{"id":109352,"date":"2020-12-04T15:56:06","date_gmt":"2020-12-04T22:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=109352"},"modified":"2020-12-05T16:11:55","modified_gmt":"2020-12-05T23:11:55","slug":"an-apprication-death-of-dr-olga-mendis-a-leading-social-activist-in-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/12\/04\/an-apprication-death-of-dr-olga-mendis-a-leading-social-activist-in-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"AN APPRECIATION – DEATH OF DR OLGA MENDIS, A LEADING SOCIAL ACTIVIST IN AUSTRALIA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ranjith Soysa<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

the fragrance that spreads from a good quality sandal wood bark remains the same when crushed and cut”<\/strong><\/em> \u2013 Subashithya \u2013 the Well Spoken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are saddened by the death of Dr Olga\nMendis, one of the greatest overseas Sri Lankans who served her adopted\nMotherland, Australia as well as her original Motherland, Sri Lanka with\ndedication. She was  from Moratuwa and studied\nat Princess of Wales College. She entered the Sri Lanka medical college. After\npassing out as a medical practitioner, she proceeded to the UK for higher\nstudies. She married Dr Mervyn Mendis and served in many hospitals and as a\nSchool Medical Officer from 1967 to 1976. She immigrated to Australia in 1977.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I came to know Dr Mendis in the 90s when\nshe was known to almost all Sri Lankans in Victoria as a leading social\nactivist. I saw in her the resolve to pursue the objectives of her planned\nprogram and how happy she was when surrounded by the grateful beneficiaries of\nher work. She did not give into the whims and fancies of the armchair critics\nwho attempted to stifle her progress but kept on marching ahead and she\ndelivered the desired results to the community. I remember Dr Mendis extending\nassistance to the needy migrants by way of funds and other requirements\nincluding free medical treatment plus advise. She was simply a large-hearted\nlady.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will now try to pen a few memorable\nachievements of Dr Mendis which I came to know through her contemporaries, and\nI gathered by watching her from a distance including associating her closely.\nIn 1983 she along with Prof Christie Weeramantri and H.L.D.Mahindapala formed\nOverseas Sri Lankan Organization for National Unity with the objective of\ncountering the misinformation campaign of some extremist Tamil groups and it\nbecame a major forum to promote Sri Lanka, She was the founder Treasurer and\nheld the post for next 4 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 1985 to 1987 she served as the VP of\nSri Lanka Association and was very active in jointly organizing for the first\ntime in Australia the celebration of the Sri Lanka Independence Day, Sinhala\nNew Year functions and even Wesak devotional songs,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1985 when she went to meet the Minister\nof Immigration for a discussion she realized that there should be a forum for\nthe Sinhalese in Victoria to represent their views and formed the Sinhala\nCultural and Community Services Foundation in 1989.She was the founder\nPresident and continued  in the position\nfor more than 20 years. Perhaps, this was the first Sinhala organization in\nAustralia.  Through SCCSF she promoted\nstudy of Sinhala, Sinhala song and poetry, dancing, and traditional drumming.\nThe SCCSF also extended its services to the Seniors by way of monthly\ngathering, providing meals and medical advise The SCCF  raised funds by running food fairs and\nSinhala drama and gave a helping hand to the victims of floods, drought in Sri\nLanka and the needy in the Sri Lankan hospitals. Through Sevana Sarna Foster\nParent scheme she was able to help 150 poor families in Sri Lanka to receive\nmonthly payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also organized the first Sinhala and\nBuddhism classes  to educate the children\nof the Sinhala migrants whose arrival to Australia saw a big leap in the late\n80s, She worked assiduously with a few volunteers to streamline the teaching of\nSinhala language. Her indefatigable efforts  reached a climax in 1990 when the Sinhala\nLanguage was recognized as a subject for Victorian Certificate Examination, the\npremier exam for secondary education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the mid-90s when Sri Lanka was the\nsubject of ridicule due to misinformation campaign of some sections of Tamils,\nshe teamed up with Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka and\ngalvanized a program to educate and confer with Aussie politicians to provide\nthe other side od story and also to help the injured soldiers in Sri Lanka,.\nThe ship -loads of beds and equipment were sent to Sri Lanka to help the\nvictims of bombs and explosives and to the rural hospitals,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She played a key role in the formation of\nfirst Sinhala community radio thorough 3 zzz when she was elected as a member\nof the Ethnic Communities  council in\nVictoria while she joined a band of social activists and started  \u2018 SRI LANKAN\u2019 the first Sri Lankan newspaper\nin Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Mendis also drew up a program to host\nvisiting Sri Lankan sports teams and looking after them in Australia through\nthe sponsored families. Sri Lankan national netball team which toured Australia\nannually was one of the beneficiaries,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She authored two books, one on Sri Lanka\nhistory and other on Sri Lankan migrants to Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was the recipient of many prestigious\nawards such as Doctor of the year in 1992.Order of Australia Medal and\nExcellence in Multicultural Affairs -the Centenary Award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her late husband, Dr Mervyn Mendis was her\nmentor and helped her in all possible ways to accomplish her multifaceted\nsocial service agenda. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When she passed away last week, she was 93\nyears and as her memory was failing. she was compelled to rest at home amidst\nlove and care of her sons. Dr Duleep, Dr Roshan and only daughter, Dr\nPriyadarshani and her daughters in laws including her grandchildren. She closed\nher eyes in the arms of her eldest son, Duleep. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MAY HER JOURNEY IN SAMSARA BE SMOOTH <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ranjith Soysa the fragrance that spreads from a good quality sandal wood bark remains the same when crushed and cut” \u2013 Subashithya \u2013 the Well Spoken. We are saddened by the death of Dr Olga Mendis, one of the greatest overseas Sri Lankans who served her adopted Motherland, Australia as well as her original Motherland, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ranjith-soysa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109352\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}