No home for little Elina after mum runs away and dad lands in jail

Dubai: Little Elina is bright, chirpy and intelligent. Like most five-year-olds, she enjoys an occasional sip of cola and a carefree ride on a toy car. It’s only when the evening wears on and it’s time for her to go home that she draws a blank. For almost a fortnight now, she hasn’t had a place to go back to any where she can call home.

Her single father Chris from Sri Lanka is in police custody since January 5 for credit card debts and it’s been long since Elina’s Filipina mother left them – three months after delivering her in a Sharjah hospital in March 2009. Those doubling up as ‘carers’ in the absence of her parents are now getting wary of taking her home, fearing legal hassles.

“She doesn’t have a passport or any identification paper as she was born out of wedlock. Her father was staying on a visa that expired almost four years ago and her mother is blacklisted from entering the UAE. It’s not an easy situation for her to be in,” Tina De Silva, a Sharjah beautician and friend of Elina’s father told XPRESS earlier this week.

At her tender age, Elina is oblivious of the complications she has been drawn into even though she understands that ‘police have taken her daddy away’.

Daddy’s child

“Her dad has been everything to her. He lost his cashier’s job at an exchange house soon after Elina was born and had to rough it out in parks and under staircases. He survived doing odd jobs, including washing cars but he never let Elina go hungry even if it meant feeding her powdered milk stirred in tap water,” said De Silva.

“All this has, however, kept her away from school. She was enrolled in a nursery but her father couldn’t pay the fees beyond a few months. She’s always stayed at home since,” she added.

When XPRESS met Elina this week, signs of the fragmented life she has led so far were apparent.

Like most kids of her age, she loves posing and playing the prank, making funny faces and solving tricky puzzles when not buzzing with energy, running around chairs and tables. She struggles, unlike most of her peers though, when it comes to writing. She can just about scribble ‘Elina’ in English despite being able to speak five languages including fluent Sinhalese. She looks like a Fillipino child but barely speaks few lines of Tagalog.

“She is very intelligent for her age and has adapted to her situation amazingly well. She picks up whatever languages she hears others speak,” said an Indian baby-sitter who kept her for an entire day.

“She needs a permanent home with proper love and care. We can’t keep her nights after nights like this. We need someone eligible to foster her in her parents’ absence, “ she said.

(Names of the girl’s father and his friend have been changed on request)

Editor’s note: For privacy reasons, we cannot disclose the identity of the father. However, we are working with authorities on the issue and will keep you posted on the developments.