Blood flows for cultural cause

By Shaun Inguanzo
GREATER Dandenong’s Tamil community took part in a bloodathon to donate their precious resource to those in need.
Tamils from around Victoria attended the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation’s (TRO) Bloodathon at the Blood Bank in Melbourne on Sunday.
TRO chairman Dr Kanapathi Pillai said anywhere between 70 to 100 Tamils attended the event that was aimed at giving back to the Australian community.
“This was for what we call Black July, where Tamils were killed en masse in Sri Lanka in July 1983,” Dr Pillai said.
“Back then the Australian Government gave a lot of us refuge, so this is a mark of gratitude to the Australian people as well as a highlight of the plight of what we call bloodletting against our people in our homeland.”
Dr Pillai said a majority of the Tamil people in Victoria lived in Greater Dandenong or Casey.
He said the TRO provided aid to Tamils in Sri Lanka including several orphanages, and natural disaster relief.