By Senaka Samarasinghe
Sri Lankan Seniors Manitoba (SLSM) participated in Zing Into Spring organized by the Pembina Active Living (PAL) held on March 21, 2023 from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm at Whyte Ridge Community Centre. To represent SLSM, Ismath and I participated in this grand event. When PAL requested that SLSM nominate a Board Member for PAL, Mohamed Ismath (SLSM Board Member) was selected by the Board of SLSM. We are thankful to PAL for electing Ismath as Vice President of PAL.
The majority of our population in Winnipeg is comprised of older adults. Improving the quality of life for this population is the priority task of any senior organization. Based on this, I had a discussion with Susan Fletcher, Executive Director of PAL. Susan stressed the need to identify and implement programs with diversity. That is to help to integrate elders into society and reduce feelings of loneliness and separation.
Susan introduced Renée Vincent, Volunteer Program Coordinator, of PAL to discuss the above and to put it into practice. Bernadette McCann talked with me and said that she is happily enjoying SLSM activities published in newspapers such as Lifestyles 55 and Seniors Scope.
I proposed to Songyan Liu, Vice President and Secretary of the Winnipeg Chinese Senior Association, that they and SLSM consider embarking on a few joint learning programs.
Hema Sung Sinhala Hit Song
Hema likes to sing Sinhala super-old hits. When members requested that she sing an old hit, she sang a song on March 10, 2023. All our participants sang along with her. Hema is not only a singer but also a Sinhala poetry writer. She wrote a set of poetries for the Yathra monthly Sinhala and in the English newspaper published to Toronto.
Gill’s Supermarket agreed with Sri Lankan Seniors Manitoba (SLSM) to ship the monthly newspaper free of charge from Toronto to Winnipeg. This is a good service for Sri Lankan community in Winnipeg as there is not Sinhala newspaper printing in the Province of Manitoba. Gill’s is providing this service for more than four years.
Sri Lankan Association of Manitoba is conducting its Sri Lankan New Year celebrations on April 15, 2023. For that SLSM will offer an event. Practices were conducted with all participants.
