Waiting for tomorrow

Chitrarathne Kaluaarchchi Hindogama Group Correspondent

Anusha started her favourite song as we settled in the chairs placed in the verandah. She sang well a popular Sinhala song which was about a child born to a poverty stricken mother and a liquor addict father. The melancholic song well suited the expression in her face when she was singing as though it was her own story.

The eight year- old girl from Thambuththegama is one among the 53 girls living in the girls’ home located in the North Central Province. Perhaps Anusha Kumari who aspires to become a singer in the future with her gifted melodious voice sings the tale of her own and hundreds of thousands of such children in Sri Lanka and throughout the world, who have been denied of parents’ love and warmth.

Another Children’s Day has dawned in the calendar but for Anusha and many other children in the Avanthi Devi Girls’ Home it is just another day awaiting a sumptuous meal or a new stock of clothes that suddenly appear with a kind hearted donor. Such pleasant occasion would be a day of celebrations for the girls who have scanty hopes of their mother or father’s return.

The story of most of the girls here runs on similar lines; a liquor addict father neglecting the children while the mother is on a foreign employment or the mother leaves for an overseas job to earn money following the father’s death. It all ended up in the same way, children were stranded with no one to look into their needs and provide love and care. Finally they all are in a children’s home.

The girls are happy with their environment-toys to play with, books to read and friends to share. But the regular provision of dry rations to the Home remains a problem for a long time. People donate dry rations and cooked meals in memory of a dead relative or on a birth day but those days are not regular. However, the children are content with what they have.

“We get to go to school and we have a library here. Now I’m studying in Grade 12. I study hard as I want to become a teacher. My favourite subject is Buddhist Civilization,” W.A. Iresha Priyadarshani, 18, from Kekirawa said. Her mother is employed abroad and her father has married another woman. Her younger sister is also residing here.

Sudarshini Madushika Perera,14, from Nochchiyagama has only one request, “Please do come to see us on your birthday.”

Most of the children here are gifted with one or more talents. The 15-year-old sober Nadeesha Ilangasinghe is such of a kind. She paints her hopes, dreams in her world in brush strokes and pastel hues. It all makes a colorful picture at the end.

The little artist from Padaviya is in Grade nine. She says she has never met her father. Her mother is employed abroad, she said.

The bright eyed Kusum Samarakoon, 15, is eager to learn computer and music. There is a computer at the Home but there is no one to teach them.

She is a Grade 11 student from Maradankadawala. She also has a dream to study well and get a good job to earn her living.

Ruwini Nisansala Ratnapala, 14, of Madipola also has a sad tale. Her mother left them when she was just seven years and her father who looked after her died in an accident a few years later.

There are some children who are under probationary care. Dhammika Kumari, 12, of Maradankadawala is one of them. She was a domestic aide when officers of the Women and Childcare Bureau found her.

I.Priyadarshini, 15, of Mihintale says her father died due to a snake-bite. Her mother went abroad to earn money but never returned. Priyadarshini says she had a younger sister but whereabouts are not known.

There are two female guardians to look after the girls. Dilani Swarnalatha, 40, and Sita Padmini, 49, said they do their best to keep the children happy.

The little children need constant care and love. “We feed them, give them bath and look after them the best way we can even amidst so many difficulties,” they said.

S.B.W de Silva, president of the management board of the Home who volunteers for this good cause said the children being sent under probationary care are unable to attend school as there are no birth certificates with them. There are 15 children between the age of five to 10. They need special care.

He said it will be a great help if someone volunteers to teach the children computer. There are many talented children but there are no ways to sharpen their skills.

He also thanked the donors who offer meals and Principal of K.B. Ratanayaka Vidyalaya for admitting these children to make them a bright future. “All need to act responsibly to save our precious children,” he added.