Chamara 36 minutes old	Chamara a few days old with Upul in the Intensive Care ward of the RWH Melbourne

Chamara, our first child was born about 13 weeks premature at the Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne in November 1990 weighing only 856 gms. Although he was so tiny he was very healthy and miraculously started breathing on his own as soon as he was born ! He was a superb miniature, a pocket edition of a perfect baby with a head full of shiny black hair! There were no clothes in the market anywhere in Australia that could fit him and therefore I had to go to Dolls shops to look for teeny weeny clothes for him. Even the doll's clothes I bought were way too big for him.

Chamara was well looked after by the excellent, dedicated hospital staff at the Melbourne RWH for a couple of months, and when he was 5 lb, we brought him home. 

From there on, he grew from strength to strength and is now a normal, healthy, happy young boy who excels at language work, writing stories, music, dancing, singing, ( he's got a few piano and singing exams under his belt), chess, and is an avid reader of history and archeology. Chamara knows many Buddhist stories and likes me to relate more stories to him about Lord Budhha and ancient India. Chamara loves sports and plays cricket for a club in the NT and attends French and Hindi classes. Known as 'Aiya' (older brother) in the family Chamara speaks Sinhalese and English. Chamara admires Jackie Chan and has a passion for Jurassic Park and American action movies. Chamara admires Sri Lankan player Muttiah Muralitharan and his cricketing achievements.

The premature wonderboy

 

Kanchana Kanchana is an Year 12 student  today [2010] who  is focused on his Academic achievements. He is  also a lover of Sport. He has won many Awards in cricket. Kanchana is also an avid Footy fan. This picture was taken in March 2009 in Perth WA. The following details  are about Kanchana's early childhood: Kanchana our second child was a full term baby (much to our delight!) born in August 1993 at the Royal Women's in Melbourne. Known in the family as 'Big Malli' and addressed as "BIA" by his baby brother, Kanchana has shown a great deal of interest in animals and their welfare from the age of 3 and is now in the process of writing a book on Whales. He has spent a long time reading and researching on marine life and is very excited about producing this book as soon as possible. Kanchana is in the gifted children's program at school and is considered to be way above his class level in all subjects. He was awarded a Gold Medal for Maths at Kumon and is now working towards a Super Gold. Kanchana was the Chess Champion of the school in 2002. His artistic talents include drawing, painting, piano playing and dancing. Kanchana believes that Lord Buddha was the most extraordinary person the world ever saw. He is also very keen on Football and plays cricket for an NT club and attends French and Hindi classes. Kanchana speaks Sinhalese and English and watches lots of Sports TV and is a passionate supporter of Sri Lankan cricketers. He says that he likes and admires them all. Kanchana enjoys -Sri Lankan- Kandyan Dancing . Kanchana participating in circus training in Katherine, 2000

 

Upul and me with Chamara, Kanchana, Harshana- 1998 and Guwan -2000

 

In 2009

 

About our youngest boys

Buddhist monks blessing our new home in Darwin, December 2000.