For the past nine years, Lorraine Tamitegama, founder trustee and full -time volunteer of the Lanka Alzheimer’s Foundation, has spent her time haunting popular supermarkets and shopping spots in Colombo, selling raffle tickets and collecting funds for the association. Last Sunday, the Zonta Club 1 of Colombo honoured her with their Oustanding Recognition award at the Woman of Achievement awards ceremony at the Cinnamon Grand Oak Room.
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Lorraine: Doing what most
people would not do |
The Woman of Achievement Awards Ceremony is organized once every two years by the club to celebrate Sri Lankan women of distinction and was concluded successfully under the guidance of Project Chairperson Ramola Sivasundaram for the 11th time this year. Since its inception in 1985, the Awards have been dedicated to “honoring women who have made a significant contribution towards the development and growth” of Sri Lanka.
The judges of the night claimed that Lorraine’s ‘outward-lookingness’ prompted them to give her this special award.
“You know, Colombo is a small place” Lorraine smiles, “and not many women would do what I do.” True enough; in a small city where everyone knows everyone, it takes courage and patience to spend twelve hours a day at a supermarket entrance, cajoling meagre donations off reluctant shoppers. She recollects the experience of having a customer at a major supermarket in Colombo once yell outright at her for being a “pain,” and adds, “Honestly, this is not some award that I have personally won” looking at her husband Tami. “He was the one with the vision, the one who gave me the inspiration,” she says.
Although her ten years of dedicated service to the cause of creating awareness of and providing support for those affected by dementia have been ridden with trials Lorraine stands firm in the belief that “if your intentions are pure and your conscience clear, God provides”. The Lanka Alzheimer’s Foundation is now nearly ready to move from Lorraine’s home (which is open, as is their telephone line, at all hours of the day to those suffering from dementia, their caregivers and any other concerned wellwishers) to their new facility in Maradana, and the sparkle in Lorraine’s eyes testifies to her excitement at the new chapter in the life of the foundation. “I can’t believe it’s been ten years, it feels like just yesterday,”she says.
Carrying away the Zonta award in the Banking and Financial Services category was Kumudini Kulathunge, currently the Deputy General Manager in charge of Retail Banking at the Bank of Ceylon who has many years of dedicated service at managerial level.
What her nominators admired in her as much as than her professional commitment, was her personal involvement in the bank’s functioning, especially after the tsunami disaster, as well as in providing banking facilities to displaced persons in IDP camps after the war.
Winner in the Creative, Performing and Visual Arts category was well known music teacher and Ministry of Education personality Maya Abeywickrama who incidentally is also an Attorney-at-Law and Justice of Peace. She has taught extensively at many universities in Sri Lanka and has made it her mission to make Western Music accessible to the greater majority, including students from outstation schools.
Tying for the award for Medicine were Prof. Deepika Fernando and Prof. Mirani Weerasooriya. Prof. Fernando’s work is focused mainly on the field of malaria, with specific interest in the impact of malaria on the cognitive performance and physical development of school children. She has also been working on advanced diagnostic tests for malaria as well as researching into the use of long lasting impregnated bed-nets for the prevention of malaria, one of the most affordable and effective methods available today. Prof. Weerasooriya is currently Senior Professor of Parasitology and Head of the Filariasis Research Unit at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, something of a personal brain-child over the years. She has won numerous awards for her research and contributions to the field of parasitology, a serious concern in Sri Lanka.
Winner of the award in the field of Education was Prof. Thakshala Serasinhe who has been the President (2006) and Secretary (1998) of section B (Agriculture & Forestry) of the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS). She was named one of the outstanding female animal nutritionists in the SAARC region, at the 8th Asian Buffalo congress in Lahore, Pakistan and has contributed greatly to national research in the field of agriculture.
Marine biologist Asha de Vos’s first attempts at water-life conservation began at seven with her winning entry of “Save Our Sea Mammals” poster depicting whales with large red lips. She received the award in the field of travel and tourism for her dedicated service on international conservation and research oriented vessels, and her current work on the blue whale population off the south-eastern coasts of Sri Lanka.
Vice Chancellor and Senior Professor of Biochemistry at the Medical Faculty of the University of Jaffna, Prof. Vasanthy Arasaratnam was winner in the Science and Technology category of the Woman of Achievement awards. Her research into technology includes work on enzymology and downstream processing, while in biochemistry, she has conducted much research in the fields of diabetes, nutrition and drug addiction, all very serious problems in the Sri Lankan community.
Malkanthi Wickramasinghe, former Additional Legal Draftsman and Secretary to the Ministry of Constitutional Affairs and National Integration, and at present Secretary to the Ministry of National Languages and Social Integration was the joint winner in the Law category alongside Farzana Jameel, Deputy Solicitor General, who works mainly in the Appellate courts, predominantly in the areas of Taxation and Revenue. Ms. Wickramasinghe, by pioneering and taking the lead role in the Equal Access to Justice Project funded by the United Nations Development Programme has helped make access to legal documentation, and thereby justice, a reality for many including those affected by conflict as well as the disadvantaged.
A passionate advocate of the need for sustainable architecture, Shyamika Silva, co-founder and partner of SW plus Architects was joint winner of the first Geoffry Bawa Award for excellence in Architecture in 2008. She won the Zonta Woman of Achievement Award in the field of Architecture for her social-consciousness in her professional work. As an active member of the Rotary Club of Colombo Fort and its first female President in 2009, Ms. Silva has been the driving force behind the Community Housing Project in Ambalangoda, and has also provided architectural services for a project to build 100 houses in the then border village Alle-Kantalai.
Winner in the Social Change and Empowerment category, Prof. Nayani Melegoda is currently Head of the Department of International Relations at the University of Colombo where she initiated a project for the visually handicapped students of the Faculty of Arts, reading textbooks to students and engaging other staff members as well as senior students in this effort. As Secretary of the Alumni Association of the University of Colombo, she spearheaded a programme to find host families for visually impaired students, and together with Dr. Reggie Seimon, acquired micro tape recorders for the University with hundreds of cassette tapes. Through her efforts, recorded journal articles and books are now available to visually impaired students at the university.
Kumari Hapugalle Perera, CEO and Head of the Alethea Group, integrated a special unit - staffed by highly qualified personnel - within Alethea International School for children who need special attention. She was a winner in the Industry and Entrepreneurship category at the Zonta Woman of Achievement Awards, for her contributions and achievements in the field.
She is currently Secretary of the Women’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce and chief co-ordinator of the International Schools Association.
Among the power women
By Nedra Wickremesinghe, Pix by Sanka Vidanagama
As I took my seat at this august occasion, the “Zonta Woman of Achievement Awards 2011” I couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride to sit among these high achievers. Some have excelled in their chosen profession through their entrepreneurial and creative skills, as artists and musicians and many have crashed through the glass ceiling to power jobs - as corporate heads, bankers, scientists, architects, educationists, doctors, professors, lawyers, environmentalists while others have contributed to charity work.
This was the 11th WOA Awards night organized by the Zonta Club 1 of Colombo. Led by club president Leonie Senevirathne, this club consists of women executives in business and in professions who work together to fulfil the club’s mandate of advancing the status of women and thereby improving the quality of their lives. In addition they conduct programmes and projects to promote equality and woman’s empowerment.
The Chief Guest for this evening was Ms. Indrani Sugathadasa, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka. The evening’s proceedings, chaired by Ramola Sivasundaram, went off with precision timing with women commanding the show- the only two men who played a prominent role this evening were Chairman of panel of the judges Shibly Aziz PC and compere Mohamed Adamally who added some light hearted banter.
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