Tamils from Watford came together to light a celebratory oil lamp yesterday as they prepare to send sacks of rice and vital medicines to their native Sri Lanka. Thousands of Tamils have been caught up in the fighting in the northern part of the South Asian island.
Sri Lankans in Watford have said the situation has reached “catastrophic proportions,” and have opened a shop on Gammons Lane to help to speed up the donations.They have already collected sacks of rice and flour, as well as sugar, condensed milk, biscuits, baby food, tinned vegetables and medicines.
Yesterday afternoon Mayor Dorothy Thornhill joined the members of Watford's Tamil community to light an oil lamp to officially open the shop.Sri Mohan, one of the organisers, said: “There are a lot of people in Sri Lanka who have been affected by the civil war."
“The Tamil communities all over UK are gathering food and medicine and we are going to send it out there on a ship.” He added: “We are trying to make sure everybody is aware of this so we can help our own community back home.”
Before lighting the lamp, the Mayor told the group: “I'm sure there will be a significant amount of food and medicines collected, I hope you can give a little bit of publicity and I hope this place will be full to the brim.”
