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More hope for Asitha
Preparations are on in a tiny plank shack in Koralawella to give an alms-giving in the form of a small lunch to three or four women in their 40s, hold a mass at the nearby church and light a few candles in the graveyard. This is in memory of Ranjini Fernando, who died in the tsunami and whose son, Asitha's tear-streaked face was splashed across newspapers worldwide in more than 100 countries.

Soon after 10-year-old Asitha's picture of tears, heartbreak and anguish launched a tidal wave of sympathy, support and funds from all over the world, The Sunday Times traced the little boy whose photo had been snapped at his mother's funeral by a wire service to become the symbolic "face" of the tsunami.

We found his distraught family in Koralawella, Moratuwa and the story that followed in The Sunday Times (PLUS of February 13) brought in numerous phone calls with offers of help. A representative of a company had visited the family and bought Asitha's father, Ivan, the tools of his trade - the bicycle, the box, the scales and the manna - to resume his livelihood of selling fish. Others, newspaper in hand, had visited them and given books, food and clothing.

However, one benefactor was not satisfied with doing just that. On his request that he had "long term plans" for the family, The Sunday Times introduced him not only to Asitha, his father and his sister Ayesha who has a mental handicap but also to Ranjini's elder sister (Asitha's Loku Amma) who had offered the plank house next to hers for them to live.

The benefactor and Asitha's family are now discussing how best to proceed, with promises from the benefactor that he will look after all Asitha's educational needs such as books, bags, water bottles, uniforms, shoes, etc until he finds his feet and also provide dry rations for the family. "Next time I go to see Asitha, I will buy him the bicycle that I promised," said the benefactor when contacted by The Sunday Times last week.

When The Sunday Times revisited Asitha and family on Wednesday, Ivan had begun selling fish. The brand new bicycle he had got was parked in the tiny frontyard, while the box in which he carries the fish and the knife, lella (slab of wood) and scales were on a chair inside the house. "Fish is very expensive and if I sell fish to several houses one week, they won't buy any more fish the next week," he said, urging The Sunday Times to write about the "unfair" distribution of the Rs. 2,500 and Rs. 5,000 compensation to tsunami survivors.

"If the houses were on that side of the railtrack, the people are being paid compensation but though we were affected our house was on this side and they are refusing to pay," says Ivan.

For this family the mundane routine has begun, with all three members experiencing the loss of wife and mother more and more. "I make their milk and wake up Asitha at about 6.15 on schooldays. When he is ready I take him to the road for his van to pick him up for the trip to Weera Puran Appu Vidyalaya in Moratuwa. Then I come back and take my daughter Bunty to the convent for her lessons," says Ivan. The girl's lunch is given by the Loku Amma while Asitha and the father buy theirs from the shop near their home.

"See, today he has not eaten his lunch," says Ivan pointing to an uneaten packet of rice left for the mongrel, they call their pet, to eat. "I wasn't hungry," says Asitha simply.

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