Tsunami unites Sri Lanka Burghers
By
Ethirajan Anbarasan
BBC News, Batticaloa
The tsunami that
devastated Sri Lanka in December has had the effect of bringing together
the country's Burgher community.
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Burgher communities in the east were hit hard by the waves |
The Burghers are descendants of the Dutch and Portuguese who colonised Sri Lanka in the 16th Century.
Before the tsunami they preferred to remain in their own enclaves - hardly making any contacts with their brethren in others parts of Sri Lanka and abroad.
But the situation has changed since December.
The tsunami was a terrible disaster for the nearly 4,000 Burghers living in the eastern town of Batticaloa.
More than 150 people perished and many others lost their properties and livelihood, mainly in and around the Dutch Bar area.
Overseas help
Three months on, Burghers in Batticaloa are now slowly trying to rebuild their lives.
 |
  "Every day, we were getting 30 to 40 e-mails
from Burghers living abroad offering help  Sunny
Ockersz Community leader |
Soon after the tsunami struck, news spread that the Burgher community on the east coast was one of the worst affected in Sri Lanka.
Burghers in Colombo immediately rushed essential supplies to help victims in Batticaloa.
It was the first time in decades that the two groups came in contact and the sudden solidarity is slowly evolving into a bond.
Soon, more help started to come in from those who had migrated years ago to countries like Australia, Canada and the UK.
"Every day, we were getting 30 to 40 e-mails from Burghers living abroad offering help. Suddenly, we feel that we are a bigger community," says Sunny Ockersz, president of the Burgher union in Batticaloa.
Social history
Earlier, the community was divided as Burghers in Batticaloa, Dutch Burghers and the "affluent" English-speaking Burghers in Colombo.
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The Burgher community has strong Portuguese roots |
The Batticaloa Burghers for centuries were mostly manual labourers - carpenters, mechanics and masons - and were at the bottom of the Burgher social ladder.
"There was hardly any contact with each other. Burghers in Batticaloa were looked down on by others in the community," says Maxi Rozairo, president of the Burgher association in Colombo.
Community members say the emphasis was on making a decent living rather than trying to find out about their roots.
Schools or universities in Sri Lanka do not offer any courses on the history of the community.
When the Portuguese arrived in Sri Lanka in 1505 they brought soldiers and other supporting staff.
Those who settled down got married to local women and a new ethnic group was born.
Soon, the Dutch and the British followed. The descendants of the union between the colonisers and the locals came to be known as Burghers.
Portuguese roots
Despite the arrival of the Dutch and the British, most Burghers preferred to retain their Portuguese cultural roots.
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Community leaders hope the newfound closeness will stay |
The interaction also led to the evolution of a new language, Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole which was the lingua franca for more than three centuries.
"For centuries we have been following Portuguese customs and traditions. Some elders still speak Creole Portuguese. Portuguese music and dance are common in our get-togethers," says Mr Ockersz.
But the community also thrived under British rule as most Burghers were educated and fluent in English.
Burgher engineers, doctors and other professionals played a key role in managing Sri Lankan railways.
But the situation changed after Sri Lanka's independence in 1948.
The new government gave prominence to the Sinhala language.
As the Burghers did not speak that, there were few job opportunities for them and many of them went abroad.
"The mass migration split families. Due to the subsequent socio-political changes Burghers were slowly marginalised in Sri Lanka," says Mr Rozairo.
New bond
Today only about 34,000 Burghers are left in the Sri Lanka - down from a high of 100,000.
Before the tsunami, the community had planned to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Portuguese arrival in Sri Lanka. For now, the plans have been shelved.
Nevertheless, membership of Burgher associations in Sri Lanka has gone up in recent months.
Community leaders want to capitalise on the new found camaraderie. They say it is time to bring the scattered community together.
"No doubt the tsunami caused havoc. But it has brought a new identity for the Burghers," says Mr Rozairo.
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Batticaloa Burghers community |
For the first
time in their history, since the 16th century when these descendants of
European colonists came together in Batticaloa, these people have become
unemployed, for the tsunami took away the tools of their labour.
