Charles Photostory some idea of life upto 2004

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Sorry, the page may be a little too broad.
Will correct in the future.

Some photographs of Charles Fernando and family --- earlier and recent times
(page compiled in August 2005)

Covering Charles' recent involvements (briefly & not really in chronological order):
at the University (of Sri Jayewardenepura ... but helping also other universities in Sri Lanka) (1985- ),
at IICS/IIT (Informatics Institute with franchised Degrees of Manchester Metropolitan University UK) (1988-1998), &
at IIHE (Imperial Institute with validated Degree programmes of the University of Wales, UK) (2003-2006)

Charles' substantive post (since 1985) has been as Senior Lecturer in Computer Studies within the Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. In the recent past since 1998 his main responsibility has been as the Founder-Director of the university's Career Guidance Unit. Given that Career Guidance work was formally initiated only after 1998, Charles has been visiting and helping out also at many Sri Lankan universities (e.g. Rajarata, Sabaragamuwa, Ruhuna, Eastern and South Eastern).

Charles has been to the Eastern University in Batticaloa on three occasions after 2000 to conduct some Career Guidance programmes. On a recent visit (some months before the 2004 Tsunami) the family accompanied him and benefitting from a free day they were able to visit the well-known calm & beautiful Pasikudah beach. Charles is seen with son Rukmal, daughter Nilmini and wife Felicia.

From 1985, Charles' substantive post has been as Senior Lecturer in Computer Studies in the Department of Public Administration of the Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce of the University. It was a wonderful department within which there was much teamwork and camaraderie which led to much productive work together and which we note was appreciated much by its students. Click here for some photos.

Charles was the academic consultant in 1988 and 1989 for planning the Informatics Institute of Technology - IIT (then Informatics Institute of Computer Studies - IICS) in Colombo that was started in 1990 and has been offering Degrees in Computing and in Business franchised from Manchester Metropolitan University - MMU, UK. Charles worked there part-time right through until 1997 when he took leave from SJP University to assume duties as Director of the Institute. Top left: Charles is seen making an address at the Convocation with the Vice-Chancellor of MMU presiding.

top right: At the Graduation Ball that followed the Convocation Charles is seen making a felicitation speech while in the company of :

- the Vice-Chancellor of MMU, Dame Sandra Burslem,
- Mr Gamini Wickramasinghe, Managing Direcctor of the Informatics Group of Companies,

- and other Heads of Departments

Just above: With the MD of IIT and other staff, at a discussion with Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike ... who was the world's first woman Prime Minister.

Since 2003 Charles is the Academic Consultant at Imperial Institute of Higher Education (IIHE) Colombo which offers validated programmes of study from the University of Wales, UK. BSc Business Management and the MBA from Wales are on offer at IIHE. The photo above taken after the 2003 Convocation shows some of the staff and the graduates.

Here is a staff photo taken after the 2004 Convocation of IIHE. In both, Charles is seated at the left.

Representatives and External Examiners from Wales are also in the pictures including Rohan Wijeratne, Managing Director and Mahendra Amarasuriya, Chairman of the Board..


A study completed in 2001 by Charles appeared as a chapter in a book published in Germany in 2002.

A jump backwards ... Charles' life in Louvain, Belgium (1968-1973) and (1979-1985)

Though Charles has had international experience and exposure across the globe from the Philippines to the USA, he considers Belgium his second home as he spent the years 1968-1973 (at Leuven, the older joint-site now continuing as the Dutch-medium KUL) and 1979-1985 (at Louvain-la-Neuve, the new site functioning as the French speaking UCL) at the University of Louvain which was founded in 1425.

An aerial view of the Science Faculty Library at UCL with a courtyard in front of it and a student canteen to its left

The photographs on top show the traditional Academic Procession that marks the beginning of each Academic Year.

Much folklore is integrated. (No ragging though!) The photo taken in 2001 shows a banner in the background which indicates the 575th anniversary of the university.

The first period of stay in Belgium between 1968 and 1973 permitted Charles an opportunity of coming closer to the Belgian people and to people from around the world.

The Catholic University of Louvain offered a wonderful opportunity particularly for the latter as it then had students from over 60 countries. He lived 4 years in an international "chummery" of 15 students from 4 African countries, 5 European countries and even USA, all using French as the common language.

The pictures (the two just above) were taken during a picnic into a forest area near the German border with the second showing companions displaying a mock attack on a (then) "anti-Mobutu" student from Zaire.

(Just above top left) A photo taken in the Netherlands in July 1969 when Charles visited Rev Jan Heemrood (whom he had had as Professor at the Seminary in Ampitiya some years earlier) . Noteworthy is the fact that the entire night was spent watching live on TV man's first landing on the moon.

