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Nilakshan Swarnarajah

Please support my challenge to restore sight!

Raised

$5,815

My Goal

$5,000

Select amount to donate

$250
You will restore sight to up to 10 people.
$100
You will restore sight to up to 4 people.
$75
You will restore sight to up to 3 people.
$50
You will restore sight to up to 2 people.

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My Impact Level:
Legacy Legend

I’VE RAISED $5,815 TO CONTINUE FRED’S LEGACY

I’VE RESTORED SIGHT TO UP TO
232 PEOPLE

My legacy over the last 2 years

I've raised $10,843
to restore sight!

$5028
$5814
2022
2023

I've restored sight
to up to 433 people!

Eye image

433

My Activity Tracking

301
kms

My target 150 kms

MY IMPACT

I've restored sight to up to 232 people so far. As little as $25 can restore sight to one person

My Achievements

My Updates

Thoughts to share on winding up my Fred Hollows Fundraiser Walk 2023

Sunday 3rd Sep
This morning I listened to a mind boggling speech by Dr Somanath, the chair of the Indian Space Research Organisation, which successfully completed the Chandrayaan 3 mission to the moon last month (23 August 2023), and launched the Surayaan Aditya L1 mission to the Sun yesterday (2 September 2023).

https://youtu.be/SOUxe4TK9LQ?feature=shared

In his eloquent address Somanath touches on science, technology, spirituality and the future of the world. 

He takes us through a journey from the inception of the world, how insignificant the Sun itself is (hence how insignificant the earth is, and by extension how insignificant each of us is), and provides scientific findings and evidence that suggest how in the emerging world, we will have human beings living for 200 to 500 years or may be more. 

Now that’s more work for policy developers - we may be working hard on 50 Year Strategic Plans and 100 Year Workforce Plans and 200 Year Infrastructure Plans! 

Somanath points out how small and insignificant our lifetime on earth is, when compared to the life of the universe, and provides some interesting facts, evidence and statistics to back up his observations. 

I see some similarities of Somanath’s observations with the ancient wisdom that is explained in Chapter 8 verse 17 of the Hindu scripture Bhagavad Geeta as follows: One day of Brahma (God of creation) lasts a thousand cycles of the four ages (approximately 4.32 million years) and his night also extends for the same span of time. The wise who know this understand the reality about day and night.”

The fundamental questions, as identified by Somanath, for each human being to ask itself everyday are: 1. Who am I? 2. From where did I come from and 3. For what reason am I here on this planet.

Somanath highlights the importance of this historic juncture that we are in, where we are able to ask the vital questions we need to ask ourselves to maintain the equilibrium that is required to save this plant for as long as possible.

He finishes his speech with a request to everyone to imagine themselves as today’s cyanobacteria and consider how our actions of today can help build the future world in a 500 million years to come.

Today (3 September) is also the 15th Anniversary of my moving to this Wonderful State of Western Australia! 

And Happy Father’s Day to all Dads!

Why am I raising funds for Fred Hollows Foundation

Tuesday 1st Aug

The Fred’s Big Run Challenge starts today, 1 August 2023. I have committed to do a 150 km walk/ride and raise funds to support the important work the Fred Hollows Foundation is doing throughout Australia and across the world. 

When I undertook the challenge for the first time last year, I read about Fred’s life and his service to people in need in many developing nations, including Sri Lanka, where I was born. 

When I had an advertisement popping up on my social media about the Fred’s Big Run last year, something within myself pushed me to make a commitment to do the walk and raise funds for this noble cause. Soon I figured out what that driver was - it was a personal story from almost three decades ago, that I’d share below. 

The Challenge raises funds to help restore sight to people with procedures costing as little as $25. I remembered that in the early 1990s my grandfather lost his sight in both eyes and went totally blind. He was stuck in a conflict zone in the north of the country, Jaffna, cut off from the rest of the areas, with limited medical facilities. I had left the area a couple of years before he lost his sight - the last time he saw me was in 1991. 

While I was studying in the capital Colombo, I learnt that he was to undergo an eye surgery, thanks to a trial/new procedure that was going to be tested out in the Jaffna Public Hospital. My grandfather was one of the guinea pigs for the trial with the procedure carried out by eye surgeon Dr Kugathasan. Following the trial, he regained sight in both eyes. I have no doubt organisations like the Fred Hollows Foundation would have been instrumental in providing training and support to doctors from many developing countries, including Sri Lanka.

When I was doing my year 12s, I received a letter from my grandfather, which was the first and the last communication he had with me after regaining his eye sight. Due to the conflict, there was no private telephone services, and the only way we communicated was through postal letters. If there was an emergency, then messages would be relayed through the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The letter was a brief one, to tell me that his surgery was successful, and to wish me good luck in my studies. He had just one simple advice to me: “study well and aim to become a doctor, so that you can serve the people in need, the same way how they helped me to get my eye sight back”. The quality of the medical treatment he received at the public hospital, despite the shortages of medicines and skilled professionals in the war zone, must have influenced his mind and words.  

