Rev. Fr. Mariampillai Sarathjeevan
Encyclopedia
Mariampillai Sarathjeevan (May 13, 1968 - May 18, 2009) was a catholic priest from Jaffna
, Sri Lanka
.. He was one of the few priests who remained with the refugees until the end of war in northern parts of Sri Lanka. He died while he was leading the last batch of refugees to safety from war zone. He was 41 years old and in good health. Unconfirmed reports indicate that he was assaulted by soldiers.
Rev. Fr. Sarathjeevan, known as “Father Sara”, was the coordinator of Jesuit Refugee Service
for Kilinochchi
district in Sri Lanka
. He refused to abandon the refugees, including orphan children, when other volunteers and international organizations left the war zone because of severity of the war. He and his people did not have food or water for three days, until he was able to bring them to safety. They all had to stay underground in a bunker. In recognition of his service and heroic death, the Jesuit Refugee Service established Sara Project on his name.
A statue was unveiled in his memory on June 2010, during his first year memorial service.
Jaffna
Jaffna is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna district located on a peninsula of the same name. Jaffna is approximately six miles away from Kandarodai which served as a famous emporium in the Jaffna peninsula from classical...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
.. He was one of the few priests who remained with the refugees until the end of war in northern parts of Sri Lanka. He died while he was leading the last batch of refugees to safety from war zone. He was 41 years old and in good health. Unconfirmed reports indicate that he was assaulted by soldiers.
Rev. Fr. Sarathjeevan, known as “Father Sara”, was the coordinator of Jesuit Refugee Service
Jesuit Refugee Service
The Jesuit Refugee Service is an international Catholic organization that aids refugees, forcibly displaced peoples, and asylum seekers. JRS operates at national and regional levels. Founded in November, 1980 as a work of the Society of Jesus, JRS was officially registered on March 19, 2000 in...
for Kilinochchi
Kilinochchi
Kilinochchi is a city in the Kilinochchi District, part of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. Kilinochchi is situated at the A9 road some south-east of Jaffna...
district in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
. He refused to abandon the refugees, including orphan children, when other volunteers and international organizations left the war zone because of severity of the war. He and his people did not have food or water for three days, until he was able to bring them to safety. They all had to stay underground in a bunker. In recognition of his service and heroic death, the Jesuit Refugee Service established Sara Project on his name.
A statue was unveiled in his memory on June 2010, during his first year memorial service.
See also
Other notable clergy killed during the Sri Lankan civil warSri Lankan civil war
The Sri Lankan Civil War was a conflict fought on the island of Sri Lanka. Beginning on July 23, 1983, there was an on-and-off insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam , a separatist militant organization which fought to create an independent Tamil state named Tamil...
- Mary BastianMary BastianFather Mary Bastian was a minority Tamil Human Rights activist and local Roman Catholic parish priest from Sri Lanka...
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- George JeyarajasinghamGeorge JeyarajasinghamGeorge Jeyarajasingham was a minority Sri Lankan Tamil Human Rights activist and a Methodist missionary from the Mannar district of Sri Lanka. He and three others were shot dead on December 13, 1984 when they were traveling in his vehicle. Later their bodies were burnt along with his...
- Eugene John HebertEugene John HebertFather Eugene John Hebert was an American born Jesuit missionary in Sri Lanka. He along with his Tamil driver Betram Francis disappeared on August 15, 1990 as part of the ongoing Sri Lankan civil war. He went missing on his way to the eastern city of Batticaloa from a nearby town of Valaichchenai....
- Nihal Jim Brown