SLGGA celebrates 108 years Dr. Hettiarachchi lifts women’s morale at 4th Jenny Calverly Greene Oration

 memorable moment from the 4th Jenny Calverly Greene Oration held at the Main Hall of Sri Lanka Girl Guides’ Association 

(Pics by Sumudu Hewapathirana)

• Since its establishment, SLGGA has been actively engaged in shaping the lives of young women
• Dr. Darshani Hettiarachchi focused her speech on common challenges faced by female adolescents

“The world is not a safe place and you should be aware and have to be careful when living in the society,” said Dr. Darshani Hettiarachchi (Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist) during her speech at the 4th Jenny Calverly Greene Oration held at the Main Hall of Sri Lanka Girl Guides’ Association  (by Pradeep Pathirana)

By Manjula Philips

Sri Lanka Girl Guides’ Association (SLGGA) celebrated its 108 years of service to the society on March 21. On parallel with this the Association also organized the 4th Jenny Calverly Greene Oration where Dr. Darshani Hettiarachchi -Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist delivered a speech. This event was held at the Main Hall of Sri Lanka Girl Guides’ Association, Colombo.

Dr. Hettiarachchi, who was the chief guest at the occasion, focused on the mental health of females and how to be successful when one takes up leadership during her speech. 

“Even though I have conducted so many awareness programmes on mental health, this is the first time I am focusing only on females. I have never done any programme especially targeting a female audience. Who is a young female? I would rather say a young lady instead of the word female. I consider all of you as young ladies. I have noticed in most instances that females are the ones who tend to insult other females most in the society. According to the World Health Organization, they have categorised as young people those in the age group between 10-24, adolescent between ages 10-19 and youth between ages 15 -24. I hope to conduct this speech for those falling into the group between15-24 and termed as youth,” said Dr. Hettiarachchi.

Guiding was introduced to Sri Lanka in 1917 by Jenny Calverley (who was Jenny Greene then). The first Guide Company was started at Girls’ High School, Kandy.

Since its establishment, SLGGA has been actively engaged in shaping the lives of young women and enhancing their life skills, such as leadership, self- discipline and social responsibility.  

She continued to deliver her speech to the audience that comprised mostly of the present and ex members of the Association. She focused her speech on common challenges faced by female adolescents and emphasised on topics such as self-esteem, education, bullying, victimization of sexual abuse, teenage pregnancy, mental health issues, and economic and social challenges faced by teenagers, which are common issues among adolescents.

“The world is not a safe place and you should be aware and have to be careful when living in the society,” she advised.

She explained as to how to develop interpersonal relationships, assertiveness, self-love and leadership skills during teenage years which are very important in terms of fostering the lives of young females.

SLGGA President Ms Swarnika Pitigala and Chief Commissioner of SLGGA Dr. Kushantha Herath also graced the occasion.