Pon Kulendiren

The Dawn: of an Immigrant Family Pon Kulendiren

The Dawn This novel is the story of a refugee family from Eelam in Sri Lanka in Canada. As immigrant, they meet people of different cultures, face new living conditions and attempt to adjust them. Initially, the head of the family hesitated to migrate with his family to Canada. The situation in the village changed, as his beautiful eldest intelligent daughter was kidnapped by the army. The youths from the Tamil liberation movement saved her life from the army. For security reasons, since she joined the movement, they left their eldest daughter in Eelam and migrated to Canada as refugees. The family encounters change of culture in Scarborough, considered as "Small Jaffna" where many Jaffna Tamil families live. The novel touches on the issues the family faced and the challenges in life they meet. The second daughter became friendly in her school with a Sri Lankan Singhalese boy, against parents wish. The novel covers the various problems faced by Tamil families in Scarborough and earns revenue using their skills. Circumstances made them to return to Eelam. They had the opportunity to meet their eldest daughter in an unexpected condition of hers. Their hope about her future was shattered although she had a different vision for the future. The final outcome of the story involves the family to get involved in implementing the project" Dawn" for disabled children.