At 84 ‘traffic aachchi’ still helps schoolchildren cross the road

For more than 40 years she has helped children of Hettimulla Junior school cross the main Kandy-Colombo road. Meet 84-year-old K. Lily Violet, lovingly known as 'traffic aachchi' by thousands of children who have come in and out of the junior school.

Recalling how she started out as ‘ traffic aachchi’ she said, “I was born on May 5, 1938 in Kegalle. My husband S.K. Sirisena worked as an SLTB driver." She was widowed at a very young age when her daughter was just three years old.

" In 1980 my daughter Mangalika was admitted to Hettimulla Junior School. On the very first day I noticed how challenging it was for kids to cross the road, putting their live's at risk.

“I was saddened to see this and for 46 years I have dedicated my life to help the children cross the road," she said with a smile. Since then one can see her in front of the junior school helping students not just of that school but of other schools in the vicinity too, to cross the road.

Age has not diminished her enthusiasm and donning a cap and jacket provided by the traffic police, the cheerful octogenarian continues her mission.

Other schools in the area to have recognised and acknowledged her unstinting service.

“Some of the students whom I helped cross the road are now grown up adults doing good jobs and they never fail to visit me bearing gifts," she said.