Asking their children or grandchildren to become a doctor was nothing unique in a community where the general psyche had been “you are either a doctor or an engineer or a lawyer or a failure” (adopted from Jay Shetty’s Think Like a Monk). However, what stood out for me in my grandfather’s letter was the second limb of that sentence: “to help the people in need”. 

Raising funds for a worthy cause, while also contributing to our physical and mental health, is something that every one of us could be doing, subject to our other priorities. The least we could do is making a donation to a charity that delivers its services to people in need beyond boundaries. Personally for me, raising funds for a charity that helps people to regain their sight has given the added satisfaction I am fulfilling an expectation my grandfather had of me, at least in a very small way. 

So, throughout this August, I will try my best to raise as much as I can to support the Fred Hollows Foundation. If you are able to extend your support, please feel free to make a donation using the link below or make a direct donation to the Fred Hollows Foundation through their website.

Thank you to my Sponsors

$52.25

Matched Donation

$52.25

Sethuraman Muthiah

Great efforts. Keep it up. Happy to be part of your journey

$25

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$25

Masilamani Muthukumarasamy

$95

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$95

Asha Gunawardena

$52.25

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Jey Sivabalan

Great work Anna .. keep up

$26.13

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Toni Rogers

Great effort Nilakshan!

$20.90

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Mukunthan Manickavasakar

$104.50

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Dev Soori

Best wishes

$10.45

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Hamsha Soori

Great Job Nilakshan Anna - and a huge congratulations on achieving your fundraising and walking milestones! You are an inspiration to us all and we are very proud of all your efforts!

$20.90

Anonymous

$20

Ajeya

Good luck Nilakshan!

$250

Rasiah Sriravindrarajah

Well done Nilakshan for your dedicated effort to support the Fred Hollows Foundation in restoring eye sight to the needy

$29.26

Anonymous

All the best Nilakshan

$50

Sanjeevan Sumanthiran

All the best!

$52.25

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Subas Nishantha

Good luck Nilakshan!

$52.25

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Rasarathinam Kugananthan

Well done Nilakshan

$52.25

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Sri Sriranjan

All the best

$26.13

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Prasanna Saravanamuttu

$26.13

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$26.13

Asokan Nadarajan

Good luck nila. Thank u for the opportunity Ashok

$52.25

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Pei-teing Elliott

Well done Nilakshan on your fundraising efforts for a worthy cause!

$54

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$54

Anonymous

$52.25

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Selvarajah Marimuthu

Great initiative. All the very best.

$20.90

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Nimalan G

All the best !

$100

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$100

Logi

Keep up the good work Nilakshan.

$52.25

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$52.25

Nallasivam

All the best.

$26.13

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Anonymous

Best if luck nilakshan, god speed

$26.13

Bahi Kandasamy

Hey Nilashan, that's like walking all the way to Dambulla from Colombo! Good luck buddy. 👍

$25

First Donation Match

Matched $25 Donation

$10

Manoj Madanjit

$28.21

Suzie

$31.35

Colette Desvaux

$25

Anonymous

$52.25

Anonymous

$50

Sandra S

Good luck Nilakshan! Great cause.

$50

Ganesh Radha

Appreciate your effort

$31.35

Bethany

$50

Arun Aarooren

$26.13

Jodie Wallace

Congratulations Nilakshan for raising funds to support this very worthwhile cause.

$26.13

Cuhananthan Sathiyajith

Token of love for a great cause

$52.25

Karen Ho

Fantastic effort Nilakshan

$20.90

Karen Assumption

good work Nilakshan!

$130.63

Anonymous

Nilakshan, Thank you for your service. I hope this will exceed your goal, and many wishes to raise more funds to help communities around teh world. Mit Mithilan

$20.90

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$20.90

Jean Westerhout

Happy walking

$10.45

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$10.45

Dan Van Der Wijngaart

$52.25

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$52.25

Vijeyamala Arvi Kumaravasagam

All the best Nilakshan

$26.13

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$26.13

Prasanna Asokan

Good luck Nilakshan Uncle!!

$25

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$25

Anonymous

$25

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$25

Arul Selvaretnam

Keep up the noble cause. All the very best! 👍🙏🙂

$20.90

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$20.90

Christina

Keep up the fundraising 👍

$52.25

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Push Arunasalam

$52.25

Ash

Great work Nilakshan!

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Ram Shan

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Frances Parnell

Good luck Nilakshan

$27

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$27

Nedra Weerakoon

Good luck, Nilakshan.

