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Last update of this document: 03-Oct-2016, by Chandre DW.   Please send errors, omissions to wc4sl@yahoo.ca.

See Pledges/Donations List: 03- Oct -2016 update.

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2016 activities

• A wheel chair was delivered via K. B. Hippola, to a deserving youngester identified by Rohan Basnayake who was an early helper in the wc4sl project, and currently living in Colombo.
• The collection of wheel chairs that had been stored in the HC's residence, Ottawa in a space kindly lent to us by the previous HC was picked up and prepared for shipment to Colombo, together with a few additional wheel chairs, walkers, medical supplies etc., that we have collected in the interim.
• An appeal is being launched for funds to ship them to Colombo as soon as possible.

Pick Up of Wheel Chairs stored at HC's Garage since 2013, Helpers: Chandre dharmawardana, Roshan Rajapaksa, Sajith Jayasuriya, Nandana Gajanayake (not in Photo) H.E. Mr. Jawad is at the right hand end (click to enlarge)

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2014-15 Activities

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• This year we were very fortunate in the help given by returning diplomats who were able to deliver some wheel chairs etc., to needy disabled people in Sri Lanka. Thus we avoided any shipping costs.
• We also not with sadness the passing away of Sharmini Maththew who helped in facilitating a shipment of wheel chairs to the Kandy cancer facility in Sri Lanka.
• We also note with sadness the decline in health that Mary McDowell of Stride has suffered. Stride has helped us many times in giving us, free of charge, their excess wheel chairs and we have shipped them to Sri Lanka.
• We did not actively collect donations and funds in the year 2014 since our shipping did not cost us anything, thanks to the good offices of the returning diplomats. Local expenses were covered by a donation from Chandre Dharmawardana, Ottawa, and from Dhaneshwaree Kannangara, Vancouver.
• WC4Sl donated $100.00 to Stride-wheel chairs plus, as many of the items sent to Sri Lanka via WC4Sl had come from surplus equipment at Stride.
• Her Excellency Chitranganee Wagiswara and Duleep Wagiswara shipped some wheelchairs to Sri Lanka using the personal cargo space available to them on their return to Sri Lanka, in April 2014. Approximately 25 items including wheel chairs, walkers, etc., were shipped, as well as crutches, and some medical supplies.
• WC4SL provided one wheel chair to a disabled child identified by the Ottawa group led by Priyantha Wijeweera commemorating Mr. C. W. W. Kannangara, the Farther of Sri Education in Sri Lanka.
• WC4SL also provided wheel chairs that were donated to an Ambalangoda Charity through the mediation of Mr. Vista Leeraratne.
• The remaining wheel chairs were given to Red Lotus, a charity run under the umbrella group of charities associated with the DharmaVijaya foundation, overseered by Hema Goonatilleke and Mr. Olcott Gunasekera.
• We were fortunate to send a few more wheel chairs, walkers and crutches via Mr. Lionel Premasiri, on his return to the Island at the end of November 2014.

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Sample of items handed to the High Commissioner, 16-March-2014 (click to enlarge)

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Wheel chairs Ottawa → Colombo, about 2 doz. items, from WC4Sl (click to enlarge)

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Deputy H.C. Mr. Premsiri, November 2014 Click to enlarge.

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2013 Activities

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A part of the shipment of wheelchairs and medical equipment sent to Colombo last December were distributed by OSDASA (Organization for Skills development and Social Assistance) to needy individuals and institutions in the rural south-west around Galle, Elpitiya, Pitigala area. The local cost of these charitable events was covered by OSDASA.

The distribution was done on April 7th 2013 at the Viharamahadevi Pirivena Elpitiya, under the patronage of Seevali Nayaka Thero, in the presence of a number of local and provincial dignitaries. The divisional Secretary (A.G.A.) of Elpitiya, Mr. Amila Kariyawasa, chairman of Elpitiya Pradeshiya Sabha and Mrs Sudharma Karunaratne, permanent secretary of the ministry of plantation also attended the event. Navadagala Sobhitha, nayaka thero of Bodhirajarama, Elpitiya and Dr. Nandasiri, Acting director of Elpitiya hospital were among the distinguished guests.

