Adele Balasingam
Happy Birthday to Mrs. Adele Balasingam, who joined herself in the Tamileelam liberation struggle and supported her husband, the voice of the nation, Anton Balasingam.
She was born on 30 January 1950 in Warragul, Victoria, Australia. Working as a professional nurse, she moved to the United Kingdom and in 1978 she met Anton Balasingam, a British citizen born in Tamileelam, and married him. The voice of the nation, later served as the LTTE’s chief diplomat and peace negotiator.
Adele Balasingam moved to Chennai, Tamil Nadu with her husband and then to Tamileelam in the early stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War and worked for the welfare of women in the Tamil community, who were badly affected by the war.
Later from 2002 she participated in several peace talks with various negotiating teams of the Government of Sri Lanka as part of the LTTE peace negotiating teams.
She is the author of several books including “Women Fighters of Liberation Tigers” (1993) and the semi-autobiographical “The Will to Freedom”.
She played an important role in the history of Tamileelam freedom struggle. The book titled ‘Women fighters of Liberation Tigers’ is a summary of the history of women fighters.
Her book ‘The Will to Freedom’ is written in an autobiographical and historical perspective.
Her book ‘Unbroken Chain’ is a study which establishes that the Sita system of Jaffna is related to the ancient matrilineal property relationship system. It is noteworthy that these three books written by her in English were translated into Tamil and received very good reception.
Adele Balasingam (Aunty): When I first got married in 1978 to Anton Balasingam, a Tamil from the island of Sri Lanka, I became fully aware of the history of a race. The bravery, determination, lifestyle, culture of Tamils is the oldest heritage in the world. Our love caused us to learn so many things. I was 23 years old then. I felt many new experiences in Jaffna which I had not seen in my life. I was the only foreigner in that war-torn region, where there daily rained with bombs.
There are two reasons why I am proud of Tamils in my lifetime. I say this as a person who has experienced the development of the LTTE movement for the freedom of Tamils.
The first reason is the sacrifice of the brothers who sacrificed themselves and nurtured the movement for the liberation of Tamils. This is the foundation of the LTTE movement. Second, in a liberation struggle, the Tamils trusted me, a woman from a foreign country, and respected me completely. Under no circumstances did they treat me as a stranger. I got a Tamil girl as a friend there. She affectionately calls me ‘White Tamil girl’. Being called a Tamil girl is a matter of pride for me till the moment I stop breathing. White tiger. Tamil Lady. Adel Balasingam.
After the death of her husband and respected writer of Eelam Tamil, Anton Balasingam, on December 14th 2006, she has withdrawn from the outside world and Tamils and lives in solitude, shrunken and withered in her world! It is human nature to forget! But this somanm who documented the Eelam liberation struggle through her powerful writings, still has a lot to write!
The Tamil community has a great task to embrace her and make her travel with us!
Happy Birthday, mother!
(Correction by Tamilpriya
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