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by Aditha Dissanayake

Rosy's name suits her. Her cheeks and her lips are rosy. If not for the slightly larger than normal eyes and the protruding lower lip, she looks like any other normal girl.

But Rosy is not normal. Her IQ is below the average IQ of a girl her age. At thirteen she cannot read, can barely write and enjoys looking at picture books written for a six-year old. Rosy is mentally retarded.

Mentally retarded. How I had misunderstood the words. For, until yesterday, I had thought that a person diagnosed with mental retardation had not only a low IQ, but found it difficult to adapt to everyday life. Today, however, having got to know about the Sukitha Children's home at Galpatha, I realize how wrong I have been.

The Home with its palatial appearance houses 85 children who need special attention. The ages of the children, who are all girls range from 5 to 15. But there are also girls who are much older, (some are as old as thirty) who have remained at the home because they have no other place to call home. "Most parents once they admit a girl to the home tend to wash their hands off her. They simply forget they have a daughter" says a spokesman.

Maintaining the Home, therefore, is not easy. The cost of covering the daily needs of a child amounts to Rs. 1,500 every month.

The monthly allowance provided by the government is Rs. 300. The balance depends on the donations given by well-wishers. The officials at Sukitha are gratefull to the continuous support given by donors throughout the country to assist in looking after the children, (records show 797 meals have been donated last year) but they also warn philanthropists not to be misled by "bogus representatives" who claim they are from Sukitha and collect money on behalf of the Home.

Sukitha is a palace filled with love. For the staff at Sukitha seem to aptly understand the emotional and behaviourial disorders that are associated with mental retardation and physical deformation, which lowers a child's potential. They understand that these children do not have enough language skills to talk about their feelings and that they often get depressed - especially when they become young adults and realize they are behind others of their own age.

Thus while the Home tries to eliminate the difficulties faced in day to day life by the children, the Sukitha Vocational Training Centre in Horana, helps them to become independent by strengthening their talents. The Centre provides training in sewing, handicrafts, catering, etc, to girls who have "different abilities".

The children at Sukitha show that disability is not an inability. Even though they lead partially independent lives they enjoy it just as everyone else. That is why they tell the world that, even though they cannot run, even though they are blind, even though they do not have hands they too are like any other child.

They say "I may be blind, but I too can read and write. I may not have legs, but I too will run. What ever you do I can do them too. I do not want your pity. If only you will treat me as an equal..

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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