Where blind can see

Lessons are learnt at all times and in all places. They are everywhere for us to pick from; at home, in school, on the streets, in encounters, in the forests, in the sky and in the oceans. This is the story of lessons learnt over the years, at different times in different doses, from a group of caring friends whom I admire very much. The most recent of them were learnt on the morning of November 19, 2010.

Back in time

Godawaya is the popular name for a tiny village near Ambalantota in the Deep South. Its historical name is Gotapabbatha or Gotapavatha, which a second Century stone inscription registers, as the first ever customs duty generating harbour in Sri Lanka.

King Gajabahu I, in this Brahmi scripted inscription, has declared that the customs duties generated there will be donated to the Buddhist Monastery located on the cliff of the port; the Godapavatha Vihara. There is also archaeological evidence that the area had been inhabited for over 7,000 years.

In August 2008, a human skeleton buried together with tools made of animal bone and stone, was discovered in an abandoned stone quarry at Godawaya by the German archaeologist Oliver Kessler, working with a team of our own archaeologists. Believed to belong to the 3000-5000 BC period, carbon dating is now being carried out to determine the exact age of this find, from the pre-historic period.

According to a Wikipedia account “until the sixth Century AD, Godavaya was an important transit port. Ships carrying merchandise from the West exchanged commodities with ships from China carrying Silk. Hence, ships did not need to go further than Godavaya. Articles of trade on the Walawe River shipping route and on land routes were also swapped there. Godavaya was the seaport for the medieval (11th Century) Southern capital, Maha Nagakula which lay on the Walawe River”. It is to be noted that the new Magampura Port, is located only a few kilometers away from this historic site of the Godawaya Port. The coastal area around Godawaya was declared a sanctuary in 2006, to protect its rich marine life consisting mainly of turtles. The area is considered one that is nesting ground for the most number of leatherback turtles in Sri Lanka.

One of its kind

My story is of a group of 31 elderly blind people who have made their home on the cliff at Godawaya next to the Viharaya. When I first met them about seven years ago, they were a team of 42.

Several have left us now and the eldest I knew then was Hendrik Uncle. He was 102 then and died of old age a year later. Then there were Suraweera Uncle and Austin Silva Uncle, who have all passed on.

Only one of its kind in Sri Lanka, the ‘Sarana Home for the Aged Blind’ was set-up as an initiative of the Sri Lanka Federation of the Visually Handicapped in 1986, by its President Navaratne Banda. He found donors and well-wishers to establish, what is today, a fully operational facility standing out as a model for good governance and management practices.

For several years running, the Sarana Home at Godawaya won the pinnacle award as the ‘Best Home for the Aged’ in the Southern Province for maintaining high standards of facilities, quality and conduct of its affairs. A proud achievement both its visually handicapped manager Gunadasa Senanayake and its manageress with vision ‘Latha Miss’ (Dharmalatha Karadana) speak about with much passion. They are both leaders par-excellence of a team you would only rarely find.

Joy and hope

When one imagines the looks of a home for the elderly, you often think of one that is filled with loneliness, despair and suffering and will look at its inmates with sorrowful pity. On the contrary, the Sarana Home is one where you could return upon a visit, with much joy and hope. The sense of camaraderie, caring and sharing among them and their dedication to their adopted home, is a visibly moving encounter.

On about my 15th visit to the Home last week, like each time before that, I was witness to the bee-hive like activity that goes on; sweeping of the garden, cleaning of the Budhu Madura (shrine room) and the Bo-Maluwa (dais of the Bodhi tree), all by touch, feel and repeated practice by the blind elders. They are of different religious beliefs, coming from different parts of the country. There is mutual respect and tolerance of each other, seen at all times.

Entering the main activity cum dinning hall of the Home, the neatly laid tables each with a bunch of plastic flowers in a vase adorning it, await you. In each placement on each table is a neatly arranged aluminum plate, a cup and saucer. The arrangement is uniform and you later learn that it is the work of each person herself or himself.

The only guides they have to some of the facilities within the premises, such as the washing area, is a railing they touch when moving about. It is especially helpful to guide them on the steps down about 30 metres to the fenced bathing area on the Walawe River below. The fence, I was told was protection from crocodiles which appear from time to time on the river.

Why not us

The discipline, cleanliness and the order among the aged-blind of the Sarana Home is out of this world and makes you wonder, why we do not see it on our roads and public places or practised in most of our own homes.

They have a routine associated with each meal, mostly a Dhana or offering by a well-wisher. Prayers first, offering at the shrine room, return to each place assigned on a table, serving of the meal, waiting to be told that all have been served to begin the meal and the partaking of the meal with much care. There is virtually no waste.

Each tells you what they need. Two hoppers, five string hoppers, vegetarian, no fish please etc. Latha Miss said that they loved the days when herbal soup (Kola Kanda) and some kitul hakuru were served.

Upon completion of the meal, Muthu Manike makes a speech offering merit in return to the well-wishers. It’s succinct, clear and filled with sincere feeling. Then Seelawathi, (I call her Nanada Malini Akka), takes over for a most moving rendering of thanks-giving in song.

Her voice and the song sung is to me, better than any I have heard on reality shows on television. She feels and means each word, not for some award or reward, but to say thank you to those who cared to come to see them.

Of human bondage

Several years ago, there was a quartet of a harmonium, a violin, tabla and a pair of spoons, to make music to entertain visitors. Sudharman Uncle (I call him Sunil Santha) is now aged and is not his usual vibrant self.

Jayantha Uncle is in hospital taking treatment for diabetes and Austin Uncle who played the harmonium is no more. Seelawathi and Esther Soma, continue to sing but without musical accompaniment. Yet, there is joy and hope written all over their faces. They light up when they hear familiar voices and feel familiar touch. Pandith Amaradeva, once visited them. They still talk about that visit with deep emotion. They sang songs together with tears in each others’ eyes.

They do not want anything in excess or have anything in excess. They have what they need and are so content, which is one of the key lessons one, learns. I remember the first instance, when I met them and spoke with managers Senanayake and ‘Latha Miss’. He held my hand and felt it thoroughly several times. He never forgot that touch, for each time I met him thereafter, when I spoke and he touched and felt my hand, he recognized who I was.

With such human bondage we know that the blind can indeed see and are able to teach us valuable lessons for life and for living.