Their carpenters just want carpentry tools so that they could sell
their labour needed in rebuilding Batticaloa and in the process,
rehabilitate themselves. In like strain, their blacksmiths want the hammer
and anvil, the welders, welding equipment and the mechanics, handtools.
Manual tools would suffice, they say. The Batticaloa Burghers, are
strong physically and in character, and are hard working. Of 290 Burgher
families whose houses were destroyed, 120 lost their lives, while ten died
in a single family. Hundred-and-ninety-one houses lying on the Dutch Bar
were wiped out, together with another 99 of their houses built near the
sea.
In this single blow of anguish on Boxing Day, many were buried
under the brick and mortar of their houses, which earlier afforded them
protection from the elements. Many of those who died were young girls, who
worked in offices and banks in the establishments around Batticaloa.
Others were injured and were taken to hospital, but are ready for work.
The Batticaloa Burghers are loved, for they live in a South Asian
culture, unyielding to the shame of being engaged in work involving manual
labour.
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The Dutch Bar |
Among them were
also, motor mechanics, computer technicians, car and lorry drivers,
three-wheel drivers and the like, on the day the mighty waters struck.
As in any society, the Batticaloa Burghers of the day belong to
different classes, for there are the educated among them who are doctors,
academics, bank managers, clerical workers and such other, most of whom
move out of Batticaloa.
In the 16th century the Portuguese brought
along their masons, shoemakers, carpenters, bakers, blacksmiths and the
like because such skilled crafts were not known here, or the numbers of
such craftsmen were insignificant. And, the indigenous people, often
learned the occupation of these `pioneers.'
The love and attention
of outsiders, for the Batticaloa Burghers is focused on those who followed
the life of craft as their ancestors who came here.
When the
Burgher Association from Colombo answered the distress call of the Burgher
Union (Batticaloa) - established in 1927, it was the first time these
people who were treated as outcastes by their cousins, were visited by
another group of Burghers living outside the East. Sunny Ockersz 73, the
President of the Burgher Union is retired from the Sri Lanka
Administrative Service and prominent among them. It was his distress call,
we heeded, taking a van-load of what we thought was useful, like clothes
and food, but our supply which cost us Rs. 70,000 was grossly inadequate.
We found the survivors living in pathetic conditions, some seized
with emotional trauma, housed at St. Cecilia's Convent. Others were living
with friends and relations nearby. They, like all other tsunami survivors
had lost everything, other than the clothes they had on.
These
people fear that they will soon be shifted to refugee camps, because the
school they are housed in has to be opened for student studies.
These hard-working, self-supporting people of centuries long, are
in short supply of mats, pillows, cooking utensils, hurricane lamps and
other basic necessities. Their students, up to the advanced level grades,
need exercise books, uniforms and simple stationery, not to speak of
textbooks.
The Burgher Association in Colombo, formed a few years
ago appeal to the Burghers living in Sri Lanka, in Australia, UK, Canada
and the rest of the English speaking world to assist these people in their
hour of need. These people are not just descendants of the Portuguese, as
is commonly assumed, for the Portuguese brought with them young people
from all parts of Europe. Many of the names they bear are Dutch in origin,
because the Dutch who arrived later, married their women.
They
have names like Barthelot (French), Baltharza (German) then there are
names of Spanish, Italian, English, Scandinavian and from other European
origin. Among other better names are, De Lima, Ragel, Outschoorn, Sela,
Andrado, Symmons and Betterbrown.
The ancestors of these people
who came with the Portuguese from all over Europe, learned the Portuguese
tongue and thus were referred to as Portuguese descendants. They bear no
written Portuguese literature and the Croale Portuguese that some senior
citizens speak is very similar to the Portuguese spoken in medieval times,
according to some experts.
It is time that cultural
anthropologists study these people, before it is too late. The Association
also appeals to the European people and the 25-member European Union to
help put the lives of these people who branched off from Europe centuries
ago, into perspective that they may continue to live self-dependent
lives.
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