Hidden tragedy that lurks in our ‘paradise’ isle
View(s):- 43 years ago on June 14, Sri Lanka Sumithrayo was born
By Lakshmi Ratnayeke
Sri Lanka often referred to since time immemorial as the pearl of the Indian Ocean has till recently been more in the limelight for suicide, ethnic disharmony, and violent crimes. Despite this, visitors to our paradise isle see us as a happy people, and are little aware of the underlying tragedy of suicide that pervades the entire country.
The primary objective of Sumithrayo Centres is crisis intervention and suicide prevention
According to a WHO report published recently, on an average 900,000 people kill themselves worldwide each year. In an earlier report they estimated that of the 1.5 to 2 million people who lose their lives to violence each year, 50% of them died by suicide alone. More people have died by suicide in our own country, Sri Lanka, within the last 30 years than those the separatist war has killed in the same period of time. Suicide is not only a personal tragedy but it also affects the family, the community, and the country as a whole. Again from a WHO report, suicide was the fourth leading cause of death worldwide amongst those aged 15 to 44 years, the most productive years in most people’s lives. 10 to 20 times that number fail in their attempts to die, and this has been found to be among some of the leading causes of ill health and disability in people.
Suicide and self-harm are perhaps one of the most preventable causes of death and ill health in this world, and where concerned members of society even though untrained in the field of suicide prevention can have a major role to play in saving the lives of suicide prone people. In stark contrast to the outpouring of goodwill towards the survivors of natural disasters is the general apathy towards those who choose to kill themselves
On an average over 3000 people kill themselves each year in Sri Lanka. Suicide is often not a wish to die, but a final desperate attempt, all else having failed, to draw the attention of those around him or her that they can no longer face or cope with life as it is for them. It is their final statement on the quality of life as they experience it. Many may have suffered for long periods of time, from feelings of being misunderstood, and misjudged, that nobody really cared about them or cared if they lived or died. Some may have suffered from feelings of extreme loneliness and isolation and felt they had no-one to turn to who would accept and understand them.
Suicides in Sri Lanka (1995 – 2016)
Sri Lanka has had very high rates of suicide for the past 20 years. With stringent laws preventing highly toxic agro-chemicals being imported into the country and improved medical management of Oleander and other toxic vegetable poisoning (the two commonest methods of suicide in the rural areas), there has been an appreciable reduction in deaths by suicide since the rates peaked in 1995. The rates have reduced by over 60%; from a high of 47 per 100,000 (8519 suicides) in 1995, to 15 per 100,000 (3025 suicides) in 2016. Unfortunately there has been no corresponding reduction in the number of incidences of self-harm. Suicidal behaviour is a barometer of the mental health of a society and its emotional stability. With deaths by deliberate ingestion of agricultural poisons coming down, deaths by strangulation (hanging) is slowly rising. For the last four years hanging has been the commonest mode of suicide in Sri Lanka.
According to the most recent suicide statistics from the Sri Lankan Police, 3025 people killed themselves in the country in 2016. Of this number 1117 or 37% were unemployed, 862 or 28% were labourers and casual workers, 13% were agricultural, fisheries, forestry workers, 4% were students and only 1.5% were Professionals such as doctors, engineers and accountants, and .4% Managerial, executive level workers. Judging from this it is no surprise that 75% of the suicides in the country still come from the depressed classes and the rural areas.
The rural communities are largely agriculture based with the commonest method used in suicide, the ingestion of agricultural poisons, freely available to them.There appears to be a general apathy towards the depressed rural communities of the country. Unfortunately they experience a permanent tsunami, with no true recognition of their suffering by either the state, the people of the country or the outside world.
It would be beneficial all round if people were more aware of how to recognise and help those who may be distressed, despairing and may even be considering suicide. Suicide Prevention should be everyone’s responsibility. All of us may not have the time to spare to be of practical and genuine help to others in distress but we could always help organisations like Sri Lanka Sumithrayo dedicated to suicide prevention by enabling them provide their much needed services islandwide by volunteering to work with them or helping with funding, and sponsoring awareness raising programmes and publicity material, There is a dire need for more volunteers willing to spare four hours a week to work with the lonely, depressed and despairing.
In the latter half of the 19th century, Mrs Joan de Mel, a Samaritan volunteer from England, married to a Sri Lankan Bishop and domiciled in Sri Lanka, was greatly perturbed by the number of attempted suicides, being entered into the National Hospital in Colombo on a regular basis. Responding to an urgent request by a senior doctor in the hospital and encouraged by her husband, she together with a few other like-minded people, opened the first of the Sri Lanka Sumithrayo crisis intervention centres 43 years ago on June 14, 1974 in Deans Road, Maradana, Colombo 10. The volunteer based organization has now grown to eleven centres islandwide, and to an extensive rural programme in the North Western and Southern provinces.The primary objective of the Sri Lanka Sumithrayo Centres is crisis intervention and suicide prevention.
The volunteers manning these crisis intervention centres are specially trained to recognize and help those who are in emotional distress and in need of non-judgmental acceptance and understanding. The volunteers are trained to listen with empathy and understanding, for however long it takes, to help the distressed person to cope with their difficult negative feelings and come to terms with whatever is happening in their lives and see a way forward. Total confidentiality and anonymity are assured.
| How to contact Sumithrayo Please contact Sri Lanka Sumithrayo Head Office at 60/7, Horton Place, Colombo 07, Tel. 2682535, email – sumithrayo.headoffice@eureka.lk for detailed information about the branch centres located in Kohuwela, Kandy, Bandarawela, Panadura, Mawanella, Matale, Kurunegala, Panduwasnuwara, Negombo, Jaffna and Lunugamvehera. | |