• Most of our soldiers whose limbs have been amputated hail from remote villages where the toilets they use are either pit latrines or those equipped with squatting pans.
  
  • Therefore these soldiers with one or both limbs amputated finds it difficult if not impossible to use such toilets when they go home from their regimental rehabilitation centers.
  
  • The result is that many of these soldiers with amputated limbs are hesitant to go home on leave.
  
  • There is a simple solution to this problem and that is to provide the soldiers who are thus affected with commode seats that they can use at home when on leave.
  
  • The cost of such a commode seat in the open market is Rs.4900/=

There is a simple solution to this problem

Mr. Chandrasekera the Manager of Rama Auto Service had donated Rs. 35000/= to the Thawalama Development Foundation to be utilized to purchase any items needed for our heroic soldiers. He wished to donate these items to the Army at a Pirith Ceremony that he was organizing on 24th December on the occasion of the birthday of his chairman Mr. K.P.W. Ramanayake.

Manel Mal Movement had received a letter from a soldier whose leg had been amputated and in that letter he had explained the difficulty he was faced with that has been explained above. As a member of both the Manel Mal Movement and the Thawlama Development Foundation, I decided to implement a joint project to provide a commode seat to this soldier and to seven of his fellow soldiers who were also amputees facing similar problems with the funding provided by Mr. Chandrasekera.

The photographs of this page were taken just prior to the Pirith ceremony when the commode seats were handed over to the soldiers with amputated limbs by Mr. K.P.W.Ramanayake, his wife and his daughter. The top photograph is a full view of a commode seat. The Manel Mal Movement was represented at this donation ceremony by Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera. Colonel Suraweera who helped us with the transportation of the disabled soldiers represented the Seva Vanitha Movement of the Sri Lanka Army.

There are many more soldiers with amputated limbs who need commode seats to use when they go home on leave. I therefore invite all of you to join hands with either the Thawalama Development Foundation or the Manel Mal Movement to provide commode seats to these soldiers and to make their lives a little bit more comfortable as soon as possible. You could motivate your friends too to contribute towards this worthy project. Donations could be forwarded by cheques drawn in favour of either the Thawalama Development Foundation or the Manel Mal Movement and sent it to my address at Puselahena Estate, Kindelpitiya , Millewa. All donations will be acknowledged and utilized to provide commode seats for soldiers with amputated limbs.

Thanking you for your assistance and cooperation in this regard.

Yours sincerely,
Lt Col A.S.Amarasekera