Api Wenuwen Api

The Api Wenuwen Api or ‘We Support Ourselves’ logo is associated with assistance for Armed Forces personnel who are doing so much for us and our country. The concept however signifies something larger, namely the whole range of support we as Sri Lankans can offer each other in moments of national need.

Army personnel giving medical assistance to an elderly civilian.

Nothing perhaps exemplifies the spirit of our support for ourselves as a nation more than the enormous public service being done now by the Forces to alleviate the suffering of civilians held hostage by the LTTE. We are aware of the attempts to rescue them, in which many members of the Forces have sacrificed their lives, because of the need for restraint. But even more remarkable, because outside normal routine, is the humanitarian support that is offered.

This begins from the time those who escape come over into areas under Government control, and it goes on even after they are placed under civilian guardianship in transit centres and welfare camps. Perhaps as a result of the publicity generated by the tsunami, the impression has arisen that most humanitarian work is done by international agencies and aid workers under international supervision.

This is not the case. While much is done by foreign nationals genuinely committed to the welfare of others, for many it is routine work in what is an increasingly attractive career.

For the Forces however this work is unusual and often exhausting, because its results are never clear. From the hard labour of the engineering corps working 24 hours a day to clear land to the constant vigilance outside the camps to ensure that the suicide bombers who lurk (and have been caught) outside cannot strike, the Forces have to continue to serve our fellow citizens who were deprived of such protection and care for so long.

To highlight some of this work, with a picture often being worth a thousand words, this column will publish each day a photograph of the activities that have been undertaken.

These can range from a mobile dental clinic and air passage for the dangerously ill to repair of roads and cleaning of wells.

It will cover the daylong dedication of senior officers and ordinary soldiers, the pilots who take visiting dignitaries to dangerous locations and the waiters who serve them their meals there, and stay on for months with no easy passage to their families far away.

Through this we hope to shed further light on what it means for us to support ourselves, so as soon to recover together from the tragedy terrorism has brought to all our lives.