Photo to its right: Together with Maureen (also Sri Lankan) Charles went with Bernadette (Belgian classmate ... who came to be Charles' "Belgian Sister") to spend a weekend at the country residence of her grandparents.

Next photo: Charles and Bernadette are treated to a "fondue au fromage" by Marie-Anne and Erik.

Charles remains very close to each of them still.

Charles still remembers a visit to the Middelheim open-air museum of sculpture in Antwerp. He was about to take a photograph of a statue when Bernadette said "wait, wait.." and quickly re-arranged her hair and posed alongside.

Maureen (encountered earlier) married Jerry of USA then medical student at Louvain. The ceremony was in the States. When they came back to Belgium, Charles was at the airport in his Beetle to welcome them and bring them to their flat.

The photo just opposite includes Maureen and Jerry ... as well as Stan and Corinna ... whom we will meet further below years later.

A wonderful experience ... summer of 1971

Charles was able to profit from a student ticket and travel to New York and work there for 6 weeks. 4 weeks were in East Harlem on 104th Street among the Puerto Rican community. With an ambient culture of poverty, drug addiction and crime it was a stressing but an extremely beneficial experience. He used his free time for interesting activities such as research at the NY Public Library, visit the top of Empire State Building, boat tour of Manhattan, helicopter ride round the Statue of Liberty and the World Trade Centre (still being completed then), etc. Unfortunately several hundred 35mm transparencies made then perished later in Sri Lanka due to growth of fungus.

The last 2 weeks were spent in an Italian migrant community up north at Ravena near Albany ... which was a completely different environment and facilitated a different experience.

Charles is happy that St Lucy's community centre he worked in when in New York city is now the home for an extraordinary experiment - The East Harlem School with a motto of 'Competence with Character'.

(photo taken from the web)

Typical scenes... using a fire hydrant for a bath ...smashed car

After 6 years of work in Sri Lanka, Charles goes back to Belgium in 1979... for postgraduate studies ...
(more photos will be added later)

Rukmal and Nilmini were both born in Belgium, the former in June 1982 and the latter in January 1984. The photo opposite shows the family ready to leave hospital for home with Nilmini.

The photo further to the right shows close friends (Stan Wijewickrema, Sri Lankan demographer who was Professor in Paris and then in Louvain and Brussels ... Corinna his wife and Niranjan their son) on a visit to the flat to celebrate Nilmini's first birthday.

During Charles' second stay in Belgium there were many junior staff from Sri Lankan universities pursuing postgraduate programmes at the Flemish/Dutch (KUL) University of Leuven.
After completing his Masters at the French university (UCL) Charles undertook one year of research at the KUL. There were evidently frequent family get togethers. The picture on the left was taken after one such at Charles' flat.

The 4 babies on the left were all 'born in Belgium'.

On the left is a photo taken at a get-together organised by the Sri Lankan Embassy.

Next picture shows Felicia with some of her classmates in the conversational French language course.

finishing his Masters ... and a year of research ... Charles gets ready to leave for Sri Lanka with the family ...

On left are two photographs taken a few days before Charles & family left Belgium at the end of January 1985 to return to Sri Lanka

After returning to Sri Lanka in January 1985 ... Rukmal & Nilmini grow up (more photos will be added later)

A composite with at extreme left a photo taken after Nilmini performed a dance to the music of a local song at a seasonal staff get together at the Informatics Institute in 1993. Earlier in January that year there was the celebration of the 50th wedding anniversary of Charles' parents coinciding with Nilmini's 8th birthday ... which made the grandparents to ask the grand-daughter to cut the cake. On the right is the 1953 Morris Minor which most of Charles' students whether at SJP University or at Informatics associate with him and which still remains in use.

Rukmal is now in Year 4 (final year) of BSc (Hons) Information Systems of Manchester Metropolitan University UK Degree programme offered at IIT Colombo profiting from a very special scholarship graciously offered by Informatics Private Limited (www.informatics.lk) in recognition of the contribution made by Charles to that institute between 1988 and 1998. Above is a photo showing some from his batch with a Lecturer (A) prior to her departure to the UK for research. Rukmal is seen at B. Last year Rukmal was happy to win an opportunity of work at Virtusa (www.virtusa.com) for his industrial placement. The montage below shows a few pictures taken during a presentation made (at www.hellocorp.com) at the conclusion of a study project undertaken as part of the course by a team of students from IIT led by Rukmal.

