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Second Annual General Meeting of MGCAANA on May 27, 2006 in Maryland
Welcome Speech by the President
Good afternoon my fellow Mahamayans. It is indeed a great pleasure and privilege to welcome you to our second Annual General Meeting of MGCAANA. This is a festive and social occasion to celebrate the sense of community and our accomplishments, and to express appreciation to all our members who contributed to make it a warm, healthy and dynamic environment in the organization.
I am delighted that we have more members participating in this meeting than last year’s Annual
General Meeting. Thank you for renewing you membership and thank you to the new members
who joined the organization this year.
In this formative year, I had the privilege of having the unconditional support of incredible groups of people. They are: (all the names are in alphabetical order)
The Board of Directors:
Neranjika Dissanayake, Nilmini Wickramaratne Dorabawila, Vajeera Dorabawila,
Harshi Ehelepola Liyanage, Arushie Nugapitiya,
The Executive Committee:
Vice President Geethanjalie Wijepala Selvendran, Secretary Deepa Dharshani Nanayakara, Treasurer/Web Manager Neranjika Dissanayake
Newsletter Committee:
Nazrana Caffoor, Devi Subasinghe Gunasekera, Priyanka Bandara Jayakody, Chathuri Nugawela-Munasinghe
Fund-raising Committee:
Chairperson Nadeeka Gunasekera Ranasinghe, Samantha Jayatilake Ranaweera, Sumana Kiridena Samarakoon
Membership Drive Committee:
Arushie Nugapitiya, Iyanka Karunaratne Ponnamperuma
Publication Committee:
Chairperson Vajeera Dorabawila, Priyeshni Arambepola, Sriyani Galahitiyawa Dissanayake, Nilmini Wickramaratne Dorabawila, Kanchanakesi Warnapala
Student Forum and Host and Travel Club:
Vajeera Dorabawila, Neranjika Dissanayake, Nilmini Dorabawila, Arushie Nugapitiya,
Scholarship Committee:
Deepa Dharshani Nanayakkara, Vajeera Dorabawila, Arushi Nugapitiya
Our Honorary members who are valued partners
The principal Mrs. Indra Withanachchi, The main Old Girls’ Association, The OGA Colombo Branch. And last but not least, our families and extended families that willingly supported us in our journey. Thank you all for your excellent teamwork dedication, love and understanding.
Mayans have become a stronger community today with our membership increasing. Each and every one of you are important to our organization to build, support, and sustain our community. Your support and trust strengthen us.
It is my fervent hope that this great organization will grow in strength and vitality and accomplish its goals. We are proud to be Mayans, we are proud of our achievements, growth and strength and we are proud of our committed members who help make our dreams a reality. As I have mentioned earlier, we can envision that the benefits deriving from this great organization are not only to the members of today, but for the children of tomorrow as well. MGCAANA is here to serve not only our alumnae and present Maya students, but also some of whom we will never meet and may not be born yet.
Our beloved Alma Mater gave us not merely the sort of knowledge and intellectual capacity that can be tested by examinations, but also general, intellectual, moral and social qualities. When I look back, among the meaningful influences which have shaped my life, the most outstanding was my beloved school. Mahamaya shaped my culture, gave direction and dimension to my mental development which is part of my life. We alumnae, who have gained knowledge, wisdom, love of art, above all, strength of character, we must forever be grateful to our school. We will rise above our boundaries. At this time, when we mark the completion of our first year, I ask our Maya community to ask ourselves how we can make a difference in other Mayans’ lives. To make a difference, we need to get involved. It can make our lives richer, and build a more hopeful future for our community. Let us share an agenda that calls us to action. We have a great responsibility to serve our community. We need to tread new paths and broaden our services in our community. There is an amazing energy in us that we need to tap. Progress must always be sustained by the human thought, human will, and human action. Today’s complex world, there are a lot of things that pull us apart. With promoting the spirit of community, we can learn how to come together by participating in activities in our own Maya Community. To make a difference, we must get involved. We shall not be spectators. That is the true Maya spirit. When I visited Sri Lanka few weeks ago, one of our retired teachers said to me, “you have the cream of the lot over there,” I said, “Yes, indeed we do.” So, dear Mayans, we have got the ablest, smartest, and most capable alumnae here and we need to put that capability into good use. Therefore I appeal to you today to join in our efforts to help build our Maya family here in North America and in Sri Lanka. Get involved in our activities.
We need to hear your ideas, opinions, suggestions, input priorities and wisdom. We must constantly evolve to stay relevant. Time to time we need to look at our vision and mission, and they can also be evolved accordingly.
We know that there are more than 54 Mayans living in this continent. Some have not heard about our organization. Some have opted not to become members at this time. We respect their decision. However, if we have their contact information, we would send them our electronic newsletter. They are our family.
Three weeks ago, Board member Nilmini Dorabawila, Secretary Dharshani Nanayakkara, and I got the opportunity to walk together on that golden soil of Mahamaya, and hand over our donation of four computers to the principal, Mrs. Withanachchi. The school is in the process of building a computer lab. It was a joyful event for us. We met teachers and students.
We invite all of our members to contribute articles, poems, memories, puzzles, pictures, etc that are related to school to our 75th anniversary commemorative volume that we are going to publish in January, 2007. Some members have already sent their contributions. During our trip to Sri Lanka we met with a group of prospective contributors from the Colombo Branch and the main OGA, namely former principal Mrs. Pilapitiya, author of “With a Fistful of Rice” Indrani Meegama, Mrs. Manel Weerasinghe, Geethanjalie Gunatilake, Shakuntala Kuruppu, former deputy principals Mrs. Karunaratne, and Mrs. Wansekera. Much work needs to be done between now and December for the volume. We give priority to our own members here when soliciting articles. We encourage you to write in English or Sinhala, or in both, and send us within the next month. Our chairperson of the Publication Committee Vajeera Dorabawila will answer any questions that you might have.
Let us pay tribute to our founders, principals, and teachers with love and gratitude, for their vision, dedication and hard work. Let’s commend our, matrons, clerks, and minor staff members who had been part of our lives. Mahamaya has enriched the lives of several generations and produced thousands of able young women to meet the challenges of this fast changing world.
We salute the Colombo Branch for completing 21 years of service, and congratulate for their outstanding social work that they do in Sri Lanka. “With the Fistful of Rice” the book that they published about Mahamaya and the history of Buddhist education in Sri Lanka received great reviews from the public and the academia. I brought 20 copies of the book for our members here and they are on display on a table.
Before I close, I would like to remind ourselves again that we treat each other with dignity, humility, love and respect, we respect each other’s privacy with utter integrity, and we are equals as Mayans.
I consider it as a great honor and privilege to have had the opportunity to serve you as your first president during this delicate first year. Thank you for bestowing your trust in me. I thank you all with feelings too deep for expression.
I am profoundly grateful to our members in Maryland who worked so hard to organize this annual event. I know firsthand how difficult it is. Their names in alphabetical order: Nilmini Wickramaratne Dorabawila, Tamara Dorabawila, Vajeera Dorabawila, Chathuri Nugawela-Munasinghe, Iyanka Ponnamperuma, Hemali Rajapakshe.
Chathuri Nugawela Munasinghe and her husband Dr. Jeeva Munasinghe gracefully accepted to host the dinner for MGCAANA. Thank you Chathuri and Jeeva. Let’s give them all a hand.
Thank you all.
Sujatha Werake
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