Music came into her life

Seventeen-year-old Thinipa from Pulipainthakal, Kiran division, Batticaloa lost both her parents during the war. Her mother was killed in 1999. Her father remarried and left the family. Thinipa and her younger brother, Thinesh, were looked after by their grandmother for a while, but she was too poor to continue looking after them. Thinipa was admitted to an orphanage in Sittandy and went to school. Her brother Thinesh stayed at his aunt’s house in Trincomallee and he continued his study there.  

No one visited me

“When I was staying at the orphanage I saw family members of other children visiting. I was suffering because no one visited me. Other children also started asking me about my relatives. I didn’t want to be there any longer, I came back home.” For Thinipa coming back meant quitting school. Without parents and without any income or outlook for the future, War Child identified Thinipa as a vulnerable child and took action to facilitate psychosocial support for her and get her back into school.   

The power of music

Thinipa is going to school regularly now even though she has to walk 12 kilometres every day. Even though she is seventeen years old and only in grade 10. She is also participating in creative activities in the resource centre. Thinipa discovered the power of music. She wants to learn keyboard and she is interested in singing. She says: “I feel very happy while I’m singing or playing music with my friends. It is helping me to come out of my misery. I like to learn a lot more about music.”    

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