e.mail from Nalini

Daya & nalini rodrigo to me

show details 10:20 (35 minutes ago)

Dear All,
I must say its been very interesting reading the e-mails these days & very heartening to see the enthusiasm generated & suggestions from Daya, Nana, Tissa, Karals, Dawood & others. Ranee's "dig deep" for our Alma Mater was also very touching!
After Bernard's query re scope & specific projects, I thought it was time to contact Prof Harsha Seneviratne (Dean) regarding the current needs.
He was very enthusiastic, but warned us that there have been several attempts at forming Alumni Associations in the past but as there was no proper Chairperson & committee - they all generally fizzled out. So it seems important to get our act together on that first.
He said there were dire needs in the following areas :
1) Academic (contact person Rohan Jayasekera)
2) Structural (the front lobby needs sprucing up)
3) Student Welfare which was being handled very well by Priyadharshini Gallappatti. A needs assessment is done & the deserving students are assigned a sponsor & get Rs. 1500 per month from their sponsors (which is hardly sufficient, but something!).
4) The Medical Education Unit (MEDARC) run by Indika Karunatilleke also needs equipment, mannekins, etc.
5) The Library needs books & journals - very specially journals which have become a very costly item.

The Faculty of Medicine Colombo has a website from which we could obtain more information.

Harsha said he could give more specific information & suggestions if we could indicate something of our financial commitment to this - lakhs, millions or billions!! He said there have been several proposals from alumni in the past which didnt go through due to a lack of finances. Hope this doesnt happen to us too!
Nalini

email from Bernard De Silva

Any idea, what the scope of the activities are/

Any specific projects,

Or base on what we know best,

Use our education to help as much as we can,

For as long as we can?

How many can we solicit for help in consults in the south,

1-2 weeks or less at a time.

Some can afford to pay for services,

To be used ,if possible to provide more services. to the less endowed and to cover other pro bono work.

Many of us can bring medicines and other supplies,

And also solicit more samples and drugs to be contributed

By the pharmaceutical companies,

Not for sale, but for donation only.

A mobile service to be manned by the less disabled of us,

And run in rotation, along main roads,

With regular mobile clinics

To meet the needs of those who cannot or will not reach the fixed locations.

The north, north eat, southern coastal belt

Could be in need of more work,

At least until these areas turn economically and are more self sufficient.

We can convert a truck chasis,or import motor home or other vehicle.

email from Ranee Wijesurendra

Dear Daya,

I heartily support your idea to commemorate our Anniversary Gathering this year.Some form of local charitable assistance would be of lasting benefit. " Hard " labour is now beyond me, but i will dig deep tohelp.

Kind regards,

Ranee Wijesurendra.

raneew37@waitrose.com

email from Dawood

Hello all,

A suggestion from Daya has enthused many.

Responses from Tissa, Karals, Nana (of course!), Derryck are on record.

It seems to me that what is mooted is an Alumni Association.

Pardon me for being stupid, But don't we already have thenucleus of one with a website to boot!

Thanks to the early efforts of Phiilip Veerasingham, Tissa Kappagoda et al.

What is required now is to get cracking:

1. Define Objectives.

2.Outline an Administrative structure. Fine Tune the existing Organisation.

3. Appoint a CEO/Council to attend to individual tasks - Phillip Tissa Duru Kapuwatte Buddhi Nana

4.Find A Home

5.. Communicate within and without the Organisation / Sri Lanka

6.To manage finances- Buidges, incomings, disbursements,taxation etc

etc etc, I see no need to labour the issue!!

Blow me down, if needs be!

Best Regards

Dawood

Discussion re Tissa's idea

1. 1. Tissa, I agree without any reservations re your suggestion. In fact Peradeniya has an alumni organization referred to as PEMSA which helps in several ways the faculty and students and was established by late WDH Perera, Palitha Abeykoon, Somasiri, Nimal et al. We may have to specify the year, alternatively we can invite all Colombo graduates to join. I am confident that you will sort out the administrative issues, objectives etc and if I can be of any help, please let me know. Perhaps someone from PEMSA would also be able to provide useful tips, Karals

2. 2. This is an excellent idea.We can also get the support ofother batch members to join us.Bye Daya.

3. 3. Dear Tissa

Need for establishing an Alumini Association- 1960 Batch

I am pleased to note that our thoughts are similar and I agree with most of the sentiments expressed. It is possible that some others may hold very opposite views.

I believe we need to get a consensus 1^st and we could use this forum for sharing our thoughts and asking others for their response.