Nilmini is just about completing the training for the internationally recognised AMI Montessori Diploma (Headquarters in Holland www.montessori-ami.org). St Bridget’s Montessori Training Centre, AMI’s franchise holder in Sri Lanka, does really make them work hard! And so Nilmini has gained a very enriching experience during the nearly two years past ... sometimes getting only 3-4 hours of sleep in the night! Photo above taken after a Carols Service prior to Christmas 2004 shows Nilmini with some of the other trainees at a Montessori School where they were doing an internship.
The montage on left shows Nilmini about to leave home for a special event ... Nilmini with two of her close friends .. and Nilmini and Rukmal with "Flash" and "Chummy" who have been part of the family for 4-5 years now.

Back again to a little more on Charles' work (more photos will be added later)

A traditional batch photo taken in the early 90s of some students of SJP university who had followed a special computing module with Charles, together with the then junior tutor.

Photograph taken at the end of a two-week long training programme held for recent graduates who had some interest in starting their own businesses. The programme was conducted in collaboration with the Industrial Board of Sri Lanka

The Director of the Youth Employment Planning Division also participates as a resource person during a training programme conducted by staff of the Division for final year undergraduates at the university.

At a National Conference held in April 2001 at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall in Colombo on the theme "Exigencies of the World of Work" the key resource person was Prof. Dr. Ulrich Teichler, Director, Center for Research on Higher Education and Work, University of Kassel, Germany who had prepared the report "Higher Education and the World of Work" for the 1998 UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education.

Others at the main table (from left to right) are: Mr Charles Fernando, Director, Career Guidance Unit, University of Sri Jayewardenepura; Mr Faizal Salieh,Chief Executive Officer, NDB Housing Bank representing also the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce; Prof. (Mrs) Savitri Goonesekere, Vice-Chancellor, University of Colombo; Prof. J.W. Wickramasinghe, Vice-Chancellor, University of.Sri Jayewardenepura.

Photo on top taken after a Career Guidance session at the Eastern University in Batticaloa shows some final year students and a few staff members. The picture below that shows final year students at Charles' own University enjoying a story related by him.

On top is a photo taken on the occasion of a workshop for staff involved in Career Guidance in Sri Lankan universities. Below that is a composite of 3 photos taken during some sessions at the South Eastern University at Oluvil also on the Eastern coast of Sri Lanka.

Charles acknowledges that whatever little he has been able to accomplish has been due to the friendship and brotherhood he had the privilege of sharing with so many here in Sri Lanka as well as so many hundreds in Belgium and across the globe ... and the resultant knowledge and experience of humanity and life gained. Networking continues via mail and e-mail, sometimes via telephone as well as visits this side by a number of friends ... and a rare visit that side by Charles.

Charles gets initiated into Career Guidance ...

The post-secondary qualifications of Charles have been in Philosophy, Theology, Sociology and Demography. He prides himself in the fact that he is all the time involved in what he did not directly study for. In careers related workshops he uses himself as an illustration (in some way!) of what 'graduateness', 'flexibility' and 'lifelong learning' can and should do. He does not have a degree in Computing but became an academic concentrating on that. He has not followed even a short course in Career Guidance but that is an area where he has made his mark. However the initial push in Career Guidance was provided by a one-week of visits to centres in UK universities after a one-week workshop on vocational training sponsored by the British Council and held at the University of Birmingham in May 1999. Charles had done his initial work on the web and identified the centres /contacts such as AGCAS, CSU, Education Department, and careers centres at Birmingham, Manchester/UMIST, Nottingham etc. The proposal had been accepted by the British Council and the week of self-arranged exposure too was funded by the British Council.

Charles is happy to claim that building on that week and the contacts established, and not undertaking any more international travel & study tours but by using literature and particularly the web he has been able to make a significant contribution to Careers Work in Sri Lankan universities.

	Attending the 'Vocational Training' workshop held at the University of Birmingham... On completion of the workshop a few of the participants grouped themselves together to attend an Opera Performance at the new Symphony Hall of Birmingham. The photos were taken after the performance.
	Charles realised that (just as he assumed on the basis of preparatory research on the web), Dr Richard Maynard, the then Director of the Careers Centre of Birmingham University, was excellent as a guide and mentor for the initiation Charles wished to have. Charles recognises Maddie Smith, Consultant Careers Adviser at Manchester / UMIST as the person who introduced him to the concept of 'employability' and to the need for 'integration of careers programmes within curricula'.
On the recommendation of Charles, Dr Maynard was invited later (in March 2000) to Sri Lanka by the University Grants Commission with financial support from the British Council to review the progress of Career Guidance work in the Universities ... He helped by reviewing development since initiation of such in Sri Lanka in 1998 and with useful recommendations. The photo above on left was taken when Richard profited from a weekend to travel a little in Sri Lanka.
	During that period of one week in the UK, Charles benefitted from the hospitality of the Weaver family and the Ogilvie family. Below to the left: In London he was happy for example to spend an evening with some of his former students from Informatics who are now computer professionals in London.
	Of course, Charles managed to get across to the Benelux area too ... Meeting his Professors at the UCL & KUL Universities ... friends ... Just opposite: Charles met this close friend, former Bank Manager, who had started a small business on retirement. He keeps bees and sells the honey ... and in fact prior to doing that he even followed an extension course at Charles' old university on "bee keeping"! (The label used on his product, shown inserted into the photo, even indicates accreditation by the relevant quality control authority) further to the left: Charles was also overjoyed meeting two former batchmates of the 1968-73 period (you see them enjoying the 'fondue au fromage' in a photo 30 years earlier! - Yes, enduring friendship & bonds!)

