While young children of her age are playing and freely enjoying beauty and the glamour of the nature in the village, an eight-year old little girl, Dinara Sandakalani in the same village in Lunugamvehera devotes her entire time after school to do the household chores of her family and attend to the needs of her disabled mother and her 4-year old younger sister.   

Mother of this family J.M. Ramani (35) having three children is suffering from conditions developed with injuries on her leg when she was bitten by a serpent in 2014. She is still under medication after an operation done for the snakebite.   

 

She says they have to spend about Rs.2,000 for medicine at a time and it is very difficult for the family to spend such an amount for treatment amidst the other needs of the children. While living among all these difficulties Ramani also has begun to experience a gradually growing weakness of eyesight. The parents have dedicated their eldest child to the temple for ordination, the other two children aged eight and four are living with the mother.    

 

After returning from school, little Dinara, a grade 5 student at Kudagammana Vidyalaya, in Lunugamwehera,becomes busy preparing meals, feeding her mother and looking after her younger sibling. Occasionally this little girl stays away from school whenever her partially visually impaired mother needs special attention or to bathe her. Ramani’s husband does odd jobs to survive the family and spends most of his earnings. In search of more money to treat his ailing wife, he moved to Colombo to find better employment.

 

This family has no proper abode. Ramani said former Housing Development Minister Sajith Premadasa granted them a plot of land and loan to build a house. However, they were told by the Housing Development Authority that they would face legal action for not settling the loan arrears of Rs.29,000.   

 

 

Meanwhile, Ramani had also been advised to undergo a surgery to cure her fading eyesight, for which they have to spend Rs 1.5 million. 

 

Therefore, the family looks for philanthropists to assist them to come out of this pathetic situation. The family resides at No.52/1, Kuda Gammana Paha, Lunugamvehera, and for more information they can be reached on 0713892655