Mohamed Yoasuff Sailath Umma
Umma’s husband died from a brain tumor in 2014. Umma has one child that she was unable to care for because she had no income. It is very difficult for any woman to find employment in Ampara but even harder for Umma for in 2012 she had surgery on her eye left her that left her blind in that eye and very restricted vision in the other. When we had Umma’s eye tested that doctor said that the glasses she was wearing did not assist her at all. When we gave Umma her new glasses she smiled and said. “I remember seeing like this a long time ago.”
Umma was a participant in our Pieces for Peace project. She and 25 other Tamil women from Ampara, created half a piece of jewelry and placed it in their ‘finished bag’ along with a letter addressed to a Singhalese woman from Matara. The civil war between the Tamil Tigers and Singhalese had raged on for decades creating a hatred for each other based on their nationality.
Umma along with all 50 women in the project, came to realize that they may be from different cultures and religions, but they were so similar in their hope for the future and desire to care for their children.
