I’m nobody’s child

16 October 2012 01:42 am

Four little children were found abandoned without food for several days in a line-room at the Uduwara Estate in Hali Ela. Their mother had gone abroad and their father was drunk most of the time.

The youngest is an infant of 10 months who was found in a makeshift cot crying out for food with his nine- year-old brother trying to console him.

“Our father who is a coolie is a drunkard and our mother has gone abroad because she could not stand the torment of being regularly assaulted by him.

He assaults us too. He has on several occasions been arrested by the police as well,” Veesidharan the eldest of the children told our reporter.

The children were not attending school because they lacked the basic necessities for doing so. Their school bags in tatters were seen hanging on the wattle and daub wall of their pathetic little house. The neighbours were unable to help the children as they were also facing severe hardships.

A neighbor said though they had informed the authorities of the children’s plight nothing had been done about it. (Palitha Ariyawansa)