A blood donation clinic was also a part of the function where some 32 people donated blood. Dr. Dedunu of the blood bank of the Elpitiya hospital, Dr. Suresh of Elpitiya hospital and the medical officer of Indipalegoda Ayurvedic hospital attended the function and helped to organize the blood donation.

The event was reported by several news outlets and in the Derana TV broadcast. We have to thank Nandana Gajanayake and Channa Bopage and their associates in OSDASA for this very successful event. Attached are four images captured from the Adha Derana (අද දෙරණ) TV broadcast.

[We also remind readers that some of the wheel chairs and medical equipment went to the cancer hospital in Kandy, and some to the Red Lotus organization in Colombo. Their events were reported earlier and may be found on scrolling downwards in the webpage]

OSDASA banner, click to enlarge

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Wheel chairs Ottawa → Elpitiya, click to enlarge

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Trying out a wheel chair, Click to enlarge.

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A wheel-chair recipient, Click to enlarge.

We also have a DVD-movie of the event, for any interested person who would like to see more of the event click for Movie.

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2012 Activities

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Nov-6th shipment arrived in Colombo, 14th December

Here is part of the cargo; click to enlarge

Sorry to report that this time customs and clearing fees at the Colombo Docks came to Rs 90,000. The customs insisted on treating all medical equipment at 100% commercial rate; while the wheel chairs, walkers were treated more justly at a nominal rate. This has put a huge strain on the three charities, (i) OSDASA, (ii) Kandy Cancer Hospital charity and (iii) Red Lotus. Hence we are doing a hat collection among some of us to help out. Any one interested in contributing to this hat collection, please call chandre at 613-218-4581, or e-mail wc4sl@yahoo.ca

For details see Distribution of cargo/customs-wharf-costs/3-charities

We hope to send this relief money through Mrs. Mali Kannangara who is going to be in Colombo by New year 2012.

• The wheel chairs, walkers, crutches, a few prosthetic legs, and medical equipment (diabetic pumps, diapers, syringes etc) were shiped out from Ottawa on 6th November with the help of Sarath Amarakoon, Rudra (Toronto), Nandana Gajanayake, Sajith Jayasooriya, Viresh Wickremasinghe, Rohan Basnayake, KBHippola, and Chandre Dw.

  Wheel Chairs being loaded in Barhaven for shipping to Colombo; click to enlarge

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  Dave, STRIDE volunteer, stocking Rohan's garage; Click to enlarge.

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  Red Lotus wheelchairs Click to enlarge.

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  WCs at the Cancer-Hospital, Kandy. Click to enlarge.

  
  
  • The wheel chairs shipped by Ms. Anzul Jahn were distributed by Red Lotus.
    see The report on the Dec. 9th Sunday times, page 9
• We have acknowledgment letters from the Kandy Cancer hospital for the equipment donated, through the intermediary of Ms. Anzul Jahn and Ms. Sharmini Mathew.

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• Ms. Anzul Jahn has taken about a dozen wheel-chairs/walkers, and a lot of crutches etc., to be distributed in Sri Lanka on her return trip in June 2012, after her stint in Ottawa:

  
  Volunteers unloading wheel-chairs, crutches, walkers etc. in Ottawa. In Sri Lanka, volunteers from the new Kandy cancer Hospital, the Red-Lotus charity, in Colombo have contacted us regarding these items. A list of the medical supplies etc (reviewed by by Suji Lena) that are being shipped is given in Medical supplies, Wheel chairs etc shipped in June 2012

• The items that could not be shipped are stored, thanks to Nandana Gajanayake and Rohana Basnayake. Any wheel-chairs collected in August will be stored thanks to Viresh Wickremasinghe. Transport was volunteered by Asoka Vidyaratne/Ceylonta.
  The left-over are to be shipped in the fall, and we solicit your pledges/donations for that.

