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Danigala Maha Bandaralage Randunu Wanniya, chief of the ancient Danigala Vedda tribe, needs chemotherapy treatment or he will soon die of cancer.
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Danigala Maha Bandaralage Randunu Wanniya and family at Rathugala in happier days, ca. 1993.
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Plight of the Danigala Vedda clan
Danigala Vedda Chief Dying of Cancer
The Sunday Leader (Colombo) of 19 September 2004
(Bibile, 17 September 2004) The chief of the ancient Danigala Vedda clan, Danigala Maha Bandaralage Randunu Wanniya, is reported to be dying of throat cancer. With little help from outside the beleaguered Danigala community, the ailing Vedda elder has been sent in circles from one district hospital to another, from Badulla to Ampara to Kandy and back to Badulla.
Doctors at Kandy General Hospital’s cancer ward say that the Vedda chief’s life can be saved if he can be treated with chemotherapy, the drastic last resort for cancer patients. But, they say, treatment cannot begin immediately because of the long queue of other patients there. The month-long wait, however, may be fatal for chief Wanniya, whose condition is worsening from day to day.
Observers have wryly noted that the better-known Dambana Veddas, who have agitated publicly and pressed cases in court against successive governments, have lately become the favorites of politicians, government departments, and the public. And yet other ancient clans, like the Danigala and Pollebedda Veddas who have accepted the government’s edicts without question and without loud complaint, continue to languish in obscurity and neglect.
"This Government is well disposed towards the Dambana Veddas, but it turns its back on the Danigala Veddas when their aged chief is in dire need of chemotherapy treatment," notes one observer who is close to both Vedda communities.
Only a few weeks ago, an international film crew spent three days in Dambana making a documentary for German network television highlighting the plight of the Dambana Veddas and their recently improved relations with the Wildlife Department. Yet the plight of other endangered Vedda communities like that of Danigala go unnoticed and ignored by the Government and public alike.
Dr. Spittel
Chief Wanniya, now 70, and his sister are said to be the last humans in Sri Lanka who were born and raised in a cave. The ancient Danigala clan had inhabited the Danigala Cave near Bibile since time immemorial.
"When I was young there were 24 Vedda families living there in Danigala. Then a generation ago some disease like diarrhea killed most of us. Within a few years we were reduced to only two families," said Chief Wanniya in an interview last year.
"That is when the good doctor (Dr. Spittel) came and advised us to move some miles to Rathugala, where we could be near a road and get medical assistance when needed and send our children to school."
"The land we now occupy is not fertile. Now it is time to clear new land for cultivation, but we have no place to go."
"When our children go to school, they stop listening to us. They are learning something, but they are not learning discipline, nor respect for parents and elders."
"The teachers teach our children whatever they like, and we have no say about our children’s education. There is nothing we can do. We just have to keep quiet."
"Danigala is all jungle, and it is far from the road. We go collect wild honey and gal siyamwela, arulu, bulu, and nelli fruits to sell to the shops."
"We stopped hunting with bow and arrows only two years ago. Two years ago Wildlife Department officials came and asked us to stop hunting, so we stopped, but we still claim our right to hunt."
For more than a decade, a local NGO, the Living Heritage Trust, has been championing the cause of Sri Lanka’s indigenous people, including the Veddas of Dambana, Danigala, Pollebedda, and Tamil-speaking Veddas of the East Coast.
Offers of assistance for Chief Wanniya may be made by contacting: webmaster@vedda.org.
Colombo: The Sunday Leader (Colombo) of 19 September 2004
Text and photos by Patrick Harrigan
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