these facts. But the truth is bitter."

Women play a large role in society. However, the issues faced by the women in poor urban sectors have not been addressed in a proper manner.

My Foundation has been making large contributions to support the poor women in urban areas over the years.

Migrant woman's homes

Migrant women concept in Sri Lanka does not value womanhood as being the basis of wife, mother, guide and unifier of family. As a result, womanhood has been reduced to merely an economic object. Many women migrant workers face immense hardships during their stay in the Middle East and some even return in coffins. Most of their families have disintegrated.

Their young children, both sons and daughters suffer in the absence of their mother and without family protection. Most of their fathers are alcoholics and do not care to look after the children in the absence of their mother.

In that context, the children of these families not only lose their mothers, but also fathers. Hence many of these children end up as drug addicts and thieves and street children. From school children, they become street children and end up as misfits in society. They can easily be exploited for 'child labour' too.

Why youth are tense?

Unemployed youth have complex lives. Although politicians make promises to create millions of jobs, they do fail in achieving results once they are in the seat of power.

Sri Lanka has millions of idle hands - unemployed graduates, unemployed schools dropouts, A/L, O/L failures, army deserters and prisoners. There should be well-organised vocational training centres for these youth. They need training and experience to find employment.

What happens to the rural youth, today is another major issue. They are losing jobs/self employment or work in the agricultural sector in their villages as a result of rapid urbanisation. Then, they move into cities where they get marooned. They have no proper places to lodge - their income is not sufficient to pay the boarding fee. Many end up in misery.

Today's youths need basic skills training certificates for them to find foreign employment with a better salary. They want prestige for the jobs they consider - be it manual or menial and they want a uniform identifying the workforce they belong to.

"MOM Foundation on mothers is greatly concerned at the treatment meted out to poor youth, old and young, for instance - an issue that relates to hundreds, even thousands of children from the shanties."

Writer Lorna has authored many books yet she says she doesn't know how she acquired this talent. Well.. her father was a lawyer who had a wide circle of friends in the quarters of education, law and civil service. And she naturally, would have been inspired by their fruitful discussions, opinions and attitudes.

In 'Just for you', one of her celebrated publications, she lines up over 100 articles, written for various newspapers over four decades.