Going About it the Dilmah Way….
The year was 2006… I cannot remember the exact date… except that it was during the time I was more or less based in Ambalantota working for the MJF Charitable Organization on tsunami relief activities.
The requests for assistance during that sad period of our history were many… pouring in countlessly all the time. Among those was one from a poor farmer asking for a wheel chair for his disabled child. A few days later, as was the routine, I made my way to verify the story, to this man’s home approximately one kilometer off the main Ratnapura road. After trekking about a kilometer off a muddy footpath, I reached a wattle and daub thatched one roomed house that he called home.
I could not believe what I was seeing! A disabled child was chained to a tree. Another little girl was playing around without a care in the world! With gay abandon, she told me that her parents had gone to the village fair to sell vegetables and bring home food. Was this an ordinary day in her life? I was shocked to say the least!
I rushed to the Divisional Secretariat to lodge a complaint. After patiently listening to my story, welfare officer Mr Bandara, blankly said “tell me something that I don’t already know. I will record your complaint if you can come up with a solution. If you want to see more scenes like the one you have described, let me know”. I was speechless. “For years, I have been trying very hard to start a day care center for these children. If you could help me to build a small structure, we could stop going to temples any more to invoke blessings” he said sadly showing me a file with statistics. Although he meant the last statement lightly, I could not even smile weakly. The statistics showed me the grim picture. Within the small geographic area of the Ambalantota AGA division there were 416 disabled children a majority reported with Down’s syndrome…..
The next day I showed these statistics to Dilhan. He was puzzled as to how such a large number could be concentrated in a small area. This time I did not hear his usual response of “karamu karamu” (let’s do it, let’s do it). All he said was we MUST DO this project.
I returned to Ambalantota the very next day and started preparing site plans. Hiran with his wide experience was entrusted to prepare a concept note for trustee approval. It took us days to table the note as Dilhan wanted a perfect one that would pass through the board of trustees without comment. We were concerned with the budget. At the board meeting it took only a few seconds for Mr. Merrill Fernando to commend the initiative and give us the green light to go ahead. He instructed us to ignore the budget! Hiran and I nodded our heads in disbelief. Not resting with that instruction, Mr. Fernando entrusted one of the country’s foremost architects Mr. Nihal Bodhinayake to design the “best facility in the country!’.
When I returned to Ambalantota with the good news, Murphy’s Law had taken effect. I was told that the land identified for the purpose, “Oluvila site” had been acquired by the Irrigation Department. I requested Upali, IUCN’s Southern Office Manager to arrange a meeting with the Divisional Irrigation Engineer. Both Upali and I met him at his office. The officer patiently listened to our story. After a few seconds he silently nodded his head and said “why didn’t anyone explain this to me before?” and promised to withdraw his letter. He requested us to commence work. Hiran and the Foundation team worked hard to get the building up and running.
Two years passed since my visit to the home of the poor farmer and his disabled child. Recently, I got a note from Dilhan requesting me to attend a ceremony which was organized to hand over the building to the authorities on 3rd December 2008. There were hundreds of ordinary village people at the ceremony…not one politician! No advertisements, no banners, no loud speakers, no media….just a simple handing over ceremony…done The
I was fulfilled. I don’t think there was anyone there at that ceremony happier than me. With a big smile I said to Mr. Bandara “there will be no need to visit any more temples to invoke blessings!”
As the world is still dumb struck with the Mumbai terror attack – India’s 9/11, lets take a little time off to turn our eyes to people who are undergoing similar pain as a matter of their every day life. Let’s spread a word to the world about World Disability Day to show our care and concern.
(http://balaarjunan.wordpress.com/2008/12/03/world-disability-day_December-3rd/)
Asanka Abayakoon (IUCN)
Friday, December 5th, 2008