Left above: With the Wijewickrema family (Stan and Corinna seen on several photos already earlier) and the Holemans family (Chantal and Xavier who did a placement in Sri Lanka as medical students through a programme arranged by Charles in the early nineties)
To the right: Photo taken when Charles visited the 'Three Sisters' from the Netherlands, who had been god-parents to Rukmal and Nilmini when they were baptised in Eindhoven in 1984.

And 'networking' continues ... (only a sample of photographs here ... a new section will be developed later)

This family
(Martine in a blue Sari being the sister of Charles' Belgian sister Bernadette) even adopted a young baby from Sri Lanka ...
and came back a few years later for the little one to discover the land in which she was born.

The occasion was the visit, while on his way to Vietnam, by my Professor of the 1968-73 days .

Francois Houtart was a frequent visitor to Sri Lanka particularly in the late 60s and the early 70s and is the author of the book "Religion and Ideology in Sri Lanka".

At various periods in his life he has been active also in other countries such as Cuba, Angola and Nicaragua.

(Charles, Felicia and the two kids have been taking care of Charles' parents since 1987. The father had a peaceful death in 2001 at the age of 86 and that explains why only the mother is in this picture taken in 2004.)

We had a small and simple celebration on 12th September 2004 to mark the 25th wedding anniversary of Charles and Felicia. Closest family members of Charles and Felicia were present. A very close friend of Charles from 1967, Father Joe, celebrated the Eucharist. (About 4 others from Felicia's family including her elder sister who is a Holy Family Nun joined us a little after the photo on the right was taken.)

Charles' network includes friends, students & colleagues, professionals, and also those with whom he worked earlier

	When Charles and family managed to obtain an exceptional loan in 1990 and buy the current family home, the late Bishop Don Sylvester, then Bishop of Galle, came over to bless the house. (left) Bishop Franck Marcus then Auxiliary Bishop of Colombo was Charles' first mentor in the ministry. He later became Bishop of Chilaw and is now Bishop Emeritus. Close contact continues to this day. (top right) Bishop Vianney, now Bishop of Kandy and Charles were classmates. The photo on the left was taken during a recent visit. (right) Archbishop Nicholas Marcus (now Bishop Emeritus of Colombo) is seen discussing Charles' current work. Charles maintains close contact with many priests, religious and lay people of the Sri Lankan Catholic community. The photo (just opposite) shows Fr Joe, former Director of the Socio-Economic Development Centre.
	True, Charles maintains links of the type above with colleagues in the Catholic Church ... but he has close links with people of all races and religions. Here is something to illustrate links with Buddhism. extreme left Ven.Udawatte Nanda Thera of Kandy who is now a Parliamentarian from the party JHU. Charles and he have been friends since 1961. To the right of that: Chatting with Ven. Meegoda Pannaloka Thera & waiting to join an academic procession of the University. Sadly though, only a few months later the monk was travelling to Galle on that fateful tsunami day ... the driver managed to swim and escape ... but the car with the monk inside was swept away into the sea.
Charles remains convinced that a profound social revolution (even though he has doubts whether such will ever occur) is needed as those who have no access to political, financial, and 'mafia style' power are powerless and exploited in Sri Lanka whether they be Sinhala, Tamil, Moslem, Burgher or Buddhist, Hindu or Christian (in spite of a myth that the world has been made to believe that underprivilege is linked to being a member of a racial group). He is further of the view that corruption has been made structural by the electoral system (one needs to spend millions to win a parliamentary seat and so one must make that and more during the period one is in power). ... Well, ... one can go on ... Charles has done whatever he has been capable of to promote an inclusive society where values are respected and where people are accepted as equal. Charles has also done the maximum possible for inter-racial and inter-religious harmony. At a special religious ceremony presided over by the then Archbishop of Colombo, Charles was the intermediary in inviting the Ven. Bellanvila Wimalaratana , a very respected and senior Buddhist Monk to honour the Catholic community by his presence. Here the monk is seen inside the Church lighting the traditional oil lamp while Charles stands on the side. The monk is now Chancellor of the University where Charles works ... while incidentally the current Archbishop of Colombo is the Chancellor of the University of Colombo.

