Donation of funds raised by spouses of the Japanese Embassy staff

Thursday, 5 March 2015 01:13 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A sum of Rs. 253,178 was donated to two NGOs, namely ‘Surangani Voluntary Service (SVS)’ and ‘Only One World (OOW)’ at a donation presentation ceremony presided over by Minister/Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Japan, Asako Okai, at the Japanese Ambassador’s official residence on 2 March.

The funds were raised by the Association of Spouses of the Japanese Embassy Staff (ASJES) through an international bazaar which drew participation from 17 countries and 12 organisations at the Hilton Colombo Residence on 30 November 2014. The association has been supporting the activities of many NGOs in Sri Lanka over the past 30 years. SVS was founded in 1992 and mainly supports preschool education in Sri Lanka. The organisation was represented by Director Shigeko Baba at the ceremony. The donation from ASJES will be utilised to construct a wheelchair ramp made of concrete blocks in a centre for handicapped children in Buttala, Moneragala. This has been the 14th donation from ASJES since 2001. Ms. Baba also mentioned that a workshop complex was newly opened in her centre to support the income generation activities of people with disabilities with a grant from the Government of Japan. OOW was founded in 1991 by former Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Japan, Arthur Basnayake and his wife Damini Basnayake. OOW grants scholarships to excellent students who could not attend schools due to their poverty and donates medical equipment to hospitals. The donation from ASJES will be utilised to award scholarships to one male and one female student studying at a public school to pursue their higher studies. This has been the third donation from ASJES since 2013.

Rumadu Weerakkodi, a medical student who was awarded a scholarship through OOW by ASJES last year, expressed her gratitude at the ceremony. She used the scholarship to buy books and other essential materials for her studies. She was the first female student awarded a scholarship from ASJES’s donations through OOW. ASJES had proposed OOW to offer a scholarship for a female student. Mrs. Basnayake stated that many talented students would have to give up their studies without support from donors like ASJES.