There are five of us. I have three children. My wife goes to work in the estate. I go to work in the private vegetable estate here. When we say income, it is only the day’s work. My wife gets 1500 rupees, out of which she spends 500 rupees on bus transportation and the remaining 1000 rupees will be brought home. Look at my monthly salary slip, it’s Rs.2200 and our electricity bill is 1200. Can you even imagine how we are surviving?
Everything is a problem here. We face a lot of difficulties even to get basic medical facilities. There is no road facility, hospital facility, or doctor facility in this estate. Even to meet a midwife, we have to go to the office on top of the mountain. Even if you go there, you have to bend over and beg them to get the services done. The pharmacy is now closed and it is no longer there. Even pregnant mothers have to walk 5 kilometers to go to the health facility.
Even the house where we live has no deed. If they ask us to leave this place tomorrow, we will have to leave. There is no guarantee. We have all been living like this for generations. There are 4,500 people in this division. Politicians come here only during the elections. They concrete some roads and they will only come again if the temple has special programmes. They tell us that many houses have been allocated for us, wave their flags and then disappear without a trace.
Ravindran
Gampaha Watta, Udupussellawa
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