London Sri Kanaka Durkai Amman Malaiyagam Illam is home to 31 children (girls) spanning from the age of 8 through to 17. The children are from Tamil families of the up-country area in central Sri Lanka; this area is prolifically a tea estate area, and this is where the Tamil families are employed as tea pluckers, or in the men’s case as people to operate various machinery. Many of the children lost their parents as a result of the job-related accidents on the tea estates; snake bites are a common occurrence in the fields. Some of the children have one parent who is unable to take care of them either due to a lack of income since the wages are so poor in the estate sector, or in some cases due to mental illness. Due to the poor wages in the tea estates many children start work at a very young age, forfeiting their education in order to add to the tiny family income.
These Tamil families are of Indian origin, having been brought to Sri Lanka to work the tea estates in 1823. An average family income is 4000 Rupees (approx. £20) per month, and there is a serious problem of alcohol abuse due to the fact that the men finish work at lunch time whereas the women work until 5pm, leaving the men the opportunity to drink away the family earnings whilst the woman are still at work. If the children in the family are too young to be employed by the tea estate, they are often sent to the big houses in a nearby area where they work as servants for a miniscule wage; this is not uncommon for children as young as eight years old.
The children at the home are provided with a safe and stable place to live, in a loving and caring environment. They attend Tamil Girls Maha Vidyalayam School in Badulla, where they will receive a good standard education, giving them the hope of a brighter future. Following school the children are also provided with extra tuition classes in many subjects to further improve their skills and education. The atmosphere within the home is welcoming, bubbly and friendly; the children appear happy and there are clearly strong friendships and bonds between the children and staff alike. There are 2 staff members who live at the home and take care of the children. Unfortunately due to the small wage which they receive most staff members only stay for around one year until a job with a better wage is found, which poses a difficult problem for both the management team and the children, as things are continuously changing.
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