EXPLORATION TO HELP THE NEEDY
By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando
We arrived at the Angunna Badulla Junior School in Matara, where
139 students from poor village families get an education. The school Principal
M.A Jayasiri introduced us to three deserving students in need of medical attention.
Among the three was a six-year-old boy, Dilshan, whom we were
especially interested in, after seeing him on a TV programme and the way he did
his homework, on the floor under a kerosene lamp. Then there was seven-year-old
Deduni, and nine-year-old Sajini who has suffered a sudden stroke and has been
confined to a wheel chair.
The school Principal has taken upon himself to ensure that these
poor youngsters get their school uniforms supplied to them, with the kind
generosity of his staff members and with voluntary philanthropic assistance to
the "Angunna Badulla Junior School Development Fund" He has
already arranged a full supply of books for all of the 139 children, covering
the academic year 2018.
Deduni lives with her parents in a house built on crown land in
Wellatota, Paalatuwa. Her parents find it difficult to pay for her medical
expenses out of her father's income as a labourer. Up to May 2016, she had been
attending school as a normal healthy girl, but after a sudden illness, she had
been rushed to the Karapitiya Hospital for treatment. After the initial
treatment in Galle, she had been taken to Lady Ridgeway Children's Hospital in
Colombo, with the financial assistance from school Principal and his staff and,
including the small kind donations from Deduni's schoolmates. Deduni was
treated at the Lady Ridgeway Children's Hospital for five continuous months,
during which period her mother had to be with her 24/7, attending to her
personal care, while the medical care was provided by the hospital staff.
Deduni's medical history shows that she was seen by Neurosurgeon
Professor Geethangi Wanigasinghe at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital, and on 8
November 2016, Dr. Mrs. S.H. Monika de Silva, Consultant Rheumatologist, at the
Lady Ridgeway Hospital, has confirmed Deduni as 'a child with
development regression, seizures disorder and visual impairment, following an
acute episode of encephalitis'. She was due to visit the hospital
again for "follow up procedures on Rehabilitation in the DDR
clinic", however, it was not clear whether her parents managed to take
the child, as requested, due to high transport costs, from her village in
Matara to the Lady Ridgeway Children's Hospital in Colombo.
At the time of the writer's visit to the village school, a
letter of appeal, dated 10 October 2016, by Deduni's father, was on display for
the benefit of all enthusiastic volunteer donors. It specifically mentioned how
the Principal of Angunna Badulla Junior School and the staff members and a few
of Deduni's school mates had assisted the family during the initial treatment;
also highlighted the parents inability to cope financially with their
daughter's medical expenses and welfare, due to their poor income. Deduni's
eyesight was getting affected gradually, and the need for her to attend the eye
hospital in Colombo for treatment appeared to be vital. The letter was
validated with signatures of Sarathchandra Witharana, Divineguma Development
Officer (312 Wellatota), Grama Niladhari (349B Division, Meegoda) Matara, and
Principal M.A. Jayasiri.
The poor family lives in a house built on State land in
Wellatota, up on an elevation with winding pathways full of potholes and
'hairpin' bends. In an emergency, a vehicle or ambulance has no easy access to
the house. The vehicle has to be parked a few metres below the house, and she
has to be carried to the vehicle, along the craggy path, with her wheel chair,
that is not at all easy even for the fittest.
Sajini
Nine-year-old Sajini was the third student deserving assistance.
She had been born with birth deformities of an imperfect mouth, hip, leg, and
an eye. She lives with her single mother. According to the Principal, her
mother, being illiterate and immature, is incompetent on how to seek medical
assistance! The catch twenty-two question is, whether the society will turn a
blind eye to her pathetic condition and allow her to grow up in that manner,
and even if she were to come out with flying colours at the end of her
education, will she be exposed to social stigma and be discriminated? There are
so many charitable and benevolent Sri Lankans and also expatriate associations,
who specifically concentrate on medical work to qualify for tax entitlements
for any type of donations. Australia-Sri Lanka Medical Aid Team (AuSLMAT) and
Sri Lanka Medical Association North America SLMANA are two such groups, who are
involved in helping the deserving and the ignored in Sri Lanka
AuSLMAT has been helping Sri Lankans ever since the tsunami
disaster. Usually a team of doctors arrives in Sri Lanka annually, and visits
various district hospitals holding medical camps et al. They are due to arrive
again, in July 2018. In response to the writer's Saturday Column (18 November)
highlighting a family 'living in latrine conditions', a member of
the SLMANA is expected to arrive in Sri Lanka shortly, and a tour of Matara
District has been arranged, especially to visit this family in distress and
need.
A big 'thank you', is therefore, due to the
SLMANA for already finding '4 donors from LA, who are willing to help build
a house for the family, living in a makeshift home in a latrine'.
The writer will accompany the visiting SLMANA representative, on 1 December, to
facilitate the expatriate to see for himself, firsthand, the atrocious living
conditions of this destitute family.
Ceylon Today -2017 - Saturday Column