Sinhala family in the South donates 1500 books to Jaffna library

Jaffna Library received another round of generous donation of 1500 books from new supporters, this time a Sinhala family in Nugegoda, Colombo. With sheer intention of quenching the thirst for knowledge of Jaffna students and other interested readers, a generous family in the south donated a volume of valuable books to the Jaffna Library recently.


The donation coordinated by the Security Forces Headquarters- Jaffna included 1500 books on various disciplines such as a set of encyclopedia, novels, famous story books for children and a rare collection of educational books. The latest donation by Mr. Vipula Wijeratne, Ms Nilmini Jayasinghe and Ms Menaka Jayasinghe of Nugegoda reached the Security Forces Headquarters- Jaffna as a response to the request.
On behalf of the Sri Lanka Army, Security Forces Headquarters- Jaffna, General Officer Commanding 51 Division Major General Janaka Walgama and Lieutenant Colonel Deeptha Ariyasena handed over the consignment to library authorities on Tuesday 09 July. Both the authority of the library and the Army expressed sincere thanks to the generous family for their book donation. The library authority also said “we are extremely grateful for this assistance. It is certainly a worthwhile cause”.

Donating books to a library is a worthwhile cause. Therefore the Sri Lanka Army have committed themselves to filling the shelves of the Jaffna library and requested the help of the general public to make this happen. Commander of the Security Forces- Jaffna, Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe and staff officers of the Security Forces Headquarters – Jaffna have made requests from various persons and organizations in Sri Lanka and as well as in abroad to contribute to restore the Jaffna public library, once served as the oasis of knowledge to Jaffna intellectuals, in its former glory.

However after Security Forces Headquarters – Jaffna made the announcement of filling the shelves of the Jaffna library and donations for the refurbish of the buildings, the library literally receives hundreds of books every week from thoughtful individuals and organizations around the world.

Source:http://www.onlanka.com/?p=5623

Breathing new life into Sri Lanka's Jaffna Public Library

JAFFNA: It is a rare privilege for international media to visit the former war torn northern Jaffna peninsula.

En route to Jaffna town centre - one still notices soldiers taking up positions at street corners ensuring peace prevails following the end of the civil war in May 2009.

It is not long before one is greeted by a historic building, the Jaffna Public Library. It has survived the destruction of a fire and the ravages of a civil war, and now stands as a symbol of hope, especially for the children of Jaffna.

The people of Jaffna are yearning for a return to normalcy, hoping their children will receive a good education.

However, the road to reconciliation remains an uphill task.

K. N. Douglas Devananda, Minister for Traditional and Small Industries for Sri Lanka, said: "Its taking effect very steadily and slowly. However, there are still some anti-government supporters amongst the Tamil people, who are still trying to mislead the people, to possibly stir up another civil war.

"I hope that the people would be able to separate the good from the bad and look ahead for a more peaceful future."

In 2009, Sri Lankan authorities asked Singapore's then Foreign Minister George Yeo for help in improving the children's section of the library.

Yogeswaray Patgunarajah, the Mayor of Jaffna, said: "In an attempt to resume the function of this once world famous public library, our municipality council contacted Minister Douglas Devananda and our governor G A Chandra Sri. They helped us to discuss our plans for the library with the Singapore representatives when they visited Sri Lanka. And it was because of that, we have now got the opportunity to restore the children's section of the library."

Inside the library is the newly improved children's section, built with help from Singapore.

At a special ceremony, Mr Yeo lights the kuthu vilakku - which symbolises a new beginning. And with the official handing over to the Jaffna Mayor - it completes an almost year long capacity building project.

Mr Yeo said: "The war is over but political reconciliation will take time because the long years of conflict have poisoned the soil and removing that toxicity will take time and effort and the cooperation of all parties involved.

"There is still a lot of bitterness, a lot of suspicion in the diaspora, which we can fully understand. So an effort has to be made by the Sri Lankan government and by members of the diaspora themselves to find ways to move on. The past is not the way to the future."

It is estimated that 1,500 children between the ages of five to 14 will benefit from the improved services at the library and Jaffna authorities are hoping more projects like these will spring up with increased linakges between Sri Lanka and Singapore.

The project is driven by the Singapore International Foundation and supported by the Singapore Cooperation Programme, the Singapore Sri Lankan Community, the National Library Board, and The Prima Group.

-CNA/ac