Sachini and her loving mother Ramani live in the seaside district of Ahungalla . They are very close and seem inseparable, more so than usual perhaps , because Sachini was born hearing and speech impaired.
Sachini as a small child initially spent some time in a school catering for disabilities in Ambalangoda. It was soon apparent that she was outstanding, so much so that this school recommended that she should be sent to a regular school. At the regular school , she integrated and coped well in studies right up to the age of 14. For some reason , at this age she became reluctant to continue schooling and stopped going to school entirely.
Around the same time, Ramani heard about a programme specially tailored for the underprivileged and the disadvantaged in her district and immediately signed up for herself and her daughter.
According to Ramani, Sachini had never even held a needle in her life before. Yet she came. Sachini’s enthusiasm, excitement and concentrated effort was soon obvious. After a few days of attending the workshop by Sawako and Nimi, Sachini proudly completed a cute patchwork pouch - entirely handmade, all by herself. Sachini was hooked and looked forward to more such sessions.
Thus began her journey of learning to sew , both by hand and by machine, and when the Shakti premises were established in Colombo, both mother and daughter travelled 3 hours up and 3 hours down daily by bus for weekly workshops every 2 months for several years( right up to the time the pandemic began)
Shakti provided workshops for the both of them. Sachini thrived at Shakti where her mother filled in the gaps to occasionally explain something difficult to her in sign language. But Sachini generally fitted in seamlessly and soon became the favourite “ baby “ of the class , among the much older women there.
Sachini gained much confidence and took off from where she left off (stopping school) and was back in a different group setting where her skill level grew by leaps and bounds so much so that she was absolutely on par and perhaps even better than some of the others.Nimi remembers her creating a huge distraction one day and pointing out when a beginner was using a template to draw the outline of an elephant print pouch - Sachini noticed that the template was mistakenly placed in the wrong direction! ( such that the elephant print would have appeared sideways on the product)
Sachini’s handiwork skills and creativity was further made apparent when she was given an opportunity at Shakti to produce a range of paper-quilled greeting cards. So besides sewing , she got yet another means to earn an income , doing yet another thing she loved.
One day, Nimi came up with the idea to do something different for Sachini ...perhaps she could share her skill with others who are disadvantaged, even in a small way. After all, her mother Ramani was a volunteer back home as a Sunday school teacher so helping others was part of their family culture. So Shakti organised an afternoon treat for some war orphans living in an orphanage, in Kotte where Sachini and mother were to go. The highlight of the day was a paper quilling demonstration by Sachini for the children after which they each got to create their own designs, with Sachini going round from table to table to help each one of them.
The afternoon was a huge success with Sachini being the star of the day. She was presented with an award that day by the orphanage. She had found joy in giving back and became a teacher for the day, just like her mother.
The children ( some of whom were still badly traumatised) also learnt an important lesson that day about being disadvantaged..... that there are others who are disadvantaged in ways that they are not. Perhaps they felt grateful that they could hear and speak... and all else that they did have....perhaps they saw a role model in Sachini ... a girl of their generation , not dwelling on a disadvantage , rather , living a normal life with a smile on her face.
Ramani must be commended here for her constant support of Sachini and we do see her trying to balance the fine art of supporting , guiding, protecting and also of slowly having to let go. Sachini is where she is today largely because of her mother who kept a lookout and grabbed perhaps every opportunity she could to help Sachini. Shakti recognises her efforts towards Sachini and therefore Ramani (who is also highly skilled at handcrafting and sewing ) is also being supported through Shakti.
Sachini is a delightfully happy young lady aged 22 now, and she still used to break into giggles when she did a “ high-5 “ with Nimi , pre pandemic. When we have a a video call we still high-5 over the screen. During Shakti workshops, she never failed to greet with a Hi or a Bye , no matter how she struggled to bring out the sound.
Sachini has taught many of us that it is not what you don’t have that matters, and that it is what you do have that matters.. and to live life to the fullest. With joy. She teaches all this by just being herself , all this comes just so naturally to her. Shakti couldn’t be more proud of her. She is and will always be Shakti’s Special Girl.