Sameera Sandaruwan was only twelve years old when a fall accident led to him being paralyzed from the waist down. Sameera completely lost her zest for life and felt for many years a great burden for her family. Today, the situation is completely different.
Sameera remembers the date well, but almost nothing of the actual fall from the tree or the immediate time thereafter. It was on May 16, 2001, that an aunt asked him to climb a tree to bring her a jackfruit. So did Sameera, even though his mother had warned him not to climb tall trees.
-When I got home from the hospital, I could not even move from side to side in bed. Then I just lay there for several years, he says.
Sri Lanka is today considered a middle-income country in the lower class. Despite strong economic development since the end of the civil war, many of the country's inhabitants live close to the poverty line. For low-income families, an accident that leads to disability can be a financial disaster. In the case of Sameera, his father was forced to stop working to take care of his son.
-During that time, I just wanted to die. I was completely dependent on my parents and had become a burden to them, even though no one said it was so. On several occasions I tried to commit suicide by getting married. The accident created so many problems in the family, which were poor even before. We became completely dependent on our mother's income and that made us even poorer.
Slowly, life began to brighten again
In connection with our interview, Sameera is on a temporary visit to Colombo with his wife and children. He looks younger than his 30 years sitting in his wheelchair at MyRight's office. He answers all questions quickly, accurately and in a soft voice. A little while ago he sat quietly and looked lovingly at his little daughter where she lay sleeping between two office chairs in the room next door. The girl is his firstborn, only nine months old and sweet as a dream. He has also taken with him the awards he has been awarded by the Chamber of Commerce in Monaragala. One is a certificate that Sameera has been named one of the province's leading contractors. The other is a still-wrapped figurine from the same chamber of commerce. Both awards are usually on site in Sameera's small workshop for repairs of mobile phones and other electronic equipment that he now runs at home in the village.
Monaragala is one of Sri Lanka's poorest districts and before the accident, both Samera's parents worked as day laborers to support their five children. It took four years after the accident before life began to brighten a little for Sameera. After just lying in bed at home, he started reading newspapers and writing texts and poems.
-I was never very good at school, but I could read and write a little even before the accident. After the fall, I managed to train that ability. Reading, writing and drawing became a way for me to forget the problems, he says.
In time, other villagers began visiting Sameera to ask him for help writing letters. This led to him starting to get a network around him and as a 16-year-old he also started to make new friends.
-With that, life began to change. I also got access to a wheelchair that a local politician donated to me, Sameera says.
Vocational training became Sameera's major turning point
About ten years ago, he also came in contact with the local organization Wellassa Organization of Persons with Disabilities, WOPD. It was in connection with that that life really picked up speed again. Through the organization, Sameera got the chance to first attend a technical vocational training and then a six-month further training with a focus on mobile phone repairs. The training also included a starter kit with the equipment that a mobile repairer needs - and a strengthened self-confidence.
-Before that I had no desire to live. But through the vocational training I met many other people with disabilities. It made me realize I wasn't alone and it made me appreciate life more.
In the beginning, Sameera lived with her sister's home in Monaragala and ran her business from there. Today he lives with his wife and daughter in their own home in another village in the district where he also rents premises for his repair shop.
Step by step, my finances have improved. Now I can pay all my expenses and support my wife and child with my own income. I am extremely happy and proud of my current situation. Today I want to live my whole life.
Sameera did not give up hope of the great love
Sameera met his wife after vocational training, when he had begun to regain his zest for life again. But even the path to love was a struggle. Every day he had seen Indika Hennayaka Mudiyanselage pass by on the road outside her sister's house during her walk to work.
-I fell in love with her and did everything I could to win her heart, but first I was rejected. However, I did not give up but wrote poems to her, sent messages and continued my attempts to get in touch, says Sameera.
Finally he succeeded and today the couple is happily married. The only shadow over their relationship is that Indika's parents have remained opposed to the marriage.
-They refused to approve me due to my disability and still have no contact with us. They did not even come and visit after we had our baby, Sameera says.
He says there is still a lot to be done regarding the attitudes of people with disabilities in Sri Lanka. As an example, he tells of an incident that occurred when he was on his way home from the mobile workshop with his wife.
-A woman came and stopped us. I thought she would ask me about a cell phone that needed repairing. But instead opened her bag and wanted to donate some coins to me because she thought I was a beggar. Then my wife got upset.
-If society does not provide the support that is needed, it will lead to many people with disabilities having no other alternative than to beg, Sameera says.
-With the right support, many can instead become independent and avoid begging, he says.
The need to be independent is something that Sameera returns to. Today, he believes that that fateful fall from the tree, after all, has not deprived him of the most important things in life. And he no longer feels like a burden.
-I have been able to get married, I have a decent income and have even been able to give some money to my parents. It has been very nice to be able to support my parents who are now very happy for me. They have told how they lost all hope of me after the accident, but today they are happy and feel no anxiety, Sameera says proudly.
