On the way from Hambantota to our holiday resort in Kalutara we stopped at Tangalle to meet three year old Asjath and his Mother.

The boy was born December 4^th, 2008 and Roy had given us a whole stack of copies of doctor’s reports.  Obviously the baby was healthy at the time he was born.  But at the age of 9 months he was admitted to a Colombo hospital suffering from pneumonia and sepsis and had to be under oxygen for three months.  Due to his illness he suffered from permanent lung damage as well as some brain damage, still a stigma in Sri Lanka.  According to the papers he has been on strong medication ever since and this is causing osteoporosis on top of it all.

We lack the medical knowledge to interpret all the medical records accurately.  After his son fell ill, the Father left the family and the Mother returned to her parents’ house in a shanty town in Tangalle.  The costs for the medication, the repeating treatments and that they have to take the boy once a month to Colombo, cause big problems for the family.  A heavy burden.

Asjath is a very lively and outgoing little boy.  One pat on my knees then stretching my arms out for him and he sat on my lap.  Much more interesting was Michel’s camera but since his Uncle would not let him play with all the buttons, he was back on my lap examining my purse instead.

We would be very happy to find a sponsor for Asjath.