Building of a Classroom for G1 - Sri Lanka
Santa's Soul Train - Tohoku
Renovation of Child Care Center - Toronto
World issues will not diminish but will continue to grow for generations to come, human conflicts will keep mounting, and wars of tomorrows will make wars of today look like tea parties. I am not into changing the world’s issues. My efforts are all about empowerment- empowering the disable and disadvantage.
Building of a Classroom for Grade 1 kids - Sri Lanka
In the spring of 2014 during our vacation I took Haruki to my primary school and he was fascinated with the experience. I showed him my old classroom and explained to him that it was in that classroom few decades ago that I let my imagination run wild and started dreaming of things that I wanted to do. I went on to explain that if it wasn’t for my ability to dream, I wouldn’t have accomplished 10% of what I have accomplished in my life. In my own way I explained to my son that at the age of seven I wanted to be Robin Hood, at ten I wanted to be a sailor, at twenty four I wanted to cycle around the world - my ambition has been growing steadily ever since. He interrupted “Papa, my dream is to be iron man.” He continued, with the certainty that the only five-year-old muster, that I could become iron man if I wanted to. He added instructively, “all you have to do is dream - you know Papa"
I realized how important it is to have the right circumstances to be able to dream. I developed the desire to do a project for underprivileged children in my mother country. I found a school in rural Sri Lanka through my cousin and decided to fund the building of a classroom for kindergarten children and also refurbished the partially torn down main building. In October, 2014 Haruki went to Sri Lanka with Naoko to open the building and the new classroom, which was named after him. In 2015, I fund building of a toilet facility for the same school and 33 desk/chair sets.
Renovation of Child Care Center - Toronto
In 2008, I was commuting to work from downtown Toronto to Mississauga, where Accenture office is. During my daily commute, I used to pass this old Victorian house. which desperately needed a make over. I always wondered why the owners didn’t take care of the building. During the same time We were looking to buy a house.
One day I walked into the building and knocked on the door. As I walked in, I learned that the house is a day care center - they provided day care for children of low income single parents free of charge and the carers were volunteers. I got a tour of the building and there and I didn’t see kids; I saw people in the making - law makers, doctors, politicians, volunteer workers, soldiers, cops - people who will one day protect our borders, keep law and order, run our country and take care of us when we get older. And they needed our generation's help to explore their potential.
I was a founding member of the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Committee of Accenture, and I sat on the funding approval committee. I put together a proposal for funding to refurbish the day-care center and my proposal was approved with $20,000. I put together a team of volunteers and not only refurbished both the exterior and interior; we also painted all of the furniture and bought new couches.