Programme
Sami Siva
Mandapam Camp
This is a story of Sri Lankan Tamils who fled their homes and sought asylum in the Mandapam Camp located in the southern part of Tamil Nadu, India.
Since 1983 when fighting broke out between the Sri Lankan government (represented by Sinhalese majority) and Tamil rebel groups, primarily Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) thousands of Tamils have left their homeland and fled to various parts of Tamil Nadu. The number of refugees coming to India significantly increased in the final months of 2006 as the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM) brokered peace has become almost no-existent. With the hope of escaping the recent violence and to secure a better life, many Tamils in North and eastern part of Sri Lanka sell their possession and buy passage illegally on boats crossing the treacherous waters of Palk Straight in Bay of Bengal. In the early 1900s, Mandapam Camp was used for transporting migrant plantation workers from India to Sri Lanka by British government and now it is run by the State Government of Tamil Nadu. Although these displaced have their basic needs met they can neither go back to their homeland for fear of reprisal nor settle in due to lack of status. Mandapam Camp is their life in-between.
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Born in India, Mr. Siva's curiousity about his surroundings and people
have made him chose photography as a medium to weave stories. He is currently a freelance photographer based in Toronto
who specializes in social documentary projects, focusing on the social effects
of globalization.