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| Friday, 25 February 2005 |
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Jurek Owsiak, voted the most popular public figure in Poland, will meet Health Care, Nutrition and Uva-Wellassa Development Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva today at 4 p.m. to discuss the donation of medical equipment valued at US $200,000 to needy hospitals in Galle and Batticaloa. Owsiak arrived in Sri Lanka on Saturday with a film crew to document his experience. "I wanted to see the devastation for myself, so I decided to spend a week travelling around the island. It's more than I expected, My foundation will do all it can, to help the children here," he said. Owsiak, founder of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity Foundation, raises millions of dollars a year for children's causes, focusing mainly on medical equipment and preventative treatment. The foundation is the most prosperous charity organisation in Poland and collected more than $50 million from 1993 to 2004, while spreading the ideology of kindness, friendship, tolerance and openness. A well-known television star, Owsiak began using his pop-culture status to bring awareness to under resourced public hospitals in Poland in 1992. Since then, GOCC has donated more than 10,000 pieces of modern medical equipment to hospitals, specifically those treating children under five years of age. With increased international publicity, the amount of GOCC support grows each year. After the December 26 tsunami, Owsiak focused efforts on the situation in Sri Lanka. He contacted Food for Life Global (www.ffl.org), an NGO that has been active in Sri Lanka since the tsunami, to help him identify where the most help was needed. "Mr. Owsiak is a highly respected humanitarian, and his decision to come here is very significant because he commands great respect with the people of Poland," Paul Turner, director of FFL, said. Food For Life Global has already distributed more than 250,000 freshly cooked meals to tsunami victims in Sri Lanka. Owsiak also visited Gokulam - Bhaktivedanta Children's Home (www.gokulam.org), an affiliate project of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), Gokulam will be the new home of 100 tsunami orphans, providing them with food, shelter and education. "We are grateful to be able to work with someone like Mr. Owsiak. He is a true hero to the children of Sri Lanka," said Turner. |
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