Grand welcome for MV Queen Victoria at Laksala

Hundreds of passengers of MV Queen Victoria arrived in Laksala at Thummulla, Colombo 07 on 29th this month received a grand welcome. Visitors entered Laksala throughout the day amidst traditional Kandyan dancing and drumming. They reached the flagship store from 9.30 am 5.30pm on a special shuttle bus service operated from the Port of Colombo.

Tourists visited had an opportunity to see how wooden masks and elephants were carved by skilful craftsmen who were on Laksala premises and they were delighted with handicrafts products on sale in the showroom. The management at Laksalka had prepared special arrangements such as various traditional dancing events to entertain passengers. Whenever this ocean liner arrives in Sri Lanka, tourists onboard visited Laksala as usual.

The MV Queen Victoria, which has been the second largest Cunard ship ever built next to the Queen Mary II, is a UK-registered ship operated by Cunard. The £270m worth, 294m long and a 90,000t cruise ship constructed by Fincantieri Maritimo in Maghera near Venice in Italy. The ship has a passenger capacity of 2,014 with 1,001 crew and 1,007 cabins (creating a passenger to crew ratio of 2:1). Around 86% of staterooms are outside and 71% of staterooms have balconies. There is 10,000ft of open deck space. The vessel’s maiden voyage from Southampton (its home port) took place on 11 December 2007.

Laksala opens the door to children with special needs

Laksala really wants for children with special needs to be happy and fulfilling life, and also believes that they could build a strong sense of self-confidence and a solid foundation for lifelong success with encouragement and the right support. Therefore, the management at Laksala has already made a decision to support children with special needs of the Child Guidance Center (CGC) at Maharagama, which is governed by the Department of Social Service, under its Cooperate Social Responsibility (CSR) project.

Children from CGC at Maharagama presenting dance at Laksala

A dance troupe from CGC visited Laksala premises at Thummulla, Colombo 07  and entertained European tourists with a delightful performance on 29th this month. Tourists were delighted with children’s presentation and applauded at the end of it.  

Mrs. R. A. D . Hansani and Mrs. Sujani Udawatta and two pre-school teachers of the centre at Maharagama accompanied these children and in a special interview Mrs. R. A. D . Hansani said “  We have around 120 children at our centre in Maharagama. Our vision is to create a conducive environment for children with special needs to live just as same as others to maintain interrelations with family members and community and optimally using available strengths and resources.”

“The specialty of our center is interventions to provide services at a very early age (from 03 months), providing services to any child with physical, mental disabilities or any other special needs, interventions for development of children through(Multi-Disciplinary Team Work), offering services as per special methodologies for client children(Individual Assessment - Progress Review), providing services to each child as per an Individual Education Plan (IEP), referring to preschools and formal school system after developing basic skills, focusing primary attention on the development of day-to-day life skills, providing post-care services for children referred to preschools and formal education, services being rendered by trained staff with requisite qualifications and experience and adopting a holistic approach which pays attention to all stakeholders (Client Children/Parents/Family Members/Community etc).”

Mrs. R. A. D. Hansani and Mrs. Sujani Udawatta
Pre-school Teachers at CGC

Mrs. Sujani Udawatta added " We provide special services for parents and family members of children with special needs. They are psychological and counselling services for mental development, health educational service programmes, religious programmes (sil and meditation programmes, christmas celebration, pilgrimages to prominent places of worship, educational tours and picnics), conducting internal and external programmes under nature therapy academy and programmes for brothers and sisters of families.”

“ We are also conducting occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and physiotherapy for these children. We would like to remind that Mrs. G. L. L. Gunasinghe, Superintendent of our centre, works with great enthusiasm and dedication to achieve the goals of our centre.”

Laksala welcomes MV Arcadia with 1500 passengers

More than 1500 passengers from MV Arcadia, the fourth largest of eight ships currently in service with P&O Cruises (a British cruise line based at Carnival House in Southampton, England) fleet, visited Laksala at Thummulla on 23rd this month from 9.30 am to 5.30pm on a shuttle bus service operated from the Port of Colombo. Passengers visited were welcomed by a Kandyan troupe of traditional dancers and drummers. Laksala presented various traditional dancing events to entertain visitors. Whenever this giant vessel reaches Sri Lanka, tourists on board visit Laksala at Thummulla.

Two craftsmen who were on the Laksala premises demonstrated how to carve wooden masks and elephants and these tourists were pleased to see their carvings. In order to support local handicraftsmen working with Laksala, they purchased Gem & Jewellery, Brass, Textile (Handloom and Batik), Tea, Wood Carving, SPA, Spices, Ceramic, Leather, Rush & Reed related products.