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2010-2011 Activities.

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• Approximately two dozen wheel chairs (includes a few walkers) were shipped out of Ottawa on 12th-Nov-2010 and finally to Colombo, repaired and distributed on 12th-June 2011 in Sri Lanka.

The move from Ottawa (Nov 12-2010) was done with Nandana Gajanayaka, Nandana Ranasinghe, Sajith Jayasooriya, Asoka Vidyaratna, Viresh Wickremasinghe , and Anajali Dharmawardana helping to move out the wheel chairs from Fulton, Ottawa Road garage to Sarath Amarakoon's warehouse in Kanata, for eventual shipping to Toronto and Colombo via Ceycan. This was mostly the consignment from Perth and Tisarana.	They were shipped to Colombo in January, and collected by Mr. Channa Bopage, for OSDASA (Organization for Skills Development and Social Assistance), an organization where Nandana Gajanayaka has been personally involved from the founding stage. WC4SL donations covered the expenses in moving, shipping, customs, and also contributed $140.00 to the expenses of OSDASA which also spent its own funds. See Donations.
Click to enlarge Wheel chairs donation at Pitigala	Click to enlarge OSDASA-wheelchair and Blood-donor event, 12-June-'11
The wheelchairs were moved to a free storage location at Sri Visuddharama temple in Indipalegoda, Pitigala. Many of the wheel chairs needed repairs and refurbishing cushions etc. This was done by OSDASA who also identified suitable recipients of wheel chairs and held a wheel-chairs donation and blood-donor clinic in the Pitigala area, using the Temple resources as the venue. Nanadana Gajanayaka attended the session in Sri Lanka and spoke explaining the role of the Ottawa donors through WC4SL and OSDASA.	The additional district secretary (Additional GA) of Galle - Mr. Bandula Harischandra, Assistant District Secretary (AGA) for Niyagama and Maetiviliye Pannyakiththi Thero particiipated as invited guests. Many in Ottawa know Ven. Maetiviliye P from his Vassaana sojourn at the Hilda Jayawardena Temple in 2010. Some 57 people donated blood. A newspaper report appeared in the Lankadeepa.

• Current shipment Nov-Dec. 2010 - short fall of funds for this shipment noted, and covered by Chandre Dharmawardana.
  Consignee: Organisation for Skills Development and Social Assistance Channa Bopage's office fax #: (0094) 11-2388877. will look after the consignment in Colombo. Shipping to Colombo via Ottawa to Kanata and Toronto.$125+$250+$800.

Wheel chairs from Perth, plus additional chairs obtained with the help of Rajitha-Kumari were shipped to Sri lanka with the help of Sarath Amaarakoon of Mahaweli trading Inc.

Viresh Wickremasinghe, Nandana Gajanayake, Sarath Amarakoon, Anajali Dharmawardana and Nandana Ranasinghe volunteered in this effort: 12-Nov-2010

WE HELPED: Click to enlarge water station at 57 Birch, Ottawa, for the half-marathon Sept. 2010, wheel-chairs and runners"

17 wheelchairs had been collected from Perth and stored at the Tisarana Monastery. They were moved in April to Subadra kappagoda's basement. (this cost $183.38) and then to a garage in Fulton rd in July 2010, The Van Rental+Gas and other expenses for moving to Fulton rd cost $89.97

Nanadana Gajanayaka, Dave Harrison, Andoma de Silva, Sebastian Duff, Chandre DW, Samantha Dharmawardana, Subadhra Kappagoda, Asoka Vidyaratne, Nandana Ranasinghe, and Ranjini Alwis helped in this round.

