Picturesque Abimansala resort :

Providing life-long care for differently-abled soldiers

By Shanika SRIYANANDA

It is their kindergarten with colourful toys, sixteen ‘children’ in the class are gradually improving their lost skills under the careful guidance of teachers cum therapists. Private Shanaka Wijewickrama knows nothing except his favourite puzzle board - Sri Lanka with 24 districts. He takes the pieces out and fits them one by one to make a complete picture. The 21-year-old repeats this throughout the day, apart from identifying letters in the Sinhala alphabet.

Memories have long left him and he does not know what has happened to him. He can recall very little information about himself.

Private Shanaka Wijewickrama knows nothing except his favourite puzzle board

Private Tennakoon

Lal Premakumara (R) Pix: Susantha Wijegunawardena

“Mama Lankawata harima adarei (I love Sri Lanka)”, Shanaka takes pieces out and starts fitting them again. The sniper bullet fired at the young soldier who was rescuing hostages from terrorists in 2009 May which had entered his brain had left his memory power weak. Now he only knows what he is engaged in at that particular moment and the next minute he forgets what happened.With no vision in the right eye, he touches the right side of his head and says “Me paththama hiriwetila (This part is numb).

I can’t remember anything I learn. It is a serious problem for me but I like to learn”, he smiles like a baby. He is unable to recollect who he is and what happened to him.The naughtiest in the class is private Tennakoon, whose hand is paralysed and he also can’t recollect the past and has lost his speech.

He plays with building blocks. His right arm which is numb rests on the table with a weight on it. He fits one block and looks with his good eye, and then smiles to show his happiness. Though he is instructed to speak, to improve his speaking ability, the ‘lazy boy’ shows his left thumb to say ‘well done’. Corporal Janaka Abeywardena, the nurse of the ‘class’ said the 16 soldiers with head injuries had shown significant improvement since they came to the occupational therapy unit.

Every two weeks the therapists evaluate the soldiers and change the methods to improve skills of mentally retarded youth. “At the initial stages they could not even hold a cup or say a few words but they have gradually improved”, he said.Sheltered in picturesque ‘Abimansala’, a home which is a blend of beauty, harmony and modernity, 52 souls in the prime of their youth are blessed with care and love. Born as perfect human beings, today they are living with serious defects and are the sad reminder of the war to defeat ruthless terrorists.They sacrificed their youth and are now suffering for the rest of their lives, they did this to give us a fear free future but now they have to start their lives from scratch.

Abimansala Wellness Resort is a unique place where permanently disabled soldiers are given a comfortable environment to heal their wounds. It is the first resort built in Anuradhapura under a concept of Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Adjoining the scenic Nuwara Wewa in Anuradhapura, Abimansala is fully equipped with hi-tech therapeutic facilities to provide badly wounded soldiers the maximum treatment throughout their lives. Like Shanaka, over 90 percent of the ‘residents’ of Abimansala need the care of another person as most of them are wheelchair-bound, bed-ridden and with impaired mobility and with defects of hearing and vision.

“This is a 10-acre land and it is built in a way not to give the inmates a feeling that they are in a hospital. It is built in an eco-friendly and peaceful environment with a modern architectural atmosphere and has single story cottages. Under the guidance of Defence Secretary, Army Commander Lt. Gen. Jagath Jayasooriya had launched the Brave Hearts Project to build wellness resorts to provide life-long care for permanently disabled soldiers”, the Commandant of Abimansala, Lt. Colonel Kanishka Bandara said.

He said this was the first Abimansala in the project, where the Army is to set up another four wellness resorts to facilitate permanently disabled soldiers in each district. Abimansala, built at a cost of over Rs. 200 million was built under the funds collected by the Army Seva Vanitha branch headed by its President Manjulika Jayasooriya.

Abimansala includes accommodation for soldiers with multiple injuries, an administrative centre and visitors’ centre and its swimming pool in the middle of the complex is being used to provide water therapy to injured soldiers. Each room is equipped with four beds and TV facilities.

The five villas with two-bedrooms are shared by four inmates and an attendant is assigned to each villa. The families of inmates are also accommodated in five cottages where each has two bedrooms, sitting and dining room and pantry. “Some go home on leave but we always encourage families, who are given food and lodging, to visit them to spend time with them to give these soldiers a homely feeling”, Col Bandara said.Priyalal Samararatne, who had fallen from a tree when building a makeshift Army camp is paralysed from below the waist.

The legs were removed and the mobility of hands has returned after many months of physio-therapy. “Now I feel 100 percent healthy and I can look after myself”, Samararatne who navigates the wheel chair, which he could not operate earlier, said.The 33-year-old of the 1 Commando regiment could not sit on the wheel chair and was bed-ridden for over nine years. Within a period of six months his mobility has improved significantly through well-planned physio-therapy plus his sheer commitment to defeat his disability. “I feel I’m normal now”, Samararatne said with confidence.

Physio-therapist Asanga said a group of six out of 26 who required physio-therapy are given treatment according to a schedule. “ First we do a physio-therapy assessment to draw up a plan for each one.

Daily training is given to improve muscle power while helping them to improve their mental status through meditation to motivate them to carry out the sessions”, he said.Lal Premakumara (37), is disabled since 2005 after facing a mortar attack at Kolombathurai Jaffna.

Wheel-chair bound Lal started gradually walking after getting physio-therapy treatment. A resident of Wariyapola, he was treated at the Ranaviru Hospital Ragama and then transferred to Abimansala.

“The medical staff is well-trained to handle our disabilities and we are getting all the facilities we need to stand on our own. I decided that I will walk again and work hard according to instructions. I go home when I get leave but my family comes frequently to stay with me as they are given facilities here”, Lal, a father of a teenage daughter and determined that one day he will walk perfectly again, said recalling how he lay in bed for over five years.

[‘Abimansala-2’ will be built in Udumulla shortly]

The foundation was recently laid for ‘Abimansala-2’ in the South at Wilpitawatta, Udumulla under the Athuraliya Divisional Secretariat. It will provide life-long care to 48 war heroes in the South.

The new ‘Abimansala-2’ project, estimated to cost around Rs. 240 million upon completion lies in a 10-acre serene natural environment with rich bio-diversity and waterways, bordering ‘Haliela Wewa’, and was donated by the Land Reforms Commission.

The proposed Wilpitawatta ‘Abimansala-2’ will provide war heroes with therapeutic aid, seven villas, five cottages and ward complex for 20 inmates, swimming pool, gymnasium, physiotherapy unit, medical wing, medical laboratory, library, indoor stadium, entertainment hall, dining hall, auditorium, kitchen, herbal treatment (Ayurveda) centre and a few more essential wings.

The proposed ‘Abimansala 2’ project, even before the foundation laying ceremony gets under way, has received heartening confirmed patronage for construction of six villas from Mas Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, Sri Lanka Insurance, Singer (Pvt) Ltd, David Wickramarathna Company (Pvt) Ltd, Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment Seva Vanitha Unit and the Sri Lanka Army Service Corps Seva Vanitha Unit to-date. Each Villa costs Rs. 5.25 million.

Renowned gem entrepreneurs, led by Jinadasa Guruge, Vinil Menik and the Association for Gem Traders as well as Dilmah (Pvt) Ltd, have undertaken the completion of five cottages in the complex, exclusively meant for permanently disabled and dependent war heroes in the Southern Province.

A cottage is estimated to cost Rs. 4 million. The estimated cost for the swimming pool is Rs. 15.5 million. The Army expects donations from well-wishers to complete resorts to provide life-long care to permanently disabled war heroes.