Sporting legend Lorenz Pereira tutors Royal College hosteller in English from Australia

Lorenz Pereira, Royal College sporting legend of the sixties, now retired in Australia where he worked as a senior city planner in Melbourne, has played a stellar role in helping a teenager in his old school’s hostel to become a confident English speaker.

Padmasena Dissanayake, the operations director of project to impart English language skills to Royal College hostellers said the project organized scores of global volunteers to help about 150 hostelers to speak English confidently.

(Capt. Elmo Jayawardena’s CandleAid runs a similar successful ‘Talkmate’ program over the telephone where volunteers chat to learners.)

“Lorenz Pereira gave the process a new dimension by personalizing the relationship between mentor and student that provided a Win Win outcome for both. From day one Lorenz was fascinated by Praveen Bhanuka from Tavalama Galle. The first encounter apparently didn’t go well.

“Lorenz could speak only a few words of Sinhalese and Praveen, just a few words of English. Praveen’s father is a CTB driver and mother works at the Divisional Secretariat. Fortunately Kumi (Lorenz’s wife) was there to bridge the gap.

“At the first encounter, Praveen couldn’t look Lorenz straight in the eye. And Lorenz had to work patiently building Praveen’s confidence. Lorenz declined to change his charge at the end of the year. He wanted to continue with Praveen with whom he had built a strong relationship,” Dissanayake said.

“The mentor-disciple relationship had flourished from day one. Praveen’s mother told me that “Lorenz Mahattaya” was a godsend,”

On a recent visit to Sri Lanka Lorenz and his wife, Kumi, went to Thavalama to visit Praveen and his family who were thrilled to welcome them. “Praveen couldn’t stop asking me questions and all in English,” Lorenz beamed.

They were deeply moved when the whole fsmily fell st their feet and worshiped them at the end on the visit in the customary gesture of gratitude.

“It was the most touching and beautiful moment in my entire life,” Lorenz said.. “We became one family at that very moment. What better outcome could I have expected from this project?”