Houses On The Water Front…

By  Ranee Mohamed

Their postal address boasts of a house in Colombo 6 — but visit them at their homes down the canal bank beginning at the Pamankade Bridge and the truth unfolds.

And as the rain comes they remain enveloped by fear and suffering. “The water seeps through our foundation and floods our houses. The springing waters are uncontrollable, they come through the walls and through the floor in large squirts,” said Bhadra, holding her half clad children close.

Their life is so unlike the posh addresses that they flaunt. “It is convenient for us to live here. In fact some of us have been living here for 40 years,” said a resident not willing to divulge her name.

As the flies swarmed and children played in the dirty puddles, the still waters of the stagnant canal were all they had for scenery.

Garbage bags

Far off in the place they called their horizon, we could see the black garbage bags come by slowly, like stodgy people, bursting at their seams. “We get garbage bags from all over the city. They come from as far off as Kirulapone,” said an emaciated man balancing his son on his hip. “These days the garbage bags are being swept our way because of the rain water,” he said pointing out to the garbage bags stuck down below… As the child’s coughing  drowned the words the man looked towards him.

“We wish we could provide a better living standard for our families. But there is no one to appeal to. We have several samithis (organisations) but nothing has come right. There is a bathroom and a toilet on one side of the street and another on the other side of the street, he said attempting to point far away down to the cemented construction that seemed to be heaped atop each other down the winding lane that resembled a python.

Beg or borrow

But here it was poverty that seemed to grip these people who are unable to beg or borrow.

“One ought to come here in the night and see the mosquitoes. There are millions of them and our children have no protection against these swarms that fly all over the canal.

There is a sick child in every house. “Our children are helpless against these mosquitoes,” said some mothers in tears.

The doors of these poor little homes opened to the road and as traffic sped, children ran from their homes along the road, as if to escape the speeding vehicles.

No tranquility

But 10 year old Amila could not run fast, and his leg remains in a cast — an accident not caused on a main road but in the ‘garden’ of his neighbourhood. Hundreds of children living here run the risk of being knocked down.

As if the risk of traffic is not enough the residents said there were snakes and water monitors that come their way along with the rains and the dirty waters that flow. “All the drains flow into this canal. All the garbage seems to be dumped in here and we are at the receiving end of all this.

Some say, living by the water can be tranquil. But these people have not known tranquility in a lifetime.

raneemoham@hotmail.com