Some people seem to believe that OICA is a "Japanese"
NGO. Well, not quite. Although OISCA-International was born in Japan
and its headquarters is located in Tokyo, it is a trans-national NGO
with chapters and branches located in over twenty countries in the
world. Recently, the significance of the "non-Japanese" aspect in
the OISCA movement was confirmed by a successful week-long study tour
involving OISCA members from both Sri Lanka and South India Chapters.
This multi-national tour was enabled by the generosity of Mr. Thilak
Weerasinghe (President, OISCA Sri Lanka), the hospitality of Mr. Aravind
Babu (Director, OISCA South India Office), and the commitment and
dedication on the part of each of the fifteen Sri Lankans who traveled
abroad and many dozens of South Indians who received them.
The exciting and inspirational journey
of the Sri Lankan party started on August 28th, 2000, when they landed
at Chennai by air, and visited the Life Help Handicap Centre, an educational
institution for the disabled. They were deeply impressed by the facts
that the Centre is run by instructors who themselves are all handicapped,
and is making positive public contributions by producing special equipment
for the disabled population at large. Later, the group toured through
Bangalore to Calicut, and then back to Chennai. Before they eventually
left India on September 4th, the visitors had the opportunity to make
a number of educational stops, such as at OISCA's tree planting projects,
a Children's Forest Program school associated with Sai Baba, a sericulture
research center, a bird sanctuary, an ancient palace, etc. Probably
the most unforgettable, however, were the series of parties in which
they socialized with members of respective South India branches, took
part in lively discussions, and exchanged views and experiences over
issues that concern OISCAns of both countries.