If there is a good positive response, we need to carefully agree on how best we can move forward. I fully agree that we must focus on ‘Continuing Medical Education’ and we should have very clear, rational and practical aims and objectives.

With such a diversity of expertise, experience and clear vision which some of our batch mates possess ( if it fits, then put it on), this would be a golden opportunity for us as a Group to offer any such assistance to our Alma Mater( provided we mutually agree with the Medical Faculty hirache)

I believe we can offer very valuable assistance in a variety of ways and I can thinkf few:

1 Financial ( for very specific targets)

2. Library and Audio Visual Aids and facilities

3. Teaching and training ( in deficient areas if any)

There must a many more opportunities.

This is just food for thought.

Best wishes

Nana

C.S.Nanayakkara

4.

We can get other batch mates to join too. Likes of channa wijesinghe etc are here and iam surethey will support.Bye Daya j.

5.

Hi!

I am glad that you think this is a good idea! This is something to put on the agenda for discussion (Perhaps Philip could discuss this with the organizing committee). If we set this up and give it a neutral name, other graduates would feel inclined to join in. The thing to remember is that none of us are getting any younger and it would be a good idea to get some folks from the next generation involved as well. Our view of current needs may not be accurate!

At this point, the more discussion and comments we have the better.

Best wishes,

Tissa

Responses

1. Dear Tissa and all my friends (not only batchmates ! )
I agree with the idea and am willing to contribute.
We must put the money in a trust or investment fund so that
we do not stop contributing when we take the long trip!!!

Derryck de Silva

2. This is an excellent idea.We can also get the support ofother batch members to join us.Bye

Daya Jayasinghe.

e.mail from Tissa Kappagoda

Dear Nana, Daya and Philip,

I was struck by Nana's idea because if my experience with various universities in different parts of the world. In the the U.S. there is a rich tradition of Alumni Associations providing enormous financial assistance to their Alma Maters. For instance both Harvard and Stanford give a full remission of fees to undergraduates who are unable to attend the school despite having good grades.

In Sri Lanka, the government charged us nothing for providing what I still consider was an excellent education. By the same token, those things given free usually tend to be regarded as having no value as well. It would be wonderful if we, in some small way, could change this culture among the younger generation who not only expect a free education but a guarantee of a job as well. The politicians perpetuate this culture by promising jobs.

I wonder whether we could consider setting up an Alumni Fund for the Faculty of Medicine in Colombo with specific aims and an appropriate set of rules to further the cause of medical education in Sri Lanka. If we succeed in doing so, other faculties may follow suit. It may go some way towards making the faculties independent of the Government which seems to control every single aspect of life in these institutions.

All the best,

Tissa

e.mail from 'Kalu Nana'

Dear Daya

Thanks for your e mail and the sensible thoughts.

My personal thoughts are that the time and the duration of the Get together is relatively short for us to engage in any sort of Shramadana type of good deed.

The minimum agenda would be most welcome in the circumstances.

Each of us may have different expectations but I feel the most valued thing is to meet and greet the good old mates( whilst we are still physically and mentally alert with most of our senses are in tact) who we had not met for quite some time. Some may want to have a big booze, others may want to gossip any juicy news and others may just want to relax.

Some of us are already in the habit of keeping in touch with few of our friends in a variety of ways. Many would be having many other commitments during the time of the Re Union- meeting their own friends and relatives, visiting places, engaging in cultural and social affairs etc.

You can float your idea for all the batch mates to enable them to respond.

If a significant number agrees with your good thoughts, that would be a start.

I may suggest something like helping the Medical Faculty if we can identify one the dire needs/deficiencies as a priority. If the batch mates are agreeable we may be able make a financial contribution (collectively) towards such a worthy cause. We do not have to do this on the 1st of July but we could have a reasonable target date for raising the funds if the batchmates agree.

Best wishes

Nana

Suggestion from Daya Jayasinghe

Do you think we should do something to remember and set a precedent ?Last time when we were at Hunnasgiriya we took part in a tree planting ceremony near the hotel, and i just saw a TVprogram where a group of foreigners enjoyed renovating a run down school in Nepal. Hard labour for 3 days but lots of joyful tears at the end.The Australian Test team visited secretly their baggage keepers house at Galpata and helped repair his house and played acricket match with locals near Kaluganga.Another thought.

Daya Jayasinghe.

V Sri Kantha (Joe Kantha), Wellawathe beach.

Joe Kantha was a person ever ready with a joke. He is still the same. I took this picture at Wellawathe beach while he was relaxing there with his wife who is a doctor now retired from the Health Department.