Wenura Edirisinghe – A student hero
Once upon a time there was a child called Wenura. He lived in a rural area near to Anamaduwa. His father was a “sinhala wedamahaththaya” while the mother was a housewife. Wenura’s father served the poor people free of charge. They lived from the little income gained through their cultivations such as paddy, mung bean, peas, cassava, sweet potatoes and etc. Those areas were very remote and underdeveloped without proper roads, transporting means, electricity, markets, good hospitals and schools and etc… Therefore people lived in that area were suffering in various means.
However, small wenura and his friends had no such problems. They were enjoying the real childhood. they ignored the difficulties in the area. For schooling, they had to walk more than 6 kilometers to the village school. Wenura and friends walked through foot paths in wild areas passing thorny and tough bushes and they used to play in the wild areas while returning from the school. At any season of the year, there were various types of fruits on the way they traveled. The kids tasted those fruits such as mango, cashew,Pera , “Dan”, jackfruit, tamarind, orange and etc. They did not care the dangers in the wild areas. Even those areas were the habitats of elephants, wild boars, and snakes like animals. But Wenura and friends seemed happy everyday.
Wenura was a clever student at the school. The only teacher who alone preserved the school with limited classes for the attending few students, loved Wenura very much not only because he was a well promising but also he was talented in extra curricular activities such as sports. The child Wenura too loved his teacher as he did his parents.
When Wenura was at year three, the teacher decided that Wenura should be prepared for the year 5 scholarship since he was very promising student. The teacher met and asked the Wenura’s parents to transfer him to a better school. How miserable! The poor parents were unable to provide him a better school and also Wenura refused to leave his friends, school and the village where he enjoyed very much. Though there were many difficulties, he loved his village and its people.
One day evening, all of a sudden, Wenura’s mother suffered with a chest pain. It was unbearable!
At the moment his father was far away to treat a person. Wenura was thunderstruck with to do except screaming for help. He cried and screamed a lot for help. Few villagers came after a few minutes to look at the matter. They decided to carry Wenura’s mother to Anamaduwa Hospital. It was about 20 kilometers and they could resort to a cart to get to the hospital. Wenura was still weeping and walking behind the cart. He felt that the thorny routes were too cruel to make the long journey more difficult. When they arrived at the hospital after few hours harsh journey, there was no any doctor there. The only doctor had left the hospital after long hour works. The nurses admitted the patient, Wenura’s mother, and gave her some pain killer tablets. On the following day, the doctor examined the patient and prescribed transfer to the Negombo base hospital for treatments. Mother’s chest pain got worse. She suffered a lot. The child Wenura was so afraid and was weeping. He explained his father what happened.
facing many difficulties, Wenura’s mother was transferred to the Negombo hospital
and small Wenura did not move from the mother’s bed. Wenura’s father was able to get the assistance from a remote relative near to Negombo.
Meanwhile Wenura’s teacher had talked with a principal of a school in Negombo about Wenura’s education.
Everything was getting better. Mother’s health condition turned good. Wenura used to school in Negombo. Mother and father always encouraged Wenura to study hard. However, every suffering was printed in his heart and was nightmarish to him.
Few months later, with full confident, Wenura sat for the year 5 scholarship exam.
Fortunately, Wenura had passed the exam and he was enrolled to a leading central college in Madampe. From there he grew better and better. He used to write letters to his beloved teacher at his village school and his friends there. He explained his new life, successes, difficulties, how much he missed them, and the difference of the surrounding from the village. He remembered the suffering of the villagers. He wanted to save his beloved ones. But what he could do for it. Who were responsible? It was Unjust!
With all those feelings, Wenura continued studying and scored best at GCE O/L in District level. He was admitted to the Royal College Colombo. He sooner attracted many teachers and friends to praise him. His determination and dedication proved he was a real promising student. During his stay in Colombo, Wenura recognized the huge differences between country side and urban area. All the opportunities were gathered in urban area while nothing was available to poor people in villages. Nobody cares poor people. They were just suffering and only suffering. Wenura always talked about these matters with his new friends. He explained his experiences in his village and how those unmerited people suffered due to underdevelopment.
Oh! How fortunate it was! Wenura was able to score highest as the island’s 1st in A/L Science stream. It was a new record in the Royal College. It pledged him a prosperous future. Wenura’s mother and father were at the extreme of happy.