$52.25

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$52.25

Karyn Harley

Wonderful work Nilakshan! :)

$52.25

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$52.25

Angela Chen

Well done Nilakshan for doing this again for such a great cause!

$20.90

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$20.90

Dario B

$27

Julia

Great work Nilakshan!

$27

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$100

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$100

Sasi Kumar Prabakaran

Best Wishes

$50

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$50

Anna Wildy

Enjoy your walk Nilakshan!

$25

Matched Donation

$25

Christine Katich

Well done Nilakshan!

$104.50

Matched Donation

$104.50

Glenda Voros

Well done Nilakshan

$41.80

Matched Donation

$41.80

Mn

Keep up your good work 👍

$15.67

Matched Donation

$15.67

Ali

$50

Matched Donation

$50

Harshi Thavarajah

Great cause! Good luck :)

$26.13

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$26.13

Melissa

Wonderful cause and amazing work raising funds Nilakshan!

$31.35

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$31.35

Penelope

Great cause Nilakshan

$104.50

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$104.50

Anonymous

Great attempt Nilakshan! Best wishes R. Thambirajah

$104.50

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$104.50

Kavita Seth

I will support you Sir. Kavita Seth

$26.13

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$26.13

Satheesan Pasupatheeswaran

$50

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$50

Yaso Ponnuthurai

Well done and all the best with the fund raising

$52.25

Anonymous

$52.25

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Vaishnavi Gopalakrishnan

Good luck brother!

$25

Joan Bennett

$50

Joanne Morris

Our Team

Stefanie Gith

Raised so far:

$155.64

John O’Rourke

Raised so far:

$747.52

Judith Harris

Brian Vaughan

Raised so far:

$77.25

Brian Sardeson

Raised so far:

$894.94

Rainer Korte

Raised so far:

$5,557.75

Rosa Hollows

Raised so far:

$564.63

Florence Teillet

Raised so far:

$1,237.85

Barbara Norman

Raised so far:

$500.13

Paul Hetrelezis

Raised so far:

$260.13

Dianne Wyatt

Raised so far:

$1,304.73

Rach Huynh

Raised so far:

$1,657.73

Andrea Calilhanna

Raised so far:

$354.18

Mora Main

Raised so far:

$77.25

Karen Tuohy

Raised so far:

$868.60

Janet Bryan

Raised so far:

$505.72

Christine Huggart

Raised so far:

$527.26

Gabi Hollows

Raised so far:

$1,041.00

Pam Wellham

Raised so far:

$678.14

Jay Drury

Raised so far:

$1,777.37

Lara Hardy

Raised so far:

$152.26

James Pittar

Raised so far:

$754.21

Christine Ford

Raised so far:

$516.15

Stephen Hart

Raised so far:

$129.50

Michelle Lin

Raised so far:

$51.13

Roy Skillen

Jules Kelly

Raised so far:

$332.18

Samantha Hoult

Emma Patching

Raised so far:

$296.71

Jo Srb

Raised so far:

$2,149.74

Caitlin Archibald

Raised so far:

$181.75

Cassidy Muggleton

Bert Bronkhorst

Raised so far:

$275.00

Ruth Mazzitelli

Raised so far:

$601.35

Cam Hollows (C)

Raised so far:

$2,004.31

Marisa Black

Raised so far:

$1,256.41

Paul Sullivan

Raised so far:

$1,052.50

Lou Allan

Raised so far:

$956.68

Sheryl Cornack

Raised so far:

$7,594.26

Isabella Crawford

Adam Strang

Andrea Beevers

Raised so far:

$118.16

Brooke Heath

Dan

Raised so far:

$815.84

IAN INGRAM

Raised so far:

$181.76

Nilakshan Swarnarajah

Raised so far:

$5,814.88

Tess

Raised so far:

$301.06

Luke McIntyre

Raised so far:

$123.38

Nicholas Pantoleon

Naga Viswaja Rangisetti

Raised so far:

$261.34

Joseph Emmanuel

Raised so far:

$181.76

Khanh (kim) Painter

Wendy Russell

Carole Dovaston

Raised so far:

$599.75

Christine SHAW

Raised so far:

$98.75

Megan Daniels

Raised so far:

$75.00

Terry West

Raised so far:

$61.57

Alice Vafo'ou

Raised so far:

$380.30

FREDERIC MAUFAY

Joshua Toth

Raised so far:

$76.13

Greg McPhee

Raised so far:

$1,006.75

Susan Moodie

Raised so far:

$693.15

Shanthi Bandara

Raised so far:

$292.66

Will Salkeld

Raised so far:

$1,499.81

shivani kanwar

Cameron Twiss

Raised so far:

$635.87

Usha Manchanda

Raised so far:

$284.51

Bennett Haberbusch

Raised so far:

$2,147.70

Sharon ROBERTS-RADIC

Raised so far:

