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The little girl who sees the world go by from her bed
By Chandani Kirinde
Thirteen-year-old Sarojini has not known much life outside the bed she has been confined to since her birth. Poverty has prevented her parents Sidambaramlingam and Deva Malar from giving her anything better. But her face lights up with a smile when she sees a stranger's face. She welcomes any new sight.

Sarojini lives with her parents in a line room on a tea estate at Houpewatte, Koskelle at Kahawatte in the Ratnapura district. She is the youngest of three children and was handicapped from birth having been born with an enlarged head. Her condition has affected her growth and she is no bigger than a two-year-old.

Despite their poverty, her parents took her from one doctor to another, but their attempts to find a medical cure for their daughter's condition were in vain.

Finally they were told that she should be taken to India where she could seek treatment. But to parents for whom even Colombo is too much of a distance, a trip to India is a near impossibility.

"My wife works on the estate while I stay at home to look after our daughter," Sidambaramlingam said. Given the conditions of abject poverty and deprivation that they live in, caring for a child with special needs is difficult. She has to be bathed, dressed and fed by someone, which means someone has to be in attendance all the time.

"What we need is a separate room for her, toilet facilities and running water. We don't have any of these and it is very difficult to keep her clean," her mother Deva Malar said, holding up Sarojini's thin hand.

The parents require financial support because it is only with one parent's daily wage that they have to make ends meet. They also have to provide for their other two school-going children.

Sidambaramlingam has visited several institutions that care for children with special needs but says he has been put on a waiting list as the demand for such facilities is high.

Sarojini is able to move her hands and has been asking her parents for pen and paper so she can draw. "She watches her siblings and she wants to do things they do. But we are unable to do much for her," laments her father.

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