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Young
boy dies to save beggar woman The Foundation for Civilian Bravery (FCB) was founded in 1993, by the FCB’s current president Kasun P. Chandraratne, under the patronage of Judge C.G. Weeramantry, former Vice-President of the International Court of Justice. The main vision of the FCB is that the purpose of our lives should be to ensure the continuity of life. This year’s awards ceremony honoured 19 such people who had displayed great courage and bravery and acted ‘beyond the call of duty’ to save another’s life, with little or no thought for the safety of their own. One such incident concerned 23 year old Kenneth Randima Hewa Jayasingha, who was awarded the Budal Na Gold Award posthumously. On the morning on July 20, Randima whose shop was near the railway line at Dehiwala, had seen two elderly beggar women, M.K. Carolin Alwis (70) and M.K. Emalin Alwis (68) who were sisters, attempting to cross the rail track. Seeing an oncoming train Randima had sensed the danger and run towards the two women. He had tried to push them off the track just as the train approached. Although he managed to push Carolin out of danger, he and Emalin were killed on the spot. Randima was educated at Lalith Athulathmudali Vidyalaya, Mt. Lavinia and Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa. He was a member of the school soccer team and studied in the Science stream for his A/L. He formed the Sri Nelum Sports Club and always participated in its annual blood donation campaign. Yet another display of bravery was of Thuraisingham Kumaranathan (22) from Palavi North, Kodikamam, Jaffna, an undergraduate of Jaffna University who was awarded a Silver Medal for Civilian Bravery. A young boy named Kumarawelrasa Vipulan who regularly played at the Pilliar Temple grounds had jumped into the temple pond to retrieve a ball which had fallen in. However, as he hadn’t anticipated the depth of the pond, he had been struggling to keep himself from drowning. His friends had been screaming for help, at which point Kumaranathan who had been in the vicinity had jumped into the pond to rescue the boy. What Kumaranathan didn’t know was that a three-pronged spear (thri-shula), part of a religious ritual, had fallen into the pond and could have killed them both. Indian High Commissioner Nirupama Rao was the chief guest at the ceremony and Executive Director and Secretary of the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, Pittsburgh, Pa., USA, Walter F. Rutkowski was a special guest. Bribery Commission Chairman Justice Ameer Ismail and many religious heads and dignitaries representing all the major religions in the country were also present. |
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