By Anusha Madhubhashini | a former student of Horizon Lanka
Anusha Madhubhashini anusha@horizonlanka.org
If I tell something about Mahavilachchiya, it is not reasonable not to mention about Horizon Lanka Foundation. Mahavilachchiya got more things from there. Especially in my life I got more help, advice and experiences in there. In the beginning of Horizon Lanka I never thought it could become what it is today. All of us thought Mr. Wanninayaka who is our teacher was telling us a fairy story. Really he has always very optimistic ideas. When I was in grade 8 he told you can go to university, so try to study more and more. Actually we got a big push from Horizon Lanka. I want to tell you how I built up my life with Horizon Lanka. I could get a C pass for English, it is very simple for you today, but at that time it was a very big achievement in my village. There was a prize giving at Horizon Lanka after my O/L. I took a big present for my achievements from Mr. and Mrs. Gaminitillake. It was a nice pair of earrings and some books. Then I got monetary assistance from Mr. Thushara Wijerathna and Dr. Nimal Perera who were living in the USA. It was so useful to my life. I put the money in a bank account and used them for my tuition classes and for my needs in university. The financial donation made me stronger and I had the peace of mind to concentrate on my education. Even to my parents it was great assistance. Since I had learnt computers at Horizon Lanka, even when I was in the first year I had the capability to find new information from web sites. I never felt, I'm a rural villager's daughter. I could study same as other students. If I hadn't that experience at Horizon Lanka, I'm sure I would have been stuck in competitive university life.
LTTE abducted my father last year. On that unfortunate occasion Horizon Lanka did help their best. They made blogs, and sent news to some people and encouraged us. At that time my sister was to sit for Advanced Level and I was facing my final year exam. At that time Horizon Lanka gave confidence to us, both of us faced exam. I want to tell about Mrs. Chithranganie Mubarak, who came to Horizon Lanka from ICTA. There are no words to explain her kind assistance for me.
I finished my university exam last February. I could get a job in Marga Institute in Colombo last February with the assistance of Mrs. Mubarak. Now I'm working with Marga projects in Ampara. Twice a month I go to Ampara, I get a chance to work with Sinhala, Muslim and Tamil people. All of them give kind assistance for me. I really enjoy this work and get a lot of experiences. I had studied sociology and about conflicts, ethnic problems and peace programs in my university. Now I'm getting practical knowledge about them. I have seen there are no differences among human feelings according to ethnicity. I want to see a day that all people living peacefully in Sri Lanka. I have very awful experience with war. I hate war, but I do not hate other ethnicities. Even during my childhood, I was on that position. I think I learnt these habits from Mr. Wanninayaka.
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