Click to enlarge bringing from Tisaranee-1

Click to enlarge bringing from Tisaranee-1

Click to enlarge "in the middle of moving from Subadra's place:"

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2010-2009 Activities

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Wheel chairs distribution in Sri lanka now under the Red Lotus. foundation:

Click to enlarge Red Lotus presentation 1

Click to enlarge Red Lotus 2

Mr. Sarath Peiris took a consignment of wheelchairs to Sri Lanka December 2009.
wc4sl handed the chairs to the Acting HC, Ms. Anzul Jahn.

Nanadana Gajanayake, Chandre Dharmawardana, Chandima Amarakoon, Anzul Jahn, Sarath Peiris, Neranjala Gajanayake, Chaminda Perera, helped in this effort

They have now been received in Colombo by the DVJ health unit.See photos:
Local transport and payments (truckman Uri etc) in Ottawa, $50

Click to enlarge Colombo depot

Unloaded in Colombo 3 Feb 2010 Thanks to Sarath Peries.

Click to enlarge

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Click to enlarge.

Click here for d etails of equipment shipped with Mr. Sarath Peiris

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Activities in 2009 and before.

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These items were shipped in Sept.2009. They were distributed in SL via the red-lotus health unit See the list of shipped wheel chairs etc. We also donated $300.00 to Red Lotus.

We thank HE. Mr. Daya Perera for helping to ship them to Colombo with his baggage.

Click for Larger image

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Click to enlarge.

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Click to enlarge.

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Click to enlarge.

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Click to enlarge.

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Click to enlarge.

Thanks to Mary McDowell and her team at STRIDE in Ottawa

These wheelchairs are destined for distribution via hospitals and other institutions dealing with disabled individuals.

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see:
  Stride, Ottawa, Canada
  Wheelchair site
   Wheelchairs Tour
   Dharmavijaya Foundation healthcare projects   contacts: Olcott Gunasekera, Hema Goonatilleke
   Director of Services,( Ranviru etc), Sri Lanka, Bgr. Dr. Sanjeeva Munasinghe: mobile number is 0773082587
   For obtaining customs waiver etc., Mr. Jayamanna, Director of Social services , dirss@sltnet.lk

Shippers Kumar; Ceycan Transcontinental Shipping Inc.   1981 Boylen Road, Unit # 9   Mississauga, Ontario   L5S 1R9
Tel.: 905 673 9873   Fax: 905 673 9905   Email: ceycantrans@gmail.com
Trico agent USA ( Don Gunawardana) via Sarath A.

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For details about shipping containers, see:
Shiiping containers
Smaller sized containers
Trico
crating the wheel chairs before shipping - cardboard boxes?

According to Nimal Fernando
nimal.fernando@sympatico.ca
the price for a 40x8x8 container would be $1900. This quote, valid till the fall of 2009, included pickup in Ottawa, crating and transfer to Montreal.
The 40x8x8 will be able to hndle about 70 wheel chairs.

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24-May, 18-april and 21-march-2009 collections
Thanks to Mary McDowell and her team of Volunteers at STRIDE CANADA

We have now shipped:
• 6 walkers + 2 walkers
• 9 wheel chairs + 8 wheel chairs
• See detailed specifications of equipment
• See details of equipment from 18-Apr-09
• 7 pairs of crutches, 4 walking sticks, one prosthetic leg
• Three bath chairs
• See details of equipment from 23-May-09

WE have SHIPPED THEM IN DEC 2009 not yet shipped ( as of Nov. 2009)
• See details of equipment from 18-Oct-09

Current Participants(i.e., giving their time, tranasport fund-raising or storage help)
• Chandre Dharmawardana, Anoma de Silva, Rohan Basnayaka, Nandana Gajanayaka, PrabathJ,S-N Kappagoda
• Sahan Seneviratne (sseneviratne@concert.ca), and Sarath Amarakoon (sarath71@hotmail.com),
  and Saman Amarakoon   have joined us and helped immensely in moving and storing chairs.
• Nimal Fernando (Montreal, reg. shipping etc.)
• Ranjini Alwis

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  17-March-2009 ; A second visit was made on 9-March-2009 with Anoma de Silva, Rohan Basnayake, Chandre Dharmawardana and mary McDowell. The latter showed three models and gave a short course on inspection, cleaning and maintainance of wheel chairs, with user saftey aspects emphasized. A prosthetic leg was given us. An e-mail was sent to every one concerned.
  
