By Ranee Mohamed

Do you remember your child's first birthday? Do you remember the birthday cake, the balloons, the gifts and the happiness and joy in your baby's innocent eyes as your friends walked in one by one with glitter-wrapped gifts in their arms?

But twins, Malith and Malithi had a different kind of birthday on January 5. They had no cake, no balloons and no gifts - worse still, they did not even have their mother.

How could they, when 30-year-old Shanthi Perera, their mother, died a needless death at the De Soysa Maternity Hospital when she underwent a Caesarean section operation? She did not even receive the basic 48-hour aftercare that such patient are afforded.

It is one year since and you may have forgotten, but this newspaper has not. Shanthi Perera died the same month we highlighted the miserable conditions are the De Soysa Maternity Home. Thereafter, in an article titled Did their mother die in the hands of inexperience? we told you about the fate of the babies without a mother, without milk, without care and without money.

There were many responses, but the most touching was the generous gesture of a multinational company to provide the children with milk-food for one year.

While all thanks and appreciation is due to this company, it is but a strange irony that the birthday gift twins Malith and Malithi receives is that they will not even get their milk powder anymore.

House number L 25, Nawagampura, Orugodawatte is in a shanty town. The poor and helpless live here. In a place like this, there is hardship, sorrow and suffering that the rest of society will never believe exist.

On January 5, house No. L 25 had its stuffy hall laid out with a couple of straw mats. It was Malith's and Malith's birthday party. For the twins celebrating their first birthday, it ought to have been a big show. There seemed to be one big drawback however - there was no party, but a bana. There was no cake, no party hats. Instead there was a chanting of pirith to invoke blessings.

These poor people could do with all the blessings they get. The house is bare. The babies sleep on the hard, cold floor. The kitchen is also bare. The poverty makes one nauseous with guilt.

What happened to the couple of chairs that were there a year ago when I visited them, I ask. "Shanthi's brother got married and he took the two chairs with him. This is his house and we may have to give this house too," explains Leelawathie.

When I first met Leelawathi she was 65. She is Shanthi's mother. If she was weak then, she is frail now. Charlotte, the mother of Lalith, the twins' father, is 70. She is quiet and sad. They are grandmothers who ought to rest. Their tired eyes are filled with sadness and their weak bodies tries to protect the twin children of their children. It seems like fate has thrown the babies into their hands, after taking their mother away. These two aged women have had such a tough life. Their malnourished bodies speak of hunger and never-ending suffering.

"We have no money for ourselves and we have no money to give anything to the babies. And we are too old to work," they lament.

"This is a sad birthday party," I think. Then I begin to compare them to the other birthdays that are celebrated in and around the city, where there are face painting and games. But the only game here that I can see is the cruel game fate has played on these poor people.

So, do we sit back reading newspapers and watching TV as these babies lose their milk powder? "We have to give these children cereal - they eat the wheat apple variety - and we give them rice conjee.

But we have no money to give them much. We know that they ought to be given fish and other things, but we cannot afford such things," cries Leelawathie.

Lalith Perera is a labourer who lifts heavy loads on his back. "I am not a strong man, but the thought of my babies keeps me going. I have lost my wife and only my twin babies give me the will to live. I have to think about my older son, six-year-old Ashan," explained Perera.

"I have been trying so hard to get a job, but life is so difficult for poor people like us. I know that there are many good people in this world, but we are not fortunate enough to have access to them," continues Perera mournfully.

There has to be something more that we can offer to these one-year-old twins whose mother was ripped away from them just because somebody at the De Soysa Maternity home bungled.

How can we let such an injustice be inflicted on this family and let these babies suffer? How can we condemn these babies to a life of crawling on bare, dirty floors, sleeping on the hard, cold, ground and cry without milk, or solids when there are barely one year and a month old?

