PORTFOLIO: Rodiya: Outcaste People of Sri Lanka

"To the government, the Rodiya are a target for rural uplift programs and often a challenging opportunity for idealists to struggle against the momentum of a thousand years. The changes they have made are still small – and although the seeds for more deep-rooted ones have been sown, they may be long in flourishing. . . . Despite the heroic efforts of a few men and women, the average villager still sees the Rodiya as very much an inferior, a beggar at the gate, a dirt being with the evil eye, a prostitute and possibly a thief. The Rodiya are a very small minority; and the high-caste villager does not often come into contact with them; when he does it is seldom with pleasure. Nonetheless, the future holds hope." -- Clara NiiSka, from her paper, "The Rodiya of Sri Lanka: a perspective in outcaste," 1976. [caption: At left, an old Rodiya woman making a "paddy" basket for storing rice. From the Minneapolis Tribune Picture magazine, November 6, 1977, page 16.

With many thanks to the people of Sri Lanka who welcomed me as their guest,
to Picture Magazine editor Katherine Watson, and to Janis Sarles for keeping this copy of Picture magazine!

Project sponsored by the Minnesota SPAN Association

Produced by Maquah Publications
Hosted by the World's Greatest webserver