Plight of children stuck in Sri Lankan camps

I visited Vavuniya in early May, one of the towns in the north of Sri Lanka where lots of people uprooted by fighting between troops and rebels have arrived over the last few months.

Since my previous visit in March, the number of displaced had really grown.
In addition to the camps, transitional welfare villages have been set up to accommodate up to 800 families each. The villages are up to 100 acres - when you stand in one corner you can't see where it ends.

Although the welfare villages are spacious, some of the displacement camps set up in schools and colleges are very crowded and people are living in difficult conditions until they are moved into welfare villages. In particular I met lots of mothers who told me their children were missing. They held photos of their children and asked me: "Can you find them for us?" Read more ...