Nearly all the “non-formal” children of the village of Urala now have their birth certificates (see separate story), and Extra Cover is working with Mr Athula to ensure all of them are formally registered. The children need additional support, because they have not been going to school until recently. They attend Bemboda School, but it is understandably challenging for them, the regular Bemboda pupils, and the teachers in equal measure, and so they receive after-school instruction from the saintly Miss Derrika.
The children all live on Hillside Tea Estate, but the estate management will not allow any after-school activities to take place on their property, in part because they see how children start to want to have ID cards (which are their right) and, should they wish, find employment elsewhere. And so the children are forced to use a room outside the estate gates. The room only has three walls, and before their daily lesson, the pupils first have to sweep it clean of filth. We have asked for the cost of using the four-walled, locked, and clean village hall across the road, and we hope that together with Miss Derrika’s fierce loyalty to these children, Mr Athula’s tact and courage will ensure that these children flourish. Extra Cover is committed to this cause, and we hope that, for a modicum amount of money, we can give these beautiful children the dignity that is so much their due.