  A letter was received from Prof. Epasinghe, regarding containers, and possible arrangements for receipt of material in Colombo on 17-March.2009.
  The smallest size container is 8'x8'x8', i.e., it could carry 34 wheel chairs with each wheel chair estimated to be at 15 cubic feet.
  

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  6-Jan-2009   A preliminary visit was made to the repair shops and warehouses of Stride Canada on 5th January 2005. Dr. Chandre Dharmawardana (convener), Mr. Cahm Wijeratne (SL-Foreign Ministry, Deputy HC), Mr. Sarath Peiris (SP- SL Police and Defense Attaché) and Mary McDowell (Stride Canada) were present. Mr. Nanadana Gajanayake (SL-Canada Association) has been a keen supporter but was not able to attend this first meeting. He hopes to be involved in the next meeting.
  
  
  We concluded that we should first concentrate on "manual" wheel-chairs which are easiest to repair and maintain. The computer-controlled machines are expensive, difficult to repair, and also occupy a large shipping volume. The immediate objective is to begin to collect wheel chairs for about a month and see if we can come up with enough for shipment. Even a manual wheel chair would occupy a volume of about 16-18 cu.ft when crated.
  
  One way of rasing funds for the shipment and other expenses is to request individuals to "sponsor" the cost of shipping a a wheel chair. Thus an apt way for "birth-day celebrations", "funeral commemorations" etc., may be to donate funds to ship a wheel chair. We need to identify individuals who would like to join this project and help to spread the idea.
  
  
  We have contacted a number of people and we have had very helpful inputs from
  • Anoma de Silva
  • Ranjini Alwis
  • Rohan Basnayake
  
  We now have a core group of people for our initial committee, and that may be all we need for the present, since we have the support of Nandana, and also Cahm and Sarath from the High Commission.
  
  
  Action's needed:
  • Contact shipping to get an estimate of the costs for a possible spring shipment. Rohan has contacted Trico and the picture is very optimistic.
  • Rohan Basnayake will check out the forms needed for registration of the project, to formalize it, so that we can deal with organizations like STRIDE.
  • Chandre will request STRIDE to collect surplus wheelchairs and help out in that, and look into needed conditioning of chairs etc.
  • The expenses etc for the initial shipment will be handled by a small number of contributors, and this first step will enable us to iron out all the problems and set up the program.
  • After that, we should examine the possibility of each Temple or similar motivated groups to sponsor shipments of chairs.
  • Meet again in about when necessary.
  
  
  

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  We are attempting to form a small group volunteers for collecting used or surplused wheel chairs, available through various organizations in Canada. Suitable wheel chairs will be selected and shipped to Sri Lanka.

  It is needed to:
  • assure the collection, conditioning, cataloging and warehousing the wheel chairs and related material (e.g.,crutches).
  • Once a sufficient number is collected, they needed to be crated and shipped to Sri lanka
  • Establish liaison and links with organizations in Colombo hospitals/volunteer groups in Colombo. This is already "being explored".
  • Raise funds for shipping and other expenses by getting individuals to "sponsor a wheel chair".
  • This is a non-profit volunteer-driven organization which also helps other volunteer organizations like Stride Canada in dealing with their surpluses.

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  Last update: 7-May-2009, 21-March; 17-March-2009, 25-May-2009 updates: 7-Jan-2009, 9-March-2009 First write up: 5-Jan-2009
  
  wc4sl@yahoo.ca   (e-mail address of project)
  mail directly to project coordinator:
  chandre.dharma-wardana@nrc.ca