Deprived and Discarded
By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando
On the 19
September 2017, the writer started on a journey from Colombo to Habarana,
following a tragedy that was highlighted by Sirasa News First programme on a
heartbreaking new flash about Kavishka Sandaruwan, a seven-day-old baby who
died due to an “unprecedented dog guzzling.” She had been wrapped up with some
“rags” (the only sheets parents could afford) and placed the baby on the clay
floor and covered with a mesh inside the family’s “shanty.
” The
gruesome news item touched so many compassionate hearts globally, including the
writer’s wife, who was aghast and decided to make a philanthropic visit to
Namalpura, Asirigama village in Habarana, to meet the affected family, which
the TV journalist kindly arranged.
The area
Samurdi Officer, Dhanapala arranged by the Sirasa correspondent Pradeep
Gunawardena, accompanied us to the baby’s parents.The journey from the carpeted
main Dambulla Road to a rural village called Namalpura was not motorable at
all. What struck during that rugged ride was that the entire village
environment had been desiccated due to the severe drought that affected the
area, and people were suffering without having a drop of water, for their
personal use.
Climax of
poverty
Finally,
we reached a small, crudely-built shack where the deceased baby’s father,
Sampath Kumara, 26, a casual labourer, and his wife, Nirosha Kumari, 24, lived
with two other young daughters. On this ominous morning, Kumara had left the
house to pick a honeycomb; his father-in-law and mother-in-law too had to be
out, leaving Kumari Nirosha with two young daughters in their bare hut.
Sampath
does not get jobs regularly. Whenever he is out of work, the whole family is
compelled to starve. That being the case, he had gone on that morning to pluck
a honeycomb, at least thereby to earn some money out of selling bees’ honey. In
the meanwhile, the two little girls were crying out of hunger. So, Nirosha Kumari
had sent them to a neighbour to borrow two cups of rice and when the girls
returned, they all went to the kitchen to boil the rice, which had access only
from the front door.
Suddenly,
Nirosha Kumari rushed inside in response to a horrendous howling of the baby.
She was shocked and horror-struck having to witness a stray dog attacking her
baby probably thinking it was a piece of meat (wrapped in rags). When Kumari
started screaming out of sheer disbelief, and seeing what was happening to her
dear baby girl, the dog had roared and run away, holding a piece of meat from
baby’s head in his mouth, while leaving another piece of flesh on the floor.
The funeral had taken place on the day before our arrival.
Myths
There were
many folklore opinions surrounding the strange incident. Some believed that
newborn babies should not be left alone as some evil spirits (Disti) may attack
them (due to ‘Thanikama’) for which, people place an iron nail under the baby’s
pillow.
Nirosha
Kumari said she had never seen a ‘woolly dog’ in that area before that looked
like a wolf. But neighbours seemed to think that it was none other than a
hungry stray dog. Other opinions attributed to the fact that the dog may have
been attracted to the smell of milk in the baby’s mouth. However, the post
mortem confirmed that ‘the death was due to an attack by a dog.’
The next
immediate problem that cropped up was how to assist the unfortunate couple, as
neither of them possessed a birth certificate, a marriage certificate, or even
an identity card. The Samurdi Officer Dhanapala lamented explaining how
agonizing it was for him to bear, when he came across the majority of poor
families in the village did not possess even an ID to assist them officially.
Grave
problem
Sampath
Kumara, particularly, had an additional problem of having a bare hut without
any furniture except only the four walls (in both rooms). In such a dilemma how
could they keep even the philanthropic contributions in a safe manner? They
also did not have a bank account. Despite such drawbacks, as a preliminary
assistance, the baby’s seventh day alms-giving to the local Buddhist monks was
taken care of the writer’s wife. Dhanapala and Sirasa journalist are working in
the meanwhile, enthusiastically, to find a solution to issue the couple with
IDs with a view to open a bank account for them to overcome their immediate
difficulties . When it is sorted out it has been suggested that the bank
account should be in the form of a trust fund requiring two additional
signatories (may be from the Namalpura Asirigama Viharadhipathy and probably
with the Grama Niladhari to ensure that such money reserves are not wasted, but
utilized at least for the benefit of the two living girls.
On 7
October, some Samaritans from Kandy had visited the village and distributed dry
rations to 25 poor families, including the Namalpura Asirigama Vihara. It is an
indignity that only the media institutions and the community hearts seem to
melt, having seen or heard about such woeful stories about the suffering of
innocent, poor villages while Parliamentarians tend to display their vulgarity
by being selfish and concentrating only on their own luxuries.
Ceylon Today -October 2017