Sri Lankan expats find a guardian angel

UNESCO Courier, Feb, 2000 by Ethirajan Anbarasan

Ethirajan Anbarasan [o]

A Paris-based radio and television channel keeps Sri Lankan Tamils abreast of news from home while helping them adapt to life abroad

Rasaiah Yoganathan, a 40-year-old Sri Lankan Tamil, arrived in Marseilles last year without valid immigration papers after fleeing his country's ethnic conflict. However, Yoganathan's efforts to explain his tenuous situation to the local authorities proved futile, as he could not speak French.

A month passed and Yoganathan decided to write to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva explaining his plight. The ICRC responded to his request and asked him to provide documentary evidence justifying his case. Unfortunately, the reply was in French and Yoganathan was unable to understand it.

It was then that he came upon a Tamil radio broadcast from Paris in which there was a phone-in programme addressing issues related to obtaining a stay permit or refugee status in France. Yoganathan immediately called to seek their help. He received guidance and assistance in obtaining his papers and is now living in France with his family.

Yoganathan's case is not an isolated one. For more than half a million Sri Lankan Tamils--most of them refugees--living in western Europe, the Paris-based Tamil Radio and Television (TRT) network not only functions as a news source and an entertainment channel but most importantly helps them to better cope with living abroad. Because the continent's mainstream media takes little interest in their affairs, Tamils also say that TRT has given them a voice and an identity in their adopted countries.

Started in January 1997 as a limited company by journalists and professionals from the Tamil community in Europe, TRT focuses mainly on news and current affairs. There are hourly news bulletins in Tamil devoted primarily to the Sri Lankan situation, followed by current affairs in the subcontinent and other parts of the world. The radio channel was an instant success among Tamils in Europe, who until then had no other daily source of information about their homeland.

Wanting to feel at home

TRT is more than a traditional news provider. In a weekly programme called "Udhavuvoma" ("Can we help?"), it invites experts to answer queries in Tamil on how to obtain work permits and on other administrative issues. "They don't just ask about immigration problems; they are often looking for information about matters ranging from divorce to school admission," says Sagadevan, an expert on French legal affairs who hosts this weekly programme.

On the lighter side, the channel also airs interviews with Sri Lankan and Indian celebrities, literary reviews, sports and popular cultural programmes. Live coverage of community cultural events and festivals organized in Europe is attracting a growing number of listeners. TRT also made arrangements with a localTamil radio station in Canada so that its programmes could reach the 100,000-strong Tamil community living there.

"The overwhelming support from our people encouraged us to start a 24-hour television channel six months after we launched the radio," says Guhanathan Sabapathy Suppaiah, director-general of the TRT network.

Started with an investment of $5 million in June 1997, TRT's television channel today boasts over 7,000 subscribers, mostly Sri Lankan Tamils living in western Europe. Its programmes are beamed across Europe as well as to South Africa, Mauritius and the island of Reunion where there is a sizeable Tamil expatriate population. TRT officials claim they have an estimated viewing audience of between 50,000 and 60,000 people. The channel is free-to-air in places like Mauritius and Reunion.

An alternative to Western films and serials

Unlike radio, TRT television charges its subscribers in Europe about $25 per month, mostly to meet operating costs. At the Paris headquarters, there are about 20 full-time staff members and some 50 freelancers working round the clock. TRT has its own correspondents in the Tamil-dominated northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka, in southern India and in major west European cities, where there is a substantial population of Sri Lankan Tamils. The television channel also has a production unit in India.

What prompted such a large-scale venture? "Our primary objective is to inform our people about what is happening at home and to address the problems of our community now scattered in various parts of Europe," says Guhanathan.

Sri Lankan Tamil refugees started arriving in Europe in the early 1980s after fleeing the ethnic conflict in their country. Britain, France and Germany took in most of them. Making a livelihood in the host country was their prime concern. Then came wrangling with officials for visas and work permits for family members. Without any knowledge of the area or the country in which they were living, they often found it hard to become accustomed to conditions there. Their first community newspaper, Eelanadu, was published in 1991 in Paris and carried news reports about Sri Lanka as well as local community events.