From innocence: The journey of a betrayed woman” - How a Soft Toys Expert stitched back into place A Broken Soul

The entire book revolves more around her faith - Christianity – and she affirms that God had a plan for her, and she realized that the Almighty was always walking alongside her when she looks back and reminisces her life

Dilani de Silva is one hell of a woman. I write in the first person when penning this piece on Dilani and her maiden book ‘From Innocence: The journey of a betrayed woman’ because she is a dear friend of mine. The word hell can be associated with her because Dilani went through hell before she stepped into a summer where flowers are now blooming in her life. God has been kind to her or stood beside her in troubled times; whichever way, her close associates may want to put it. The winter that she ensured before the summer was terrible to say the least, but she survived. Now she has a new book and a new man in her life. She has found love in a man named Kim Malcolm and vouches it is for real; like the summer she is experiencing.

The book begins with an account of her childhood experiences and it is clear from the start that she was destined to attract trouble; largely from the males who gave her attention. By age 17 she was married to a man called Dominic, who, according to the content in the book, was a habitual drunkard and a person who believed in lust and not love. According to Dilani’s account in the book, Dominic’s merrymaking and addiction to alcohol had had a negative impact on her life. It was during her marriage to Dominic that she had to undergo treatment at the National Institute for Mental Heath (NIMH). 

The effects of having been mentally challenged for a long period in her life show in most passages in this book. Even in her writing, the story suddenly loses connection with ongoing themes and she unconsciously plunges into the darknesses of her life. Those grey areas of her life seem to have a great pulling power, and if she is not careful, can rob her of the pleasant summer she is experiencing.

The entire book revolves more around her faith – Christianity - and she affirms that God had a plan for her and she realized that the Almighty was always walking alongside her when she looks back and reminisces her life lived thus far. In the book she thanks many close friends who come into her life at crucial stages of this challenging life journey as the pages of her book are turned. She dedicates a paragraph to the late artist Jagath Kodithuwakku who she names as the person who taught her lessons in simplicity. “Jagath taught me how to be satisfied with a plain tea (black tea) when I’m short on the door” she recounts in the book.

According to the content in the book she virtually goes where life takes her. She didn’t have a solid plan even though she harboured dreams to get out of the dark hole she was in. Her life flowed like a river to finally merge with a sea full of love and affection

A person reading her autobiography can observe that unknowingly art has worked as a therapy for her. She is an artist and a soft toys designer. After her complete recovery she has worked with the NIMH and helped mentally challenged females to find their feet in life. It is because of these efforts that in the years 2019 and 2020 she was awarded with certificates of appreciation from none other than Dr. Firdosi Mehta, the WHO representative for South Asian countries, when the latter visited Sri Lanka.

She is also a regular church goer and affirms she has been touched by the holy spirit. Dilani recounts in her book how when she was in England with Kim she had experienced a spiritually touching moment. Dilani had been following a sermon by Pastor Dishan online and she was experiencing stiffness in all her ten fingers and was in great discomfort. The pastor had then suddenly said “there is a woman who is experiencing pain in her ten fingers and she needs your prayers.” In a few minutes she had experienced complete cure. What would baffle readers is the fact that the pastor’s sermon was held in Sri Lanka and she was in England.

According to the content in the book she virtually goes where life takes her. She says she didn’t have a solid plan even though she harboured dreams to get out of the dark hole she was in. She says in a chapter of the book that her life flowed like a river. Like all the great rivers in this island starting from the high mountains and flowing down a path and going around rocks and boulders before finally finding their way to the sea she too has allowed her life to flow and merge with a sea full of love and affection.