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| Sunday, 11 January 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Help comes their way again .....and again, and again! by LAKMAL WELABADA It was another special dawn for the Millennium Triplets and their young parents at Dediyawala, Kalutara.
An article in the Sunday Observer of November 23, 2003 ('Silver Hands', Golden hearts - and a glowing example to all senior citizens' by the writer), featured an eco-friendly group of senior women citizens who had undertaken to assist the Millennium Triplets and their family. Responding to their request, the Achievers' Club of the Personnel Division of the Hatton National Bank came forward to donate a sewing machine to the young mother of the triplets. Rashmi Sahasrika, Eranga Sahasmy and Pabasari Sahanika adorned in nice little gowns stitched alike to match their identical appearance, looked so much like little dollies. Running to and fro embracing their parents, and grand parents the three fairies never hesitated to pose for our photographer Renuka Alwis. The four-year-olds have already started going to Montessori. The three colourful school bags which they got from 'Silver Hands' that day were hanging on their backs. They mischievously escaped from their grandmother when she tried to take the bags off from them. The giggles of the three little girls seemed to have wiped away the woe of the poverty in that small village house. The parents, Mahendra Manupriya Alwis and Panawannage Iresha Dilrukshi were married in January 1999. "She was just 16 years and he was 25 years," said Misilin de Silva, the maternal grandmother of the triplets.
"When we learnt Iresha was pregnant we took her to a gynaecologist. In the fourth month, the doctor came out after the check up with a broad smile and told me, 'Amma, you have four kids to look after now,' meaning that my teenaged daughter is bearing three babies. The doctor and everybody around at that time were really amused over the news and congratulating us. But, I was shocked and dumbfounded since Iresha was too young even to bear a single baby. I was wondering how she was going to cope with three," said Misilin. Though poverty has hit them from time to time, Iresha was well looked after by the two families and her young husband. The two families did not disclose the news of the "three lives" that she carried to the outsiders (except the doctors and the clinic staff) since they wanted to protect them from "evil eye". Iresha was admitted to the Nagoda Hospital in the eighth month of pregnancy where she rested for one month. She was then transferred to the Colombo Castle Hospital for the confinement. It was the dawn of the new Millennium. The teenaged mother was 17 years by then. While the whole world was warmly celebrating the New Year and the Millennium 2000, a medical team of about twenty five were around Iresha's bed in the labour room at Castle Hospital, getting ready to welcome her babies. The three were born by Caesarian section at 12.51, 12.52 and 12.53 am on December 31 - January 1 in the year 2000. It was heart warming to see the three sucking milk from their Amma's bosom. The teenaged mother somehow managed to feed the babies only with her milk for the entire first four months. The birth of the triplets and their parents became an object of media attention. During the first few months the family was flooded with donations. But, after a few months,most people forgot about them. The Bank of Ceylon deposited Rs,20,000 for the triplets. But it disappeared in no time. The deposit was used day after day merely to buy milk powder to fill the three little tummies. The jobless young father tried to find a living. But, since the young mother and the old grandparents could not look after the little ones alone, Manupriya had to stay at home. When they learnt this, the 'Silver Hands' assisted in finding him some form of self-employment. Following this, the Hatton National Bank donated a cement blockmaking machine as a first step, in November, 2000. Today, the young father is gradually coming up in life. "Selling the cement blocks is not a problem. We have a fairly good demand. But since the prices of cement and sand are going up every day, buying the raw materials is a problem," says Manupriya. As a second step, the HNB donated a sewing machine to Iresha. Sujatha Samarajeewa and her friends of 'Silver Hands' who travel all the way from Colombo by bus to the triplets' home at Kalutara hope to train the young mother in sewing. "Simultaneously, we are looking for a good place around Dediyawala, Kalutara where Iresha can learn Scientific dressmaking. She can attend the course while the children are at school," said Mrs. Samarajeewa. The HNB also opened three accounts for the triplets at their birth. The Dharma Wijaya Foundation, Colombo is another group that has come forward with a helping hand. Since June, 2002, a small house with two rooms is being built in the compound where the family lives. The roof of the old place once collapsed during a rainy season. Miraculously no one was at home at that time. So moving to the new house is one of the most important priorities for them. They all struggle hard to eke out a living. Misilin, grand mother of the triplets said she has started working as a baby sitter in a house to earn and support her young daughter and son-in-law. "Though he is jobless, Manupriya is a good natured man," says the mother-in-law. Mrs.Samarajeewa who agreed with Misilin went on to say that even the neighbours had told her that "Manupriya did not earn money for himself, but earned people"... The triplets' family is well loved by the neighbours. "They are poor people. We should help them, but be very careful not to disgrace them as they also have self-dignity. If we assist them with one hand and mock and let them down on the other hand, it is of no use," said Mrs. Samarajeewa referring to some instances of donations of unusable broken toys, etc. The triplets' parents' next target is to find a good school for their daughters who have already made a little bit of world history, with their arrival at the dawn of the new Millennium'. |
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