Back again to 'networking' with friends from other countries ...

Charles is happy that he was able to take most of his visitors beyond the typical tourist track, and even to rustic joints without electricity, and facilitate opportunities for them to mix up with and come close to a wide variety of Sri Lankans. There was in fact even a group of medical students from his Belgian University who came over and spent two weeks in outstation hospitals on an exposure programme. The photo at bottom left shows two of them collecting samples for testing at a free clinic held by them. There was also a couple who joined us at the wedding celebration of a university colleague, another who tried Adam's Peak.

Left below: Genot from Belgium invites Rukmal to get into the medicinal bath/trough at the ruins of the hospital at the 2nd century BC Mihintale to the amusement of Nilmini ... (and next) while Rudy and Jeanine pose with Charles and family at Bawa Gardens, Bentota. Bottom to the right: After a festival of dance in which Nilmini too took part, Prof Alain Clements from Teeside University and John Gray from Leeds Metropolitan University discuss matters with the couple who were the dance teachers of Nilmini.

Stan, Corinna, and Corinna are in Sri Lanka and come to share a weal with us. Old Louvain batchmate Erik and wife Annemie pose alongside an elephant. Bottom right: Alfred and Shirani, Charles and family take Peter Hutt out for a meal.
Bottom left: Some visitors have special interests ... and so Charles took one to the Dematagoda yard to see old locomotives!

And one recent visitor was a well-known and well-respected journalist Rene Haquin from the national daily "Le Soir" of Belgium. He has a track record of investigative journalism having delved into the paedophile scandals in Belgium, as well as political murders and corruption in the legal domain. He managed to hop a ride on a military plane bringing relief supplies to the Tsunami victims and made use of the chance to visit a few of the refugee camps and meet some of the displaced. Charles was only too glad to show him around.

The unexpected ... unimaginable ... tragic ... catastrophic Tsunami of 26 Dec 2004

Yes, it was really terrible and it affected so many countries in the region.

In Sri Lanka nearly 40,000 lives were lost. about 400,000 persons were directly displaced ... and with about 240,000 families or about one million people being finally affected. Particularly the people living along 2/3rds of Sri Lanka's coastline were those who paid the price.

Pictures here are from Charles' own village (Diyalagoda and the adjoining village Payagala) on the western coast south of Colombo and a little beyond Kalutara.

Already 3-4 days after the event, the people were busy cleaning up.

The two pictures opposite show (after the cleaning up) part of the school that remained ... and what remained of a grocery that belonged to a classmate of Charles.

Emergency relief, temporary shelter, rehabilitation of the rail and road network, housing became priorities. The solidarity of the people (both local and foreign) was just unbelievable.

Rebuilding was initiated ... working with one's hands ... sometimes supported by equipment ...

Instead of living in camps for displaced persons ... little by little some started preparing temporary houses and moving back into them.

One of Charles' cousins was heavily involved as a social worker ... (seen in photo at centre wearing a teeshirt and chatting with a family) and has been doing remarkable work.

Charles' family too spent several days in the area ... Nilmini's birthday fell on January 2nd, a week after the tsunami ... and the family 'celebrated' that in the village distributing food parcels, dry rations and sanitary goods to those affected.

When one sees how even the most developed countries have coped with catastrophes, as Sri Lankans we can be proud of our people's resilience, resourcefulness, humanity, dedication and hard work. In spite of the typical criticisms of the public sector, the health sector showed how dedicated and efficient they were. There were no epidemics and post-tsunami deaths were minimal. The way the power lines and the rail track were restored were remarkable too.

Of course, and as usual, some managed to fill their pockets. Large sums of money got chanelled even into terrorist (a.k.a. freedom fighter!) funds (and information is coming into light little by little only now!). Some NGOs managed (among other things) to buy luxury 4-wheel drives etc too. Some monies for building of houses appear to remain unutilised as yet.

But if one forgets the havoc it caused and ignores in some way the corruption that got built up, the main lesson of the tsunami was that it affected all people irrespective of race, religion or status ... and the blessing was that the people irrespective of race, religion or status were all united in being with those affected helping them to rebuild and re-start life ...(and that in spite of the bunkum that has been spread around internationally that the typical Sri Lankan is racist, chauvinistic, extremist and violent).

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