Living in hope and joy in the face of adversity

By Kumudini Hettiarachchi

Washed, brushed and fed and on a day when the rains have been banished by bright sunlight, one is in the tiny hall sketching to his heart’s content while the other two are ‘sunning’ themselves just outside the door.

These are not squeaky-clean babies, but a youth of 20, M. Mayuran, and his younger brothers, 17-year-old M. Priyadharsha and 15-year-old M. Kabilash. Ironically, though they literally live on the boundary of a school down Narahenpita’s Kirimandala Mawatha, the three have not ‘stepped’ or been carried into a school for many years.

The younger two are chairbound, while the eldest is sprawled on the floor – very well-looked after and content they are as their mother and father, who has taken a day-off, are going about the shack they call home dusting, sweeping and keeping everything tidy and in its place.

Muscular dystrophy has ravaged all three, insidiously creeping up on them and taking M. Manoharan (52) and M. Manohari (50) by shock. Spared is their youngest and only daughter, 11-year-old Yadurshika, from this wasting disease. The day we visit, she is at school.

Stoic acceptance of their lot with equanimity, however cruel, hard, agonizing and unfair it may seem, is what we see.

This family facing numerous and seemingly insurmountable odds brings forth another image – that of the Holy Family 2,017