Great concept launched at my home town
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News, Views and More from Batch'64, Faculty of Medicine, Colombo, SriLanka
"Best and the Brightest from 1964"
News, Views and More from Batch'64, Faculty of Medicine, Colombo, SriLanka 
How wonderful. Very enterprising young man. Congratulations Dilshan. In Sri Lanka Books are expensive for the average person. When the cost of living in Sri Lanka is skyrocketing, buying a book to read never enters a persons mind ,perhaps. This gives a great opportunity for people to expand their knowledge. Encourages people young and old to read .
I have seen this concept in some areas here in the US where people have set up an enclosure with many books inside. The notice prompts people to borrow books and also to add to the collection.
The Sri Lankan government noticing it I think , is a bad idea. They are bound to screw it up. Someone in the government will look for a loop hole to tax a person or to get a bribe.
Thanks for posting it Sam. Hooray for Matara.
Nisantha
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Thanks Sam for the post.We must have faith in the Millenials as the clip shows, for they are our future.I have often in discussions raised the question of reintroducing Civics into the school curriculum in place of obsolescent religious studies.We did have civics in school curriculums in the past but it is no more.Why?
Over 250 years ago, Rousseau, the French philosopher observed, “ we have physicists, chemists,doctors,poets,musicians and painters but we no longer have citizens.”.
In Sri Lanka, we do have citizens but civic virtue and civility are in decline along with moral and political qualities that make a good citizen..
We must all feel good when we see young men as in the clip do good in the form of sharing books, reading and knowledge.My hope is that this culture of sharing good civic values will develop in every sphere of life by everyone in Sri Lanka.
There is still hope for a better Sri Lanka as we see Civics in action in Matara.
Eddie.
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Thanks Sam for the post.
Citizens like Dilshan ,who serve the public in this way ,really standout, because they are few and far between.
Most of us will only act purely for our OWN self interests.
“Make every effort to give without expecting anything in Return “Let this be the Universal Motto Of
Altruism?
S.D.R.G
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Thanks Sam. What a great idea to share books at the railway stations – A micro library!
Hope no one vanderlizes the set up.
There are people who could even burn down libraries.
One of the Jaffna court worker started circulating his collection of books in the early 1930’s. He later helped to start a small Jaffna library. Later the Jaffna municipal council built a new library in the mid 1950’s in between my school ( Jaffna Central College) & the Jaffna Fort. This was a notable beautiful white building. The collection of books & manuscripts were valueless & some are irreplaceable. We used to borrow books when we were students at Central college.
Unfortunately it was burnt down – I think it was in 1981. 20 years later it was rebuilt but many books on the history of Jaffna & religion written by soma famous authors couldn’t be replaced!!
I hope Dilshan’s project flourishes without any hiccups.
Seelan
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Seelan, I agree withyour sentiments regarding the Jaffna Library, a very dark moment in the history. I am more optimistic about the current younger generation in SriLanka, judging by the stories like Dilshan’s
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Thank you Sam . It’s a great idea hope this project will flourish and a few more youngsters from other districts will follow,so it becomes an Islandwide project. When a child is young one should encourage them to read to acquire knowledge self taught rather than spoon-fed.
My old school requests for used books and the past pupils association in U.K. regularly sends used books from homes and charity shops purchased at minimal cost on a regular basis. Feeding the mind of youngsters is not only a good act but encouraging reading to spend their free time deters them from other unwanted activities.
Marina
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Hi Sam
What Dilshan has done is a wonderful thing. Hope he will be able to expand his project to help others without anybody’s interference .it will also help people to be honest .Great idea for him to start this Book hub. Praxy
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