1. ISSUE 1262NEWSLANKA 11 FEBRUARY - 2016PAGE 18
Conveyancing Specialist
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by Anusha Seneviratne
In August 2015, we at the small UK-based charity
Michael Jackson's Legacy (MJL) ran a fundraising
appeal to provide poor rural children in Sri Lanka
with school packs in collaboration with the
Foundation of Goodness (FoG). MJL is a charity
founded in memory of the legendary Michael
Jackson, who spent much of his life doing
charitable work in aid of the world's most
disadvantaged, particularly children and wildlife.
Since 2011, we have completed numerous
projects worldwide including the building two
children's homes in Liberia and Haiti, and funding
conservation measures for elephants and horses,
to name a few.
Sri Lanka's free education system means that the
country has a literacy rate of 98%, but the poorest
children from rural areas need other essential
items such as books, bags, pencils and
mathematical instruments to excel in their studies.
Without such items children cannot make notes
during class, fail at mathematics due to a lack of
instruments and can eventually drop out of school
without completing their studies. Thus many
children are unable to realize their full potential and
continue their lives in a cycle of poverty and
hardship.
Thankfully there is hope for these children due to
many generous hearts across the world. As we
began our appeal last year, we aimed to raise
enough to fund 100 school packs (priced at £20
each). When we completed our campaign last
year, we were under the impression that we had
raised enough to
fund 174 school
packs. However,
favourable
exchange rates
meant that we
eventually funded
235 school packs!
This brought the
total number of
school packs
distributed by the
Foundation of
Goodness 2015
Essential School
Supplies
Programme to
3,236.
To add some
extra sparkle to
these schoolbags,
our very own
artist Mimi
O'Garren designed postcards
and bookmarks to accompany
every bag, each with a beautiful
piece of artwork on one side and
inspirational quotes by Michael
Jackson on the other. In addition
a kind supporter of ours, Cynthia
Kent, sent 200 handmade
keyrings to Sri Lanka, each with
their own decorated pouch.
The school packs funded by MJL
were distributed at the FoG
Monaragala Children's Goodness
Club in the Uva Province and the
Gouravilla Primary Tamil Maha
Vidyalayam in the Central
Province.
In the words of Swanthri
Jayawardena at the FoG: “With
the incredible help of Michael
Jackson's Legacy, we have been
able to make a large group of poor but talented
young children very happy! Even though the funds
were meant for 200 school packs, due to
favourable exchange rates we were able to provide
complete school provision packs for 235 children!
These young lives will now have the necessary
support to stay in school, do well in their studies
and escape their current poverty stricken life.
Thank you for giving them hope for the future and
an opportunity to excel! Your kind generosity has
made a real difference in shaping a better future!”
The difference made for these children can be
clearly seen from their beaming smiles in these
pictures.
We would like to take this opportunity to express
our sincerest gratitude to all of the donors who
contributed to our fundraising campaign, all
members and supporters of MJL who ran and
publicized the campaign, and all those at the FoG
who helped to deliver the final result of this
project to the children, in particular Kushil
Gunasekara, Fazana Ibrahim, Amaarah
Kellapatha, Swanthri Jayawardena and Anusha
Perera who were all such a joy to work with on
this project. We are sure this will not be the last
time we work with the FoG to help those in need
in Sri Lanka and enrich humanity. And of course
thank you to Michael Jackson who continues to
inspire us with his incredible humanitarian spirit.
“In a world filled with hate, we must still dare to
hope. In a world filled with anger, we must still
dare to comfort. In a world filled with despair,
we must still dare to dream. And in a world
filled with distrust, we must still dare to
believe.” Michael Jackson
Taking Michael Jackson to Sri Lanka
The children hold the schoolbags and postcards they received.
The children compare the key rings they received.
Some of the postcards with the inspiration
quotes on the back.
Jazeem Abdul Hameed, Founder and Director,
London School of Entrepreneurship and the
Chairman of Jazah Group, was short-listed from
the Sri Lankan Communities in the United
Kingdom to be awarded the “Educational
Excellence Award” for the year 2015/2016.
The awards are aimed at celebrating the
exceptional academic achievements of Sri Lankan
Muslims in the UK and has been being organised
annually by the Education & Community
Development Committee
(EdCom) of Sri Lankan
Muslim Cultural Centre
(SLMCC) in the UK.
Mr. Jazeem became the first
Sri Lankan origin to be
awarded the 'Fellowship' of
the Institute of Enterprise
and Entrepreneurship
(IOEE) in the United
Kingdom. The IOEE
is the professional
institute dedicated to recognising the
profession of enterprise, entrepreneurship
and enterprise support. It is a not for-profit
company led by the government-
recognised Small Firms Enterprise
Development Initiative (SFEDI).
He also obtained the Fellowship of the
Institute of Administrative Management
(InstAM-UK) in recognition of his
dedication and excellent services in his
career. The Institute of Administrative
Management (IAM) is the oldest
management Institute in the UK having
inspired professional business managers
and administrators since 1915.
Mr. Jazeem received this award for his
outstanding achievement in the field of
Entrepreneurship and Administrative
Management. The award ceremony took
place on 6th February 2016 the SLMCC
Hall, Harrow in the London.
Jazeem awarded Educational Excellence
Award in the UK.
IMF
CONT FROM P16
exemptions and bolster the efficiency of
tax administration) are welcome, the
mission highlighted the macroeconomic
and financial risks of a large deficit and
the associated need to borrow from
domestic and international markets. The
mission urged the authorities to take a
growth and investment friendly approach
to lowering the size of the 2016 budget
deficit—focusing mainly on measures to
raise revenues by broadening the tax
base, simplifying and making equitable
the tax system, and improving tax
administration, to lay the groundwork for
further consolidation and debt reduction
while also allowing for higher public
investment.”
IMF said the end-of-mission press
releases included statements of IMF staff
teams that convey preliminary findings
after a visit to a country. The views
expressed in this statement are those of
the IMF staff and do not necessarily
represent the views of the IMF’s
Executive Board. This mission will not
result in a Board discussion.
Asian Mirror revelation compels Acting AG to
retain senior State Counsel in Eknaligoda case
After Asian Mirror exclusively reported
Senior State Counsel Dilipa Pieris'
removal from Prageeth Eknaligoda's case,
Acting Attorney General Suhada Gamlath
came under heavy pressure from many
sections of the legal fraternity, including
the Bar Association of Sri Lanka.
Bar Association President Geoff
Alagaratnam, in a telephone conversation
with the Acting Attorney General on
Tuesday night, expressed their serious
concerns over the decision.
Some civil society members too carried
out SMS and email campaigns in protest
of the sudden decision made by Gamlath.
They charged that Gamlath was
attempting to protect certain elements
involved in the case by appointing a
relatively young and inexperienced
Counsel from the Attorney General’s
Department.
As an immediate result of this resistance,
Gamlath has now decided to reverse his
decision and re -
assign Pieris to the
case. He telephoned
the Senior State
Counsel at 9. 15 pm
on Monday and
informed that he
would not be taken
out of the case,
sources close to
Gamlath confirmed.