|
|
 |
| Sunday, 9 June 2002 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
A star spangled event By Jayanthi Liyanage
On June 16 morning, more than a dozen stars will shed their cloak of celluloid aloofness to step into the streets of Colombo in a motorcade, and exchange pleasantries with their doting fans, handing out autographs and souvenirs. But do not think this is just another star-spangled event. The stars will be there because at the core of the happening is something which touches the humane strings in their inner hearts. It is a cause they believe in. At the time, this newspaper went into print, more than thirteen celebrities had already affirmed their presence and solidarity for the "Celebrity Rally" our sister newspaper "Sarasaviya" and the Resource Development School (RDS) of the Ceylon School for the Deaf and Blind are planning, in aid of a fully equipped sick room and new dormitories for its students.
They will donate half-a-day from their busy schedules choc-a-bloc with shooting assignments. Says Nayana Kumari, the small-screen heart throb, "It's true that all artistes are busy people, as a rule, but how can we say 'No" to Sarasaviya which is the best and the only art medium we have ? It's great that I am getting a chance to get involved in this event." "We are fortunate enough to be born healthy and have come up to a prominent level in the art world. It would be inhuman to forget the differently-abled. I have no personal wealth to help them, but Celebrity Rally is giving me an opportunity to offer my labour to help them in some manner," Nayana says. The event will feature the silver-screen dazzlers like Malini Fonseka, Sangeetha Weeraratne, Ranjan Ramanayake, Nita Fernando, Jeevan Kumaratunge, Sabitha Perera and Gayana Sudharshini while Roshan Pilapitiya, Rodney Presher, Damitha Abeyratne and Semini Iddamalagoda will be a few of the living-room dazzlers. Lanka's popular Indian screen-idol Mandira Bedi is expected to travel from India in time to take her place in the motorcade.
"I want to do something for my fans who made my film Parliament Jokes the most seen film," says Ranjan Ramanayake. "Our fans lifted us to this celebrity rung in society where we enjoy so many social privileges. We get priority in banks and we are not charged when we eat at restaurants. What the fans ask from us is only a smile !" "I get many fan-mail from differently-abled children," Ranjan continues. "I have sung at musical shows at orphanages. We musn't forget the ones who are forced to live a life time with their disabilities, either through karma, or through an unfortunate accident. We could be the next victim !" Starting at 9 a.m., with a gap of five minutes, the celebrities one by one will trickle out from Hilton Hotel, each driven in a car sponsored by a well-known company from the corporate world. "Ceylon Theatres will provide all the cars," said Ranjith Jinasena, Secretary, RDC, ticking off the corporate benefactors who had already pledged sponsorship for each car. Elephant House, Gordon Frazer, McLarens Group, Morris Lubricants, Phoenix Industries, David Peiris Motor Co., National Lotteries Board, Bank of Ceylon, Edna Chocolates and Jinasena Group are among the corporate magnates who will cruise the celebrities through the massive crowds expected to gather by the road-side and in every street corner, to snatch a personal moment with the star of their choice. "It is so great to be able to see the world around us. No matter what we say or do, we cannot fill the loss felt by a blind person," says Sangeetha Weeraratne. "I have a blind friend who is married to a blind lady. He knows all of us by our voices. He is perfect in every way. As a society, we should respect the differently-abled and learn to take care of one another." "There is a deaf and dumb boy at Seeduwa Deaf and Blind School whom I love and look on as my own son," confided Nita Fernando. "I am responsible for his life and future as his family has no money to look after him. Irrespective of what religion I belong to, I believe in God and I hope God will give me the opportunity to help more differently-abled children." Sabeetha Perera says, "I hope everybody will help because we are helping the less fortunate while also getting good publicity." When the last celebrity leaves the hotel, the time could be 10.30 a.m. In a three-hour parade of Lanka's cream of acting talent, the Rally cars will pass along the Galle Face Green to the Galle Road up to Bambalapitiya traffic lights, turning left to a Rally route of 60 km to Moratuwa. At the five Observation Points along the Rally route, the stars will climb down from their vehicles and dally five minutes chatting to their fans and exchanging souvenirs. It will be a star fiesta on streets ! When one car arrives at one point, the previous car paused there will leave. Ending Rally route, the celebrities are expected to pass through the Deaf School at the Borupana Road Entrance and the Blind School entrance arriving on to Galle Road. When celebrities return to Hilton Hotel for buffet lunch, fans can join them, simply by purchasing lunch tickets while the entire event will be covered by the TV station, Swarnavahini. For more details, contact Nilanthi on Tel. 693635 or Shyamala Fernando, Committee Member, RDC. Tel. 732386, 734341. The true story of one blind girl "I am the youngest member in a family of five. My mother got chicken pox when she was expecting me, which made me visually impaired. Since my parents were teachers who knew that the differently abled children too have a right for education and that there were ways and means for them to learn, they admitted me to the School for the Blind at Ratmalana. It is a coincidence that where I started my primary education has become the place where I serve at present. "Having joined the School for the Blind as a student in the mid 60s, I became a teacher. When I first entered the school all the teachers, matrons and the fellow students were very loving and caring. The dedicated teachers did everything possible to improve my talents and abilities and to give me a better future. Even their assembly talks every Monday morning had a special message for me. The talks encouraged one to reach the highest goals one never expects to reach. One such talk made me become first in class getting a high lead in marks. The school gave me the guidance for a better future and I left the school in mid 70s to pursue higher studies. "With a credit for English at the NCG examination the door was open for me to do English literature as one of my four subjects at the Girls High School, Kandy. The teachers there too paid special attention to me. Since my parents were teachers, I received the fullest co-operation from my family for my higher studies. My alma mater laid the foundation so firmly that today I am a post graduate diploma holder, plus one of the Vice Principals at the school. The experiences I have gone through both as a visually-impaired child, and as a teacher, and the all round education I have gained help me in very many ways as I continue to play my role as a Vice Principal. I do believe this is a God-given privilege, and a responsibility that I have to carry on in serving the School for the Blind." She is one of the gritty few who crossed from the other side; the other side of weakened ability and deprived opportunity to where many of us live smug and forgetful lives, slumbering in our natural wholesomeness, with hardly a thought for those whose hereditary paths took a different turn. 500 more children at the Ceylon School for the Deaf and Blind (CSDB) wait for the see-saw of opportunity to take a tilt equal to what the rest of us enjoy. Their parents, many from poverty-ridden villages from the outskirts, are far too burdened to eke out their upkeep. Which brings the onus of making a life and a future for these hearing and sight-impaired children, ranging from 4 - 20 years in age, on the school. With no less than free provision of food, lodging, clothing, education and vocational training to mould them as self-reliant and productive members of our society. The 90-year-old CSDB is the largest and oldest of similar schools in Sri Lanka, with two campuses in Ratmalana and one in Jaffna. The students can sit their GCE (O/L)s and enter mainstream schools to prepare for university entrance and many have proved their mettle by becoming graduates. The school's Resource Development Committee is constantly kept on its toes to devise new ways of raising funds for the children's daily bread as well as their larger development projects. Celebrity Rally hopes it could rake in enough money to give the rising student cadre more dormitories and a properly-equipped sick room estimated at Rs. 5 million. The school also needs a Braille embosser (printer), 10-seater vans for transporting children and a Group Hearing Aid System by which a single teacher can simultaneously train a number of deaf students to speak. It is time that over 20 dormitories had a new change of paint, beds, sheets, mattresses and mosquito nets. Students have to be fed and the teacher-salaries paid. Just Rs.3,500/- you may squander on a new dress and pair of shoes will help the school to cover lunch or dinner for 200 students ! |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
