Every child expects great results in Ordinary Level examination and when they do, it is literally a dream come true for them. You feel much more happiness when you achieve such results despite being struck with poverty and other hardships that are thrown your way. It is more or less the biggest achievement for the poverty-stricken children from ill afforded families who have gone through many hardships in life. These children better understand the challenges in life and for them the only way out from their extremities is excelling in education and finding a white collar job.
We came across two children living in Mullaitivu, disabled during the war in 2009 who obtained excellent results in 2019 G.C.E. Ordinary Level examination. This is the story of Bavatharani and Vidurshika who successfully passed an important hurdle in life and how they fared under many struggles and hardships.
Bavatharani lives in Thaneerootu West, Mullaitivu and she is the second child of a family of three children. She had been disabled in 2009 from a shelling attack at Mullaitivu Ambalavanar Pokkanai. Her father had been killed during the war and her mother, a house wife, had taken the whole burden of the family on her shoulders since then and survived with her husband’s pension. Bavatharani has an elder brother who will sit for the G.C.E. Advanced Level examination in 2020 and a younger brother who is in grade 6.
Bavatharani obtained 8As and 1B and is truly proud of her achievement and to be able to make her family proud. She explained the difficulties she had to face in her journey to success. Her family had long been marred with financial struggles and it had directly impacted her education, being unable to attend any extra class sessions to expand her knowledge.
‘’I am really happy about this achievement and I extend my gratitude to my family, teachers who helped me a lot. I have chosen Bio stream for Advanced Level and I want to continue my studies without giving in to any difficulties that come my way. I would like to give a piece of advice to younger brothers and sisters to not give up the effort at any cost. You will reach your goal one day. My father is not here to help us and I am grateful if there is any possibility of providing us any financial support.’’ she said.
Bawatharani’s future ambition is to become a doctor.
Vidurshika is a 17 year old living in Mulliyavalai, Mullaitivu who had been unfortunately disabled in 2009 during an attack at the Vavuniya Chettikulam Ananda Kumaraswamy Welfare camp. Her father is a daily wage earner and her mother is a house wife while her brother is an undergraduate at the Moratuwa University.
She obtained 6As, 3BsS and 1C and is extremely proud of her achievement. She went on to say, ‘’It is a proud moment for me and I could not have come this far without the support from my family members. They help me a lot in managing my daily tasks and also in pursuing my education. My father is a daily wage earner who earns a meager sum of money per day which is barely enough for our family to meet the day to day expenses. I would be very grateful if there is any possibility of extending financial support for my higher studies’’
Her parents had been able to afford tuition classes for the main subjects even under many hardships and her teachers had helped her a lot in her studies. Now, she has already begun studies after choosing the Bio stream for her A/L’s and finally, she noted, ‘’Don’t give up on your studies no matter what hurdles come your way’’
These two stories reflect the voice of the forsaken and there may be thousands of unheard stories similar to these. Life has thrown many challenges ahead of them and they have been equal to the task and weathered the storm. Their unrelenting courage and perseverance have brought them success that they cherish the most.
