Tharindu is a teenage boy who lives in Perulia, Sri Lanka. His mother had left the country to seek employment abroad, and after she left, her family had had absolutely no contact with her. His father also left home to live with another woman, and the entire burden of the family fell on Tharindu’s grandmother. All these events caused the young boy a great deal of stress, and he became known in the village for his aggressive nature and his tendency to pick fights. He was hardly prepared for his exams and was finding it very difficult to cope with his studies.

“I felt lonely and unwanted”, he explains. “When I saw other children being led in the hall, with their parents holding their hands, I felt as if my whole world had collapsed. I felt helpless and angry and I did not know what I was doing.”

Tharindu’s family joined the SOS Children’s Villages programme in Peraliya in 2005. He was urged to take part in group counselling before his exams, as he had no parental help at home: even though his father and grandmother were informed about his upcoming exams, they did not offer any support to the young boy. He had to face everything alone.

One day it all got too much for Tharindu: he started crying in one of his classes. Seeing this, his teacher got up and brought her chair next to him. She held his hand and said, “My dear son, sit down here.” That was an emotional moment for Tharindu.

“At that moment, I felt so good just hearing someone call me ‘son’. I felt like I had found a new life and home through the SOS teachers. Every time my teacher called me ‘dear son’, I felt like I had found a caring mother. I even wanted to call her ‘mother’!” he says.

With the support provided by the SOS Children’s Villages teachers, Tharindu was able to sit his exams and passed in five subjects. He then enrolled in the Technical College in Galle for a six-month course, which he also completed successfully and allowed him to fulfil his ambition to join the army, not just as a regular soldier, but as a qualified person.

Tharindu’s grandmother thanked the SOS team for making a responsible citizen out of her grandson at a time when she had all but given up on him. She is now happy that her family is together as one unit at last, and her last comment was that she was happy and could now die in peace.

Children are made unruly by a lack of a caring environment at home: SOS Children’s Villages recognises this and works to provide the love, care and attention that each child and young adult needs. With your donation, you can help us to address the issues at the core of these problems and let every child fulfil their own potential.