“A hero can be anyone, even a man doing something as simple as reassuring putting a coat on a young boy’s shoulders” -Batman
I recall a memory from November, two years back; a memory that still melts my heart. A memory of us taking the amazingly willed children of the Sevana Special School and Child Care Centre on a one-day trip to Rathnapura; under pouring rain, putting coats and holding umbrellas over them and making sure they enjoy the day to the fullest without missing any of the experience and fun we got in store. The same experience was what I was looking forward to witnessing yet was never able to because of a pandemic that would turn the world upside down. This however is not a story of dismay, rather a “colourful” story of what transpired into this year’s project Sevana.
It was one of our Community Service Directors who rang the phone of the Sevana institute with a heavy heart to let them know that they will not get the most awaited day of those children’s calendars. Instead of a sad conversation, what we got was a plan to bring that joy to these young souls without us not even being there beside them. Thus, gave birth to the idea of painting their everyday home. Of course, the children were at their actual homes, enjoying the time they got because of Covid. We on the other hand were eager to prepare a wonderful surprise when they returned.
The day arrived when our own Board members got together at the Sevana institute, with roller brushes and paint buckets in hand. I of course was the first to arrive with Akalanka and were soon met with Nilakshi, Ayeshma, and Nipuni. Having enjoyed last night’s football match (El Classico as I remember) Isiwara joined the club another half an hour later at we were all good to go. The plan was to finish the initial repairs and get the hall to be readied for the next day when the junior members would come to finish the painting and to do the touchups. The mission started with everyone grabbing either sandpaper or a scrapper while the paint was being bought. I would say I worked the least, still selling dengue as an excuse (it was around 2 weeks). By noon, our reinforcements arrived in the shape of Sithira and Reshani who had just finished a PR meeting.
After a few hours, it was time for lunch and it called for the biggest challenge for the day; choosing 6 curries from 50. Added to that it was Sithira, Akalanka, and I who went to buy lunch, having paint sprayed all over us. After a considerate amount of time spent on deciding what to get, everyone was at the dining hall with tired but joyful faces, partially for the food that we later found was quite the meal. I should really mention that Nipuni got the box labeled TF; “Thalapath Fish” according to the restaurant owner. After the meal, we quickly finished the rest of the work. We had managed to finish all the work including the final touchups by the late evening, leaving no work for the next day. The only thing that was left for us to do was to return to our homes and hope the children would love the new look we had given to their hall.
As I pen this, the children would not have come to the school just yet, thus we never got to know how they reacted to the surprise we prepared. We however were quite satisfied with the effort we made to colour their world with a few brushes and paints. Sure, we never got to be the heroes that Batman told, not literally this time; but the effort would make all of us one step closer to the path of the heroes for the years to come.
By Rtr. Sachindra Mendis
Nice one Sachindra ayya 🤩⭐