ISSN: 1391 - 0531
Sunday March 16, 2008
Vol. 42 - No 42
Mirror  

Godaya Experiences Poverty - Part II

I was in Hambantota recently, then in Matara. This travel was a result of the work that I do, attached to an organization working on Community Based Rehabilitation for people living with disabilities. As part of this, I visited a couple of people who are surviving with disabilities. But congenital disabilities are not the only thing they have to overcome in their lives.

I use the word surviving because that is what they are doing. Surviving. I'm attempting to bring out the story of three people, and hope that we think twice before we bust large sums of money on things we don't actually need.

When I entered the development field, I was told to leave my emotions at home. I was told that if you let the emotions and the problems get to you, you'd not be able to sleep at night. That you'd want to blindly give up everything you have.

There's the bubbly girl who is on a wheelchair for the last five years as a result of a progressive disease. She makes cards and crafts as a hobby, is overflowing with talent. She can sell the crafts to make a living, but there is not much demand in Matara for handmade cards.

There are the twins (a boy and a girl) who have a development disorder. Both have now started schooling, and manage to survive due to the enormous effort put forward by their mother, who also has four other children to care for. The eldest brother of the family, who is 20, has joined the forces to feed his siblings. He comes home after three months, and doesn't have enough money left over to buy a new pair of pants before he goes home.

There is the mother of a child who can't move a single limb. She along with her husband produce dry fish to earn a meager amount of money for the family's survival. She wipes the endless flow of tears as she talks to me. I make a futile attempt to stop a tear coming to my eye.

They can't talk to you without tears pouring out, and you can't listen to them without tears coming to your eyes. We bust more money having coffee at a hip coffee place in one day, than what they earn for a whole month.

They are not alone. These people are just the surface of the millions of people in Sri Lanka who are surviving in extreme poverty. They manage to survive because the overflowing amount of willpower that they have, and because the social service officers in the regions are committed beyond imagination.

If you want to help, call me on 0717599211. It might not be much, but let's see what we can do.

 
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