Kandy Sumithrayo marks 40 years of reaching out to those in need
View(s):The Sri Lanka Sumithrayo (SLS) Kandy Branch will celebrate 40 years of community service at an event to be held at the Agriculture Department’s Plant Genetic Research Centre auditorium in Gannoruwa on February 22 from 8.30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The Chief Guest at the function will be National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) Chairman Dr. Palitha Abeykoon and the Guest-of-Honour Nalini Ellawela who is an SLS founder. The guest speakers will be Peradeniya Teaching Hospital’s Consultant Psychiatrist Dr. Paba Ginige; Kandy Teaching Hospital’s Consultant Psychiatrist Dr. Shyama Arembepola; and Rajarata University’s Senior Lecturer Dr. Manoj Fernando.
The award ceremony of an Essay and Art Competition held among schoolchildren in Kandy by the Sri Lanka Sumithrayo Kandy Branch was held on February 17 at its auditorium.
The doors of the SLS Kandy Branch opened on February 12, 1978 at the YMCA building, Sangaraja Mawatha, Kandy. This followed the YMCA offering two rooms of its Lakeside Building. Following renovations under the guidance of SLS Founder Joan de Mel, these rooms remained the home of the SLS Kandy Branch for 15 years. When the YMCA indicated a desire to take back the space allotted to Sumithrayo, a house was identified and bought at a bargain price at 693/4, Peradeniya Road with donations from Ms. de Mel and NORAD, with its doors opening in May 1993. Later the upstair was converted to an auditorium with grants from the President’s Fund and the Sri Lanka Canada Development Fund.
Earlier, in 1974 SLS had been set up in Colombo by Ms. de Mel, with the support of a British Anglican priest, Edwards Chad Varah who was the Founder of the Samaritans, established in 1953 as the world’s first crisis hotline organization, offering non-religious telephone support to those contemplating suicide.
The SLS Kandy Branch is dependent on public support, as a non-profit organization and is a government-approved charity. Its visions is to ensure a society where every human being lives a happy life without worries, people are able to explore their feelings and people are able to acknowledge and respect the feelings of others.
The mission of the SLS Kandy Branch is to provide ‘confidential emotional support’ for people who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair, including those that may lead to suicide; develop volunteer action to provide the emotional support; and increase public awareness.
In 1992, the Kandy Branch was made the 2nd Branch of Befrienders International (predecessor of Befrienders Worldwide) in Sri Lanka.
The SLS Kandy Branch is open to callers from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. all the days of the year including public holidays and special days such as New Year’s Day, National Day, May Day, Vesak, Pongal, Ramadan and Christmas.
The other means of befriending that the branch undertakes are through telephone, letters, e-mailing and visits to places such as the prison, hospital, schools and offices.
While its belief is that inclusiveness is non-negotiable, its volunteers are non-political, non-religious and non-sectarian. They work silently and anonymously as far as possible with no financial remuneration. No fees are charged from the callers who visit the branch or make contact by telephone or email. The volunteers work for others not for themselves but unwittingly they change their values and perceptions along the way thus gaining and growing from within, says a statement from the branch.