Category Archives: female empowerment

September 12, 2020 · 2:07 pm

The Democratization Process in Ceylon, 1832-1948

Michael Roberts: “The Democratization Process in Sri Lanka,”  being the text of an Illustrated Lecture on Video presented to The May 18 Memorial Foundation in Korea in early September 2020 …. as part of a series encompassing several countries — organised by Professor Inrae You. The Lecture was, as I understood it, for highschool students.

The democratisation process began in the period of British rule in the 20th century. It would however be unwise to start with the early 20th century. One should look at the prehistory of the island of Ceylon before that. Ceylon, Ceilão, Sihalē had forms of autocratic kingship well before the European colonial powers came to Asia and set up their colonies.

Rajasinghe II of Sihale ruling from Mahanuvara and receiving homage (dakuma) from the Dutch

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September 8, 2020 · 5:17 am

Introducing ECSAT and the World of Disabled People around Galle

Michael Roberts

 In late 2018 I met Roshan Samarawickrema at Flinders University via my daughter Maya who is a senior staff officer there. Roshan had arrived to further studies in Disability Teaching. Via the vagaries of the covid endemic both of us found ourselves in good old Lanka in the second quarter of the year. A visit to my home beat of Galle Fort[1] in July-August enabled me to explore and ‘experience’ the work of ECSAT at its HQ in the old “Serasinghe Walauwwa” building at Wackwella [albeit in covid circumstances whereby school attendance was drastically low]. My readings via picture and tale will follow. I begin here with Roshan’s introduction to ECSAT with due emphasis on the initial impetus provided by Catherine Liyanage (nee Mole become Macleod).[2] …. Michael Roberts

ECSAT staff in 2020

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September 3, 2020 · 5:37 pm

Isa Guha as the Leading ‘Face’ of BBC Sports ….Hallelujah!

Alan Gardner interviews Isa Guha, 29 August 2020 …………. ………. https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/29764563/isa-guha-there-young-girl-boy-there-see-tv-feel-do-similar

Having taken on the role of lead presenter for the BBC’s return to televised cricket coverage this summer, Isa Guha has spent the majority of the last two months in bio-secure environments, helping to bring England’s behind-closed-doors internationals to those following at home on TV and radio. Ahead of Sunday’s second men’s T20I between England and Pakistan, the first live game free-to-air on the BBC for 21 years, Guha discusses life in the bubble, her status as a role model and hopes for the women’s game in the UK.

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August 22, 2020 · 1:00 pm

Arise Madame Norah Roberts, 1907-2002

Michael Roberts

In following up on my article clarifying the context of a Letter sent by my sister Norah Roberts in April 1995, I am saying “Mea Culpa, Norah, I did not realise what a repository of knowledge on Sri Lankan society you were during your lifetime. Neither did I recognise your commitment to this land and its people.”

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August 18, 2020 · 5:20 pm

The Mahadevan Sisters and The Conviviality of Galle Fort

Tiffany Tang, year date unclear, …. posted at https://i-discoverasia.com/meet-two-interesting-locals-in-galle-fort/ … with this title “Meet Two Intersting Locals in Galle“

“Galle is a town of colour, texture and sensation totally unlike anywhere else in Sri Lanka. It is exotic, bursting with the scent of spices and salty winds, and vaguely familiar like a whimsical medieval European down unexpectedly deposited in the tropics” – from a visitor’s travel journal in the 1980s. He stumbled upon this charming, ramshackle town shortly after it had been inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage List. Now, almost 30 years down the road, many of the old crumbling mansions have been renovated into boutique hotels, but the cobblestone streets with pastel-coloured houses are still as picturesque as a street can possibly get.

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August 16, 2020 · 4:56 pm

Norah Roberts: A Letter from Her Past, April 1995

My sister Norah Roberts, I now realise, was a remarkable woman. Further elaborations along these lines will follow in a second “Memoriam.” The present display is via a Letter she sent to Fr Corera of the Vanareeth House for Elders run by the Sisters of Charity in Galle on the 15th April 1995 …. a copy of which has been preserved by Moninna Goonewardena of 15 Parawa Street, Fort, Galle.[1]

The copy of the Letter below will be followed by a commentary on several facets touched on within the letter; while my Ode in Praise in a subsequent essay will present details on Norah Roberts and her difficult circumstances of total deafness from her 32/33rd years on earth.

GalleFort~library~2002

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July 30, 2020 · 2:39 pm

Lord Naseby castigates the LTTE past … and the TGTE present … Today

Yesterday (29/07/20) in the House of Lords, Lord Naseby spoke in the debate on Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020: “My Lords, I have no problem at all with the financial aspects of this SI. I think there is a big challenge with individuals and human rights; I remember Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein and Assad, all of whose communities we interfered in at huge human cost to those communities. I want to focus, though, sadly, on the Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers—LTTE—which we proscribed in 2001. It was succeeded by the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam—TGTE—itself proscribed in Sri Lanka. It is staffed and organised by former LTTE people and yesterday it started a legal action in the courts here in the UK to lift the proscription on the Tamil Tigers.

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July 4, 2020 · 2:00 pm

Meeting Kasturi Chellaraja Wilson …. A Leader Firm and Clear

An You Tube Interview with Kasturi Chellaraja Wilson, the Managing Director of Hemas Pharmaceuticals/Logistics and Maritime Cluster …. in January 2018

58,067 views …..

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July 4, 2020 · 5:11 am

Sybil Wettasinghe, Children’s Story Writer Par Excellence

An ADA DERANA Encomium, 1 July 2020, with this title “Sybil Wettasinghe passes away“

Veteran author and illustrator of children’s books Sybil Wettasinghe, fondly known as ‘Sybil Nanda’ in Sri Lanka, has passed away at the age of 93.According to family sources, she had been receiving medical treatment at a private hospital in Colombo for the past 4 days and had passed away at around 11.00 p.m. last night (30).

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July 3, 2020 · 4:24 am

Adieu! Galle Fort’s Burghers …. A Swansong in the Late 1980’s

This extended Video Clip recorded in the late 1980s takes many of us back to disappearing slices of life and its interactions within the Galle Fort, an arena that has been altered in ,but nevertheless retains its old world charm even today — while boasting astronomical land prices.

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