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MY STORY
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This is to tell you the successes and achievements that I attained during this past five years as a medical student and how helpful the support given by AMDA and Suganami Scholarship fund.
The day in which I received the letter of selection from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, was the day that the dream of our family became true. At the same time, It was a tragedy to lose my best friend who was also selected for the university and sadly died in an accident during our trip from our village to Colombo University.
During my University days, I became actively involved in many social welfare groups and volunteer activities. One such event was the medical camp in Vavniya, north central part of Sri Lanka for the massive influx of internally displaced people during the latter stages of the long lasted armed conflict in Sri Lanka. To meet an unexpected, massive demand for the medical services and medical professionals, on the request of Sri Lankan govt. Colombo University organized this medical camp through the Core Group for Disaster Relief, an organization established immediately after the Tsunami in 2004 at the Medical faculty of Colombo University. This experience alone lead me to participate in many such successful missions, such as Monsoon flood disaster in Baticaloa, east of Sri Lanka in late 2010; torrential rain and flood in Colombo in 2011. Similarly during another flood disaster in Kollonnawa region, I and one of my friends from the Core Group, researched to assess the knowledge regarding basic preventive strategies and the satisfaction towards the disaster response in this repeatedly flood affected community. Our abstract was selected for an oral presentation on the 43rd Asia Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health held from 20-22 of October 2011 at Seoul, South Korea. It was like another dream come true for me, as I had never been out of my country. Also my abstract was selected as the one of the best 10 outstanding abstracts of the conference.
In year 2011, I was selected as the first Suganami scholarship recipient from Sri Lanka and met the president of AMDA-Sri Lanka, Dr. Sarath Samarage. Later that year, I was fortunate enough to meet Dr. Shigeru Suganami, the Founder of AMDA in person in Colombo. In July 2012, under the guidance of AMDA-Sri Lanka I received another opportunity to participate at the 9th Asian Youth Congress held in Osaka, Japan. It was an unforgettable experience as I was able share idea with youths from all over the world. Not only I was able to realize the enchanting beauty and the surprising technology of Japan, I also gained many Japanese friends who are generous and helpful.
I completed my final written exams in early December and as for the last academic activity, each student must complete an elective project of a field of own interest. I teamed up with a colleague to do our elective project under the guidance of Dr. Samarage, and with a title ‘Strengthening knowledge and skills on disaster management in collaboration with the Association of Medical Doctors of Asia (AMDA)’.
If it wasn’t for the help of Suganami Scholarship, it would have been very difficult for me to live and study in Colombo due to the high cost of living and my family`s finance situation. I was able to meet my needs with Suganami scholarship while expecting very little from my parents. It was a tremendous help forme, especially during the final year during which the Mahapola Government Scholarship is not given. I received all the scholarship payments regularly without any delay thanks to the excellent coordination between AMDA Sri Lanka and Colombo University. I am extremely grateful Sugunami Scholarship Fund for giving me the supportive hand.
Thank You |
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Chamila Lakmal
Sri Lanka
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Dream is a good education
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In my opinion, there are just two kinds of people in the world. One group of people dreams normally and another group of people dreams a lot. Which one do you belong to? When I was a child, I used to dream a lot. As every child wants, I used to dream about growing up quickly, to learn a lot, and to help my parents. I used to get up early, eat well, learn my classes carefully, and listen to my parents’ words. Every time my dream comes true, I used to dream more and more. Becoming a medical doctor was my recent dream came true. Every dream has a supporter. My dream to be a medical doctor was supported by Dr. Shigeru Suganami and his scholarship. This scholarship encouraged me a lot and I completed my university successfully. And now I am working as a medical doctor. I like to support the people who have the same dream as mine. So I granted my own scholarship together with Suganami Scholarship. My scholarship will be an encouragement to the students who share the same dream as me. Every dream comes true. So if you dream a lot, you will be successful.
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Buyantugs Tseyenbaljir
Mongolia
Ulaanbaatar Song Do Hospital / Surgical Department
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