27 May 2005
A Frankston woman whose adopted daughter was born in Sri Lanka is leading a Monash University appeal for textbooks to donate to the tsunami-ravaged nation.
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| Ms Robyn Kirby (left) with Ms Gayani Samarawickrema. |
Ms Robyn Kirby, a fieldwork officer at Peninsula campus, is working with colleague Ms Gayani Samarawickrema, who was born in Sri Lanka, to collect medical, nursing, and counselling textbooks to send to a university and a counselling centre.
The collection began after Ms Samarawickrema, from the Centre for Learning and Teaching Support at the Caulfield campus, visited her homeland earlier this year and realised there was a desperate need for textbooks.
Ms Kirby said her colleague happened to have several textbooks on counselling with her, which local health professionals asked to keep.
"It seemed they found them very descriptive and useful, so we are aiming to send as many as possible very soon," she said.
Ms Kirby said the books would be donated to the medical faculty of the University of Kelaniya and the counselling organisation Sri Lanka Sumithrayo.
The 26 December tsunami killed more than 31,000 people in Sri Lanka and left more than 500,000 homeless.
Ms Robyn Kirby is available for interview on 9904 4276 and Ms Gayani Samarawickrema can be contacted on 9903 2339.
For further information or photographs of the appeal organisers, contact the Media Communications office on 9905 9314.
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