Abstract:

VIDEO #9: The devastating effect that the civil war in Sri Lanka is having on women. Druki Martenstyne's son Jason died in September 1995. Her husband, Cedric, went missing in January 1996. "I know the pain," she says. "I've suffered my son dying, and that we can accept--we can move on and go back to our memories. But not knowing is something very, very difficult. Some people say they have seen him in chains, but I don't know how far that is true." Druki's family fell victim to the bloody civil war between the Tamil Tigers and Sri Lankan government forces, that has been tearing the island of Sri Lanka apart for the last 17 years. But she's not alone. With more than 30 regional and ethnic conflicts taking place around the world, this program reports from Sri Lanka on the suffering of thousands of women--widowed, displaced, detained, separated from husbands, children and other loved ones--as a result of wars. The producer of this program has collected extensive resources at www.oneworld.net/tve/life/archive/life9main.html