Dear Friend,
We have been active but, delayed in bringing you this report of what Mithuruwela has been doing for the year 2006 so far.
The highlights of the year for Mithuruwela are as follows;
January 2006: The year began with a very impressive Launch of our Website on January 28th.
The venue for the launch was the Auditorium of the British Council in Colombo 3, and the event attracted an enthusiastic audience of donors, well-wishers, Volunteers and friends. The launch began with an overview of Mithuruwela, its objectives and work done ,both in the areas of publications as well in Befriending, by Professor Ryhana Raheem, Chairperson of Mithuruwela. This was followed by a powerful Keynote address by Dr Indrani Amarasinghe, Surgeon, National Cancer Institute who spoke of the escalating incidence of cancer in Sri Lanka. Patron of Mithuruwela, Prof AH Sheriffdeen, the next speaker made a plea for support for organizations like Mithuruwela. The Chief Guest for the event, Dr Augustino Borra, Country Director, World Health Organization, Sri Lanka, then formally launched the Mithuruwela Website, www.mithuruwela.org and features of the site were explained by Mr. Divarkar Goswami, a Mithuruwela Volunteer who maintains the site. The Address of Thanks was made by Ms Kiran Dhanapala, Secretary, Mithuruwela , and the evening concluded with an informal reception held in the garden of the British Council.
March – September 2006: The list of publications completed by Mithuruwela continues to grow.
We began with a brochure on the National Cancer Institute which was commissioned by the NCI, Maharagama of which 10,000 copies were done initially. As all the Sinhala copies were depleted, in August a further 5000 copies of the Sinhala version of this brochure was handed over to the NCI. We also produced a brochure on Prostate Cancer with the kind support of Nihal and Crystal Goonewardene of Washington DC, USA now printed in Sinhala, Tamil and English. Other brochures completed and handed over to the NCI include publications on Chemotherapy and Radiation, and a children’s booklet called “Punchi Mala” on Leukemia funded by Chatham House Limited. We are currently seeking support for a brochure on “Mastectomy and After’ written by Dr Amarasinghe. To-date, Mithuruwela has completed about 50,000 brochures and we thank all our friends for their generosity that has helped us to continue this much-needed task. A complete list of Mithuruwela publications in Sinhala, Tamil and English is posted separately.
We are happy to report that we have been granted permission by the NCI to distribute our brochures through the Medical Education Unit. We thank Dr N Paranagama, Acting Director, NCI for her warm espousal of our cause.
July 2006: In July 2006, Mithuruwela completed one year of Befriending services at “Shanthi Nivasa” Maharagama.
We also wish to thank the owner of Shanthi Nivasa for so generously offering us the space in which to conduct these befriending activities. It is indeed a tribute to our dedicated group of trained Befriender Volunteers that this activity too has continued to expand. Up to end September 2006 we have befriended 506 callers (i.e. 136 New Callers and 370 Old Callers paying us multiple visits) from all regions and communities of Sri Lanka. Moreover we have extended our services to the patients in the Transit Home run by the Ceylon Cancer Society. Our work in this field has only made us more acutely aware of how desperate the need is for such Befriending in Sri Lanka. Details of Befriender Services provided are available separately.
August 2006: NCI Ward Befriending
The excellent work done by our Befriender Volunteers was instrumental in Mithruruwela being requested to commence a pilot project of Befriending in a Female Ward at NCI, Maharagama. This has been welcomed by the patients, and we look forward to extending the service to other wards in future with the support of more trained volunteers. This was initiated at the request of the Doctor in charge of the ward with patients selected by the Ward Sister for each session of befriending on a weekly basis. We have befriended a total number of 21 female patients so far since we started on 2nd August 2006.
The service will be extended in the near future if the hospital authorities perceive this service as beneficial to the patients.
The Befriending Sessions were very rewarding but issues raised from Befriending Sessions indicate a need for greater support by Mithuruwela. Greater efforts and support is needed for Tamil Befriending - and we appreciate your sharing this need so that those who speak Tamil could join as Trained Mithuruwela Befrienders. There is also an urgent need for financial assistance – and we shall have to consider how best we can respond to this. Currently the Befriending is confined to a female ward but this should be extended to male wards too. Once again a need – for male Befrienders!
Our Thanks and Appreciation
Throughout the year, we have also conducted Training and Refresher Sessions for those involved in Befriending. We thank Nalini Ellawala , Founding Director, Sri Lanka Sumithrayo and Director, ‘Mel Medura’ for agreeing to train and inspire our Volunteers. These Training Sessions also included talks on aspects of Befriending and were as follows;
1. Workshop at Cancer Society Kandy - 21/06/05
2. Talk by Dr Dehan Gunasekera, Oncologist, Karapitiya Hospital - 14/08/05
3. Talk by Dr Indranee Amarasinghe, Surgical Oncologist - 03/09/05
4. Talk by Dr Rosalie Shaw on Palliative Care at Shantha Sevena Hospice - 07/09/05
5. Talk by Mr John Weerakone, Psychotherapist from UK - 08/10/05
6. Talk by Mr Henry Jayasena
7. Talk on Meditation by Mr Theja Siriwardena
Future Initiatives
Further, we have just initiated work in developing a Question and Answer format video with the kind assistance of Henry Jayasena, Namel and Malini Weeramuni and supported by the Open University. The video will be in the national languages and will address many common issues facing cancer patients and their care givers.
As noted earlier a brochure series on “Mastectomy and After’ written by Dr Amarasinghe is urgently required for use by Breast Cancer patients in the NCI, Maharagama and other facilities. We are currently seeking support for the activity. Please contact us at mithuruwela@gmail.com if you are able to assist in this initiative in any way.
Finally, we thank all of you for your support, assistance, and active encouragement in our efforts to help cancer patients and their families face a very hard and challenging period.
We urgently need the active involvement of more volunteers in our work – both as Befrienders, and those with computer knowledge to help coordinate our information projects. You can contact us with your interest on; mithuruwela@gmail.com
Thank you.
The Mithuruwela Management Circle
