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Meet: Sinnathambi Gregory

Mr. Gregory was born in a small village near Muttur 75 years ago. A farmer by trade, Mr. Gregory lost his wife in 1984 due to illness, and lived with his then-adult children. In 1990 the family was displaced – for the first of many times – by the conflict that devastated the eastern coast.

“We never knew where we were heading to,” Mr. Gregory recalled of the most recent displacement, in 2006 when open warfare dominated the villages between Batticaloa and Trincomalee. “We were scattered in the jungle, homeless and without food for days.”

Taking refuge at a church, Mr. Gregory became ill, was unable to walk. “There was no one to take care of me,” he said of a particularly harsh period in the aftermath of nearby battles. “I didn’t know where my children were, I was very lonely and sad.”

With fading health, Mr. Gregory ended up in a camp for Internally Displaced Persons in Trincomalee, where he was soon referred to Mercy Home at the Grace Care Center.

Last year, Mr. Gregory learned that one of his daughters survived, and was in an IDP Camp. Several visits were arranged, and Mr. Gregory is at peace with his residence at Mercy Home.