$555.41

Raghav Punn

Febrida Malcomson

Raised so far:

$150.00

Bryan Elivera

Raised so far:

$268.33

Michael Loh

Raised so far:

$1,445.08

Kate Lampe

Raised so far:

$883.77

Josiah Kennerley

Raised so far:

$2,665.28

Suhanya Giritharan

Raised so far:

$2,453.50

Ericka Howes

Craig Toole

joshua puckering

Stanley Guo

Raised so far:

$76.77

Rylee Quaife

Nicolas Connault

Raised so far:

$181.57

Karen McCarthy

Raised so far:

$2,010.86

Luka Azzalini

Betty Huang

Jenny Wang

Pene Vafoou

Raised so far:

$293.25

Hatice Sena Yilmaz

Catherine Simes

Raised so far:

$1,170.11

Ramit Grover

Raised so far:

$51.13

Charlie Anthonysz

Raised so far:

$541.16

Surangani Solanga Arachchige

Elise Moore

Raised so far:

$954.88

Lynne Pickering

Raised so far:

$734.09

Denise D'Souza

Raised so far:

$800.65

Victoria Alemán

Catherine Moran

Raised so far:

$1,020.04

Olga Grigorovitch

Brendan Moore

Raised so far:

$142.92

Melissa McKinnon

Raised so far:

$95.90

Lilah Hardisty

Raised so far:

$415.36

Kathryn Maguire

Raised so far:

$1,591.75

Louise Maree

Monique Nutt

Raised so far:

$257.88

Sarah Kono

Raised so far:

$2,176.95

Gillian Kruzins

Raised so far:

$1,306.03

Nick Robins

Raised so far:

$250.67

Celine

Raised so far:

$899.73

Andrea Grieve

Raised so far:

$124.65

Susan McKinlay

Kaden Unthank

Cameron Bowes

Bill Kazanis

Alysse Page

Raised so far:

$794.53

Barbara Henning

Raised so far:

$560.93

Steven Phillips

Raised so far:

$331.20

Raajesh Varma Elavarthi

Raised so far:

$279.50

izzy fallowfield

Raised so far:

$589.30

Catherine Edwards

Rumbie Muzamhindo

Raised so far:

$128.45

Eva Mouxouris

Zoe Hunt

Raised so far:

$318.08

Arul Selvaretnam

Raised so far:

$4,809.24

Nicole Cooper

Samantha House

Raised so far:

$305.79

Kathryn Worner

Callum Cater

Raised so far:

$1,580.79

Alexandra Chadwick

Raised so far:

$788.59

Jamie Feeney

Raised so far:

$51.12

Briony McInerney

Raised so far:

$273.56

dakota reynolds

Jasper McGowan

Raised so far:

$359.40

Sophia Santamaria

Raised so far:

$1,311.10

Robyn Hickey

Raised so far:

$2,248.54

Sophia Gatuz

Adam Nadinic

Raised so far:

$103.38

Anna Stancombe

David Loschiavo

Bhala Rai

Raised so far:

$2,153.97

Coedie Blair

Raised so far:

$1,019.51

Nicolas Savulsky

Karen Egan

Raised so far:

$77.25

Peggy Kalatzis

Gabrielle Whitehurst

Deborah Heaton

Raised so far:

$129.50

Elisa Sullivan

Raised so far:

$1,030.79

Matthew templar

Karen Toribio

Kynan Kraack

Valerie Monteiro

Raised so far:

$190.00

Cem Gerber

Cindy Russell

Raised so far:

$538.51

Shelley Boucher

Raised so far:

$75.00

Taylor Nicholls

Lillian Yang

Antonella Royle

Raised so far:

$129.50

Ben Haddad

Raised so far:

$13,390.90

Sue Keane

SHANNON NUGENT

Raised so far:

$51.13

Jenevra Ravell

Raised so far:

$68.81

Jan Legg

Raised so far:

$324.00

GENE PARKINSON

Raised so far:

$413.70

Dave Rae

Raised so far:

$260.13

Thomas Irvine

Raised so far:

$1.04

Pooja Ahuja

Nhu Nguyen

Raised so far:

$179.50

Ryan Dahlenburg

Michelle Hansen

Raised so far:

$545.68

Zakia Akhtar

abby whitfield

Macklin O’Reilly

Raised so far:

$503.18

Sandy Ivins

Raised so far:

$806.84

Jacob Edgecombe

Raised so far:

$348.38

Vamseemohan Nimmagadda

John Holden

Raised so far:

$52.00

Katerina Pagura

Karen Edwards

Raised so far:

$319.46

Jayme bree Goodwin

Suz Williams

Raised so far:

$77.25

Kirsty Lawson

Michelle Cox

Raised so far:

$285.44

Jamie Feeney

Raised so far:

$77.25