Dialog assisted ‘Shilpa Diriya’ Scholarship Programme for affected children of Easter Sunday blast
View(s):A long-term scholarship programme – ‘Shilpa Diriya’ by the Archdiocese of Colombo in partnership with ‘Rally to Care’ initiative by Dialog Foundation to help children affected by the Easter Sunday blasts at Katuwapitiya and Kochchikade, was launched on December 1 at Shangri La Hotel, Colombo.
Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo, Rev. Fr. Lawrence Ramanayake, Director of Seth Sarana – Caritas Colombo, Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Corporate Executive Vice President and CEO - South Asia Region, Axiata Group Berhad, and Supun Weerasinghe, Group CEO, Dialog Axiata PLC, distributing long-term scholarships to the affected children in Katuwapitiya and Kochchikade at Shangri La Hotel, Colombo.
Children that were awarded scholarships together with their families attended the launch event, which was inaugurated by Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo.
In addressing the scholarship recipients, the Archbishop of Colombo said, “God created you as a special person. You will never find another child in the world who has your exact personality, qualities, and talents. This means that you have been uniquely created and called for a special vocation by God. All that is left now is for you to discover your mission in life, through a strong faith in God. This can be achieved only by yourself, using your innate talents to become a blessing to yourself as well as to humanity in the future. Although tragedy has hindered your journey momentarily, every effort counts when you turn your situation in life into a blessing through the help you receive from friends and benefactors, transforming your future into a prosperous and blessed one.”
In his message to the children on behalf of Dialog Foundation, Supun Weerasinghe, Group CEO of Dialog Axiata PLC said, “Through this initiative we aspire to champion the children who have endured more than most and we remain committed to ensuring that they have a bright future ahead of them – one of hope and opportunity. This scholarship programme is integral in fulfilling our mission of enabling long-term education for the affected children through the Rally to Care initiative by Dialog Foundation – which was established with the generous support of Dialog customers, individual donors (overseas and local), business partners and enterprises; who all came together for this cause.”
With the ‘Shilpla Diriya’ long-term scholarship programme, 185 affected children in Katuwapitiya and 102 children affected in Kochchikade were awarded long-term scholarships, totalling 287 children. The scholarships provided through the ‘Shilpa Diriya’ programme will continue to be available to these students until they reach the age of 19 and the funds will be credited monthly to an account opened in the name of the students, on the 15th of every month.
Similar to ‘Shilpa Diriya’, a long-term scholarship programme for the 70 affected children in Zion Church Batticaloa was launched on December 12, in the presence of Roshan Mahesan, Pastor of the Zion Church, representatives of Rally to Care initiative, Sarvodaya and other partners.