The Sri Lanka Airforce (SLAF) extends its goodwill to the island’s North with the launch of “Wings of Friendship”, a series of collective charitable programmes, organised in view of its 73rd anniversary that fell yesterday.
“Wings of Friendship”, a brainchild of Air Marshal Udeni Rajapakse, the Commander of the SLAF predominantly focuses its concern on the school going children, living in the Jaffna peninsula.
Celebrating its 73rd anniversary, it is compelling to distinguish the fact that wittingly or unwittingly, the SLAF is interestingly in line with the subject of numerology; renovating 73 schools, donating 73,000 books, and planting 73,000 saplings in the Northern Province are pièce de résistance in terms of every task listed in the itinerary of this remarkable endeavour.
Another symbolic initiative “Magen Pothak Uthurata”, which would facilitate the donation of 73 000 books to the school children ceremonially took its wings at the Myliddi North Kaleimagal Maha Vidyalayam, graced by Mrs. P. S. M. Charles, Governor of the Northern Province along with Air Vice-Marshal Muditha Mahawattage, Director General Aeronautical Engineering, SLAF who is also the head of the organising committee education exhibition and air tattoo.
With the launch of programs of this calibre, notably the donation of books to the North, the SLAF, commanded by Air Marshal Udeni Rajapakse, apart from being the conqueror of the Sri Lankan skies becomes a synonym that justifies the universally accepted fact that “reading maketh a full person”. Just a plain thought of donating a book makes you an exception that could grow and reinforce your affinity and empathy which is imperative to your relationships with others; gifting books from the South to the North ensures an unassuming and durable journey during which friendship blossoms; its flowers never wither.
Renovation of schools
With 92% of its population being able to read and write, Sri Lanka boasts on having the highest literacy rate in the South Asian region. In accomplishing such a phenomenal goal, the role played by education is undeniably pivotal.
03With the renovation of 73 schools in the North, the SLAF expands its wings of friendship whilst in a way being a patron of such a tremendous charity that extends its helping hand to the country during its run up to the achievement of quality education, placed fourth among 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), set up by the United Nations that are expected to realize by 2030.
Following a comprehensive analysis, the SLAF has selected 73 schools in the Northern Province which are in need of renovation. It is well known that retrofitting and renovating a dilapidated school building gives a window of opportunities for its recipients; the amelioration of their educational conditions along with the facilitation of community engagement rise up whilst the study environment becomes conducive.
With leaky roofs, cracked walls and shattered windows, most of the buildings in those selected schools suffer from permeative shabbiness. Hence, the SLAF finds that these 73 schools are in need of comprehensive physical rehabilitation.
Research indicates that shabby and ramshackle buildings may give rise to constantly recurring school issues; the visibility of dwindling creativity and productivity is not a strange phenomenon in such deplorable conditions.
In pioneering, “Wings of Friendship” with the dawn of its 73rd anniversary, the emphasis, paid by the SLAF on being a part and parcel of the endeavour of providing the quality education with children in the North by means of renovating school infrastructure and expanding the library collections is a worthy cause that would usher into a new era of building a durable Friendship between the North and the South.
Sustainable environment
Making contributions towards the realization of a sustainable environment has also become a sine-qua-non element in the agenda of “Wings of Friendship”. Geared with the momentous undertaking of planting 73,000 saplings in the Northern Province, the SLAF marks a major milestone in the celebration of its 73rd anniversary.
With this bold initiative, the SLAF plays a significant role in assisting the island in its venture of realizing a sustainable environment. During the run up to the acquisition of all the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, tree planting is considered as a fundamental element that has got the potential of making a tremendous influence on the environment.
By being a persistent and efficient promoter of pure and healthy environment, the SLAF takes the element of Trees Outside Forests (TOFs) into its consideration; TOFs play a blooming role in lessening the gravity of environmental degradation and poverty whilst ultimately paving the way for sustainable development.
Mrs. Inoka Rajapaksa, Chairperson, Sri Lanka Airforce Seva Vanitha Unit, Brian Poulier, CEO, ASL Aerospace, United Kingdom, Mr. Sujith Dias, Managing Director, Marine Shipping Services Lanka and Ceylon Chocolates Limited are among the lavish contributors for the “Wings of Friendship”.
