Category Archives: charitable outreach

Discernment: The Tulana Resource Centre at Kelaniya Fostering Discernment

TULANA is a Sri Lanka Jesuit Province Apostolate mandated by the Superiors and founded in 1974 by its current Director, the Asian Jesuit Theologian, Indologist and Buddhist Scholar, Fr. Aloysius Pieris, s.j.

“The name TULANA has its roots in Sanskrit and means four things taken together: elevation, weighing, comparing and deciding for the weightier things – in short DISCERNMENT.”

Revd Aloysius Peiris, s.j.

 Its primary founding motivation was as a response to two challenges – the challenge of the spirituality and philosophy of Sri Lanka’s major religion, Buddhism, and the challenge of the socio-political aspirations of the highly educated but marginalised rural youth.

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The Trinitian Doctor Malcolm Jansze’s Service to Humankind

David Jansze, in Email Letter to Michael Roberts, April 2023 **

Dear Michael,

Malcolm and I were the only members of our branch of the Janszé family of our generation (and those previous) left behind in Sri Lanka at the time of his death. My son has yet to beget an heir.

Our grandfather, who had his secondary education at Trinity College, Kandy, was a Lawyer. All five of his sons also attended Trinity College and, in turn, so did the males of the next generation, with the exception of my father’s two sons (my elder brother and I), who had their secondary education at S. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia. My dad, too, qualified as a Lawyer at the Colombo Law College and remained in Colombo.

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Ceylon and Beyond: Hugh Karunanyake on Antiquarian Books

Hugh Karunanayake : “Collecting Antiquarian Ceylon Books,” .Victor Melder Lexture …. Sunday 30 April 3pm-4pm ……Clayton Hall, 264 Clayton Road

Sri Lankan-born Hugh Karunanyake is a collector of unique antiquarian books about Sri Lanka, and has established an extensive personal library that extends to maps, prints and old postcards. For Hugh, the collecting of knowledge and ephemera has never been purely about acquisition, but also about the sharing of knowledge.

With a B.A. in Sociology from Peradeniya University in Sri Lanka, Hugh has worked across both public and private sectors. He was the founding president of the Ceylon Society of Australia and is a prolific writer about all things Ceylon and Sri Lanka.

The Victor Melder Lecture honours the work of Victor Melder and the extensive library of books, journals and magazines relating to Sri Lanka that he established in 1968.

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An ODE for Those Who Fought COVID

Rukshan Perera’s ODE in Appreciation of the Frontline Workers who battled and Still Battle COVID

 Thanking the Frontline Heroes in a song – When the world is at a standstill with Coronavirus Covid-19, let us pray for our heroes who are working day and night to save lives and bring the world back on track. This is a dedication to our heroes – healthcare workers, armed forces and all others on the frontline sacrificing their lives to save us from this unimaginable pandemic, Covid-19 Coronavirus.

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Surviving the Tsunami at Arugam Bay

Ani Naqvi, in The Telegraph, 26 December 2022, where the title runs asI was almost killed in the Boxing Day tsunami – and it gave me a reason to live” …. After being swept up in the tsunami of 2004, I battled survivor’s guilt and flashbacks to find new purpose” 

In 2004, my world was literally turned upside down. I was working as a journalist, had left a job at the BBC several years earlier, and was struggling with depression. The end of the year was looming, England was cold and dark, and I felt more than ever that I needed to get away.

So I booked myself a flight and headed for Sri Lanka, touching down – in a summer dress and peacock-blue flip-flops – on Christmas Eve, the warm air of the island enveloping me as I stepped out into a cacophony of taxi drivers jostling for my attention. Hot, busy and full of life, Sri Lanka is a place that overwhelms your senses. It was just what I needed.

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Confronting Transgender Issues in Sri Lanka

Michael Patrick O’Leary, in The Island, 12 March 2023, where the title reads  “Time to Think Part One”

Transgender Issues in Sri Lanka:

Sri Lanka’s first president, JR Jayewardene, famously boasted that the newly-created executive presidency gave him the power, “to do anything, except make a man a woman, or a woman a man”. Today, there is much conflict in many countries about making a man a woman or a woman a man. The issue recently contributed to the downfall of Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, who had seemed unassailable. In Ireland, the government is under attack because the Equalities Minister, Roderic O’Gorman, has been siphoning money off to trans activist groups that had been earmarked for the Traveller and Roma communities, migrant integration and redress for children who had been abused by the state and the church. There are some who believe that if a man says he is woman – “self-identifies” as a woman – then he is, indeed, a woman. Wishing makes it so. Those who dispute this are labeled “transphobic” and are brutally attacked in the trans wars. JK Rowling has been vilified simply for saying a man cannot be a woman.

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Australia’s Policy towards Sri Lankan Refugee Migrants after the Civil War

Judith Betts & Claire Higgins: The Sri Lankan Civil War and Australia’s Migration Policy Response: A Historical Case Study with Contemporary Implications”  …. an article pubd on 16th May 2017 …. see https://doi.org/10.1002/app5.181 **

Abstract: Sri Lanka’s civil war lasted almost 26 years and cost tens of thousands of lives. Since the end of the war in 2009, several thousand asylum seekers from Sri Lanka have sought protection in Australia, but both Labor and Liberal/National Coalition governments have taken a restrictive approach to their arrival and have expressed support for the Sri Lankan government. This article explores Australia’s response to the protection needs of Sri Lankans during an earlier era, at the outbreak of the war in 1983, when a Labor government processed Tamils ‘in-country’ under Australia’s Special Humanitarian Program.

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For Sri Lanka: February Newsletter from eLanka

eLanka Newsletter 8 February 2023 …. presented here by Thuppahi because eLanka is a patriotic cause located in Australia working for the island and all its peoples in their considerable variety.  eLanka also offers to deliver gift packs to residents or insitituions and charities in the island….. visit Elanka … newsletter@elanka.com.au>

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ECSAT’s Charitable Work with Disabled Children Secures Awards in 2022

The Annual Report for 2022 presented by ECSAT  ... with some of the photographs attached to this report & highlighting emphasis imposed by The  Editor, Thuppahi

An Award in 2022: The Programme Director Roshan Samarawickrama is seen receiving the award on behalf of ECSAT for The Best Skill Development Centre for Children with Disabilities in Sri Lanka from the State Minister of Primary Health Care Dr. Sudarshani Fernandopulle. After 16 years ECSAT received this recognition which added great value to the reputation of the organisation.

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Mack & Tessa’s Glorious Cinematic Pictures of Sri Lanka Today

Two Weeks in Sri Lanka | A Recent Cinematic Travel Video: 

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