We are going to read this today and forget about it tomorrow. To most of us, time helps and time heals. But to the Perera family, time seems to be the greatest enemy. Perera has watched his pregnant wife suffer, waking up at 5 a.m. to go to the clinic at De Soysa Maternity home, he has watched her shift her weight painfully as she stood in those long queues, he has watched her living in hope and he shared her dreams of holding their baby.

But time killed everything for Perera - including his wife.

Today, on their bare, old wall hangs a picture of Shanthi Perera. It is understandable that babies call out to their mother first. Little Malith and Malithi too did. But the tender looks they might have given their mother is wasted on the picture on the wall.

To me it seems like this poor little family in way out Orugodawatte is hitting its head against a wall. If this is all they ever got in one year, this is all that they will probably ever get.

By Risidra Mendis

Training one's mind to concentrate on a set program is no easy task for us human beings. Our brain is known to have a thousand thoughts both good and bad passing through every second. But intentionally or otherwise people commit sins in the most unimaginable way.

Slaughter in word and deed bloodies the hands of many who believe this is a lucrative business. As intelligent people we have the brain to think. But the power and greed of money makes our minds work in a brutal and unreasonable way.

As the sun lights up the sky and many look forward to another beautiful day, far away in hundreds of legal and illegal abattoirs unknown to many the slaughter goes on. The screams of calves as their mothers are dragged away, the struggles of pregnant cows and the pleading look on the faces of these dumb animals minutes before their throats are slit, is only a picture for the man at the abattoir. As he watches the blood drain out of the poor dumb animal his only thought is on the price he will fetch for each pound of flesh.

For those savouring the delicacies of beef prepared in different styles at a five star hotel, a restaurant or a bar their thoughts are on the tasty meal. As their mouth waters and the taste buds work overtime little do they know as to how that beef was brought to the table. It is natural for people to train their minds and ignore what they don't want to see.

But to some, training people to control their minds and refrain from committing sins is their full time job. To what extent a human mind can be trained was visible for those passing the Sri Kalyanadharma temple down Bauddhaloka Mawatha on January 1 2002. Cows and calves of all sizes and colours graced the ground of this temple. Calves a couple of days old desperately tried to suckle milk from their mothers who had no milk to give due to starvation.

The cruelty imposed on these animals was obvious when our attention was drawn to a white calf separated from the rest. This animal had been trampled by the rest of the herd during transportation. However there's hope for this dumb beast will be attended to by villagers until it is better.

No doubt the animals had gone through a hard time at the abattoir, but the expression on their faces on the temple premises was one of relief and peace. Unknown to them at that very moment hundreds of their kind fell to the ground with a blow to their head, which is the normal procedure at the abattoirs. The blow to the head stuns and makes the animal semi-conscious before the gruesome procedure begins.

However the scene at the temple is quite different. The Sri Kalyanadharma Pirivena under the patronage of its chief priest the Ven. Mirihane Nanda Thero, belongs to the Sri Kalyana Yogashrama Sansthawa. The Sri Kalyanadharma Peramuna is an association initiated by the temple. For the past 43 years the Abayadana pinkama held on January 1every year and organised by the Sri Kalyanadharma Peramuna has saved thousands of cattle from slaughter.

The association has around 3462 members and save around 200 cattle per year. "We have another pinkama on August 14 for one week to commemorate the death of the Ven. Pujya Kotte Devananda Thero in August 1990. We release cattle from slaughter at this pinkama too," M P Perera secretary of the Sri Kalyanadharma Pirivena said.

The money for saving cattle comes from the temple as well as from the committee members. "A till is given to each family at the beginning of the year. We tell them to think of how much an animal values its life and put a coin in the till. It doesn't matter how much you save for a day. If your mind is trained to think of a good deed the money you save becomes more valuable," Perera said.

The money collected during the year is brought to the temple during November and December. "This year we saved 167 animals from the money collected. When the members and non- members see what we are doing it encourages them to save more next year. They begin to think differently and are trained to think of good thoughts at all times," Perera said.