MV Arcadia costs almost $400m and was built by Fincantieri at their shipyard in Marghera, Italy. At over 84,000 tonnes, the ship officially entered service with the company in April 2005. This ship measures 289.90m in length. The approx. 869 crew members take good care of the maximal 2,388 passengers. This is the fourth P&O ship to be named Arcadia. The first Arcadia sailed from 1887 to 1915 and carries 410 passengers. The second Arcadia sailed form 1954 to 1979 and carried a total of 1,405 passengers. The third Arcadia sailed from 1989 to 2003 and carried 1,458 passengers.

Laksala joins World Down Syndrome Day 2019

 The management at Laksala has taken a step to support differently able and slow learning children in Sri Lanka under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) project following World Down Syndrome Day held on 21st  this month.  Accordingly, Laksala opened its doors for children at "Diri Daru Piyasa", fine art and vocational training centre,  handled by Miranda Hemalatha Kala Ashramaya under the leadership of  Dr. Miranda Hemalatha, an award-winning artist and the first Director of Aesthetic Education. “Diri Daru Piyasa” is a project started in 2003 as a result of a very successful experiment conducted during the previous four years from 2000 to 2003 to develop the down syndrome children.

A  foreign couple looking at products of Diri Daru Piyasa

A special rack in the Laksala flagship store at Thummulla, Colombo 07 was allocated to sell products made by these children. Dr, Hemalatha visited Laksala on World Down Syndrome Day with children of  Diri Daru Piyasa.

In a special discussion with Laksala, Dr. Hemalatha said” At present we have 68 children learning carpentry, tailoring, making doormats, fabric painting, and many crafts through which these children could make money for their living. They learn languages, mathematics and develop other skills they need to lead a balanced life. They can communicate fairly well and use the calculator too. They are good in dancing and music, some of them are nearly normal.”

Children of Diri Daru Piyasa
 display their products at Laksala

“We have been able to develop the skills of our children to a high level to participate in many dance music and art competitions at which they were able to receive many awards winning 1st, 2nd, and 3rd  places. Also, they have done very well in sports winning awards. They too have been participating in international seminars held in Sri Lanka as dancers. Very often these children participate in many other programmes organized by the hospitals, universities, and other private organizations.”

Founder Dr. Miranda Hemalatha

“We have already started job-oriented vocational training institute to develop the special children for some kind of a vocation so that they could also be independent as the other citizens. In this regard, we have been successful in our experiment and as a result, two girls are now teaching at Ladies College Colombo, Lyceum International School at Nugegoda where they get paid for their service. We are also able to develop the skills of a boy to be a tailor and quite a number for various jobs. We have presented children as solo dancers.”

“We provide all facilities free of charge to make our majority Downs and few Autism and also few CP children to make their lives as successful grown-up citizens. Our main effort is to serve the really needy children of mother Lanka though they are born to lower economic strata. We are also grateful to individuals and organization  for their help to enhance our efforts in skill development of these children.”

Laksala, the paradise of handicrafts in Sri Lanka

Laksala ensures welfare of its handicraftsmen

As a government entity we will take every step to ensure the welfare of our handicraftsmen who have been with us for many years, Mr. Madhura de Silva, Director General/CEO said at a special meeting with handicraftsmen on Laksala Thummulla premises, Colombo 07. We are committed to uplifting the standard of our handicraftsmen and they are our pride, Mr. Silva stated.

Mr. Madhura de Silva , CEO/Director Genera hands over cheques.  Mr. Allan Delilkan, Acting 

  Director (Finance)  and Mrs. Vajira Samararathne,  Deputy  Director (Purchasing) look on.

“It is our responsibility to support our people. As a first step, recently Laksala launched an awareness programme on how to use the technology to enhance the quality of creations. A number of registered handicraftsmen from different areas in Sri Lanka participated in this special session. We continue doing more in future too" Director General/CEO further added.

Realizing the value of craftsmen, the new management of Laksala headed by Mr. Muhammed Hamza, Chairman made a decision to pay the outstanding arrears of its craftsmen immediately. Accordingly handicraftsmen were paid in arrears by Mr. Madhura de Silva , CEO/Director General. After handing over cheques, Mr. Silva engaged in a brief conversation with cheque recipients too.

Hundreds of Indian tourists arrived in Pinnawala

A large group of Indians, who came to attend an international event, held in Sri Lanka, visited Laksala Showroom located at the exit gate in Pinnawala recently. They were delighted to see products displayed in the showroom and highly praised them. Finally, they bought many art and craft items as they pleased for them, their relatives and friends. This was the first time such experience these tourists received during their tour in Sri Lanka.