At the end of the year a new till is given to the family by the committee. For those who wish to save an animal for a vow or for any other reason the committee offers its assistance, "If somebody has collected money to save an animal and wants us to get them the animal we oblige. We can also find good reliable places for animals saved from slaughter. We have to very careful when choosing homes for these animals as most often they end up at the abattoir again," Perera said.

The Sri Kalyanadharma Peramuna bought cattle from the Dematagoda, Maligawatte and Urugodawatte abattoirs. At the conclusion of the Abayadana pinkama the animals are taken to Nuwara Eliya, Tissamaharama and Ratnapura to be handed over to farmers who happen to be committee members. "We distribute animals only to our committee members so that we can keep a track on how the animals are faring. Even sick animals are taken care of and not sent back to the abattoir," Perera said.

Apart from the saving of cattle from slaughter the Sri Kalyanadharma Pirivena is involved in a number of social activities beneficial to the public. A calendar printed by the association has a list of the programs planned out for each month. The activities are endless but the results are promising for those who commit themselves in these meritorious deeds.

By Hemamala Wickremage

The findings of a UNESCO initiated research group, has halted the expansion of Kimbissa airport runway at Sigiriya air force base.

According to the study conducted by Minja Yang, deputy director of the World Heritage Centre and Pierre Dedieu, engineer, Aeroport de Paris, it has been discovered if the proposed project gets off the ground it will most likely damage the priceless frescoes of Sigiriya. Yang and Dedieu were appointed members of a UNESCO reactive monitoring mission sent to Sigiriya in order to evaluate the potential impact of the project, on the Sigiriya World Heritage site.

The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), which was entrusted with the task of expanding the airstrip, has temporarily stopped the construction work following a court order. The Kimbissa airport runway was built during the Second World War by the British army and the current expansion project involves the extension of the airstrip from 5870 feet to 10, 000 feet, to enable the operation of jet aircraft such as Kfir and F7s.

The Environmental Foundation Limited (EFL), took legal action against the department of archaeology demanding an immediate stop to the ongoing construction on the basis that the department has failed to conduct a separate archaeological impact survey with the supervision of the director general of archaeology, before allowing the SLAF to carry out the construction work.

Such a survey is considered required by law, when dealing with places of archaeological value under the provisions introduced in to the Antiquities Ordinance in 1998.

The EFL claims that if this project to construct a modern airstrip in close proximity to the ancient rockfortress is allowed to go ahead, it will cause irrepairable damage to the archaeological treasures of Sigiriya.

Sigiriya, a unique creation, is one of the oldest garden cities in Asia. Recognising the site's outstanding universal value, Sigiriya was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1982.

Carrying out the orders of the great King Kassyapa, an architect named 'Sena Lal' built the rock citadel in the 5th Century. Sigiriya is also famous for its mirror wall, which is a highly polished wall built along the path to the summit. This wall is covered with graffiti written by visitors to the rock fortress during the past many centuries. It is said, during the glory days of King Kassyapa the entire rock face was covered with frescoes. But unfortunately today only twelve of these fine works of art remain.

A spokesperson for the EFL told The Sunday Leader, that SLAF had commenced work on the airstrip without obtaining any environmental or archaeological impact assessments and this prompted the foundation to file a writ application in the court of appeal to halt the project, pending proper procedures.

When The Sunday Leader contacted the air force commander, Air Marshal Jayalath Weerakkody, he confirmed that the court has issued a stay order against further expansions on the Kimbissa airstrip.

"We're not working on it until the court order is removed," he said.

When asked whether the SLAF has considered other possible sites, he said there is another suitable site proposed by the ministry of defense close to Habarana area. "However, at the moment only preliminary studies are being conducted. Anyway, all this will be subjected to government approval," he added.

According to the UNESCO report, not only the Sigiriya frescoes will be affected but there will be a severe threat to the wildlife in surrounding areas as well.

The people living in close proximity to the airport will also be subjected to noise and air pollution.

Following are excerpts from the report.