APPRECIATIONS
View(s):A role model and trailblazer for many
Nellie Patricia Fernando nee Perera
Nellie was born on August 23,1926, to John and Elsie Perera of Alwis Place, Kotahena. She was the oldest of five siblings, all girls. The second sibling, two years younger than her died of Intractable Whooping Cough due to lack of antibiotics and vaccinations at that time. This made a lasting impression on Nellie, who made up her mind, at that tender age, to become a doctor and save children from untimely death. Her other siblings were Lucille Joyce Peiris, Daphne Perera and Shirlene de Silva.
As a child, due to frequent Tonsillitis and recurrent chest infections, she was home schooled by her parents and maternal grandmother Clara Josephine De Alwis, in a Roman Catholic family of strong faith. Later she attended Good Shepherd Convent, Kotahena.
At the time, there was no science education nor science lab. So Nellie had to resort to travelling by bicycle to Ananda College at Maradana, to take part in a programme of science education. This required special permission from the Catholic hierarchy. Nellie’s maternal great grandmother was shocked to see Nellie riding a bicycle in that era.
Nellie entered Medical College, in 1945, and graduated in 1950, with a MBBS First Class Honours, a Gold medal and scholarship, with the same ranking as her batchmate Priyani De Mel (Prof. Priyani Soysa, the second professor of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ceylon).
Nellie married her childhood sweetheart, a wealthy young planter, Ivor Fernando that same year 1950. They were blessed with three sons Joseph (Joe), Nial and Lohan. During this time, she worked at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital (LRH) for children at Borella, first as a house officer followed by work in the OPD and wards. Subsequently she was the research assistant to the first Professor of Paediatrics, C.C. de Silva, in the newly formed Paediatric Department of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ceylon in 1961. Nellie was the first lecturer in this new Department of Paediatrics.
Earlier, in 1952 Nelli had obtained her DCH London, with private funding. Subsequently she went to UK, again, privately, for the MRCP London and Edinburgh, acquiring the skills of neonatal exchange transfusions, to prevent neonatal brain damage due to Jaundice. She put these skills to use on her return to Sri Lanka, and educated the house officers at LRH in these procedures.
In the late 50s it was discovered that one of her sons had dyslexia, which posed a problem with his education. In order to educate their sons in a stable English medium educational system, Nellie and her husband opted to give up the comfort of life and work in Sri Lanka, and ventured out to desert life, in Kuwait.
Getting to Kuwait was not simple in March 1962. With the strict exchange control regulations in place in Sri Lanka, and limited funds available for travel, they spent a week or more in transit to get to Kuwait. A train ride from Colombo Fort, which the sons thought was just a fun family outing. Then a boat ride through the Palk Straits. A motor ride in India to Madras (Chennai) where they waited for the pre-paid air tickets to Kuwait for the entire family and domestic help.
Nellie spent 26 years in Kuwait (1962-1988) at Al Sabah Hospital where she was the chief of the Paediatrics Department, and the Physician-in-chief to the Royal household in Kuwait. She enjoyed the change in scenery of Paediatrics, that confronted her in the desert, and wrote several research papers and organized the public health aspects of childhood disease in Kuwait.
During this time, her sons, who were initially home schooled by Ivor and a tutor from Sri Lanka in Kuwait, went on to private schools, in Kuwait and UK, and graduated from high schools there. The oldest, Joe went on to the USA and graduated from a University in Massachusetts, while Nial and Lohan went to universities in UK. All excelled in their chosen fields, which pleased the parents, who sacrificed much for their education.
In retirement, Nellie spent time in UK and Australia with her sons and their families, enjoying her time with grandchildren. In Sri Lanka she enjoyed interacting with her sisters and extended family. Eventually after Ivor passed away, she settled down in Sri Lanka. She enjoyed playing the game, 3 cards with her sisters and extended family. This is a family addiction, handed down from generation to generation. When playing cards, it was not a few games, but a whole day outing, at a relative’s house with intermittent breaks for food, sing- songs, hymns and prayers for those family members who have passed on. Nellie was jubilant when she won at these games.
When Ivor developed Chronic renal failure, Nellie very successfully managed Peritoneal Dialysis for him at home, for several years, even when travelling around Europe, Australia and Sri Lanka, without any complications.
Nellie and Ivor enjoyed a very happy marriage and partnership. Nellie took care of the medical and educational aspects, while Ivor took care of the family, household problems, and home schooling. Nellie enjoyed her Paediatric work and research. She was an excellent doctor who cared wholeheartedly for her patients, whoever they might be. She was a good wife and enjoyed Ivor’s company. She was a good mother and loving grandmother to her one grandson and three grand-daughters.
In her retirement at age 85, she successfully underwent brain surgery in Sri Lanka, for a benign cerebral meningioma. Being free of any chronic medical ailments, her recovery was amazing. She quickly resumed her normal life thereafter.
Nellie had a very generous heart, and supported several institutions of her Catholic faith, and charitable organizations, as well as her domestic staff. She had excellent, faithful staff, such as Premadasa her driver, Roslin her cook, and Ramya, her personal caregiver, who repaid her generosity with such loyal service, that it was heartening for her family to see.
Nellie was also very sympathetic to other folks’ misfortunes. She was instrumental in initiating a family trust fund in memory of her maternal grandmother, the Clara Josephine de Alwis Trust Fund that helped any direct descendants of her grandmother who were in need.
Nellie was a role model and trailblazer for many, including me, one of her first cousins. Thankfully, things were much easier for us, several successful medical doctors that followed Nellie at GSC.
For everything, there is a season. Nellie’s season, was amazingly very fruitful, not only to her patients and family, but to many that met her along life’s pathway.
May she rest in peace. The flower that continued to bloom in the desert!
The card players will miss her, as surely her family and staff.
Chitra Perera
The boss who made me what I am today
L.G. Perera
A truly great boss is
hard to find,
difficult to part with and
impossible to forget
Good bosses go further than the job!!
January 2000….a man with a receding hair line or rather thinning greyish hair walked in. I could barely see him from the furthest end of a roughly 25-peopled work station, a man barely taller than the partitions near the secretary pool. The spirit changed in the room, a different kind of energy was flowing. There were smiles, giggles…wishing each other happy new year just a few days past the new year. Chami whispered, ‘That’s L.G.P.’ I asked ‘who is he? ’Rushi replied ‘he is the EVP’.
What a breath of fresh air coming from NDB! I was the new recruit who was just observing!
There were discussions going on and suddenly the tone changed and all I could hear was “how can a girl work in R&R?”
Two weeks in, the words of LGP kept popping into my mind “how can a girl work in R&R?” I knew I had to prove him wrong by facing up to the challenge!
I worked so hard….so hard, just to prove just one man wrong!
Every single time, Bhathiya requested me to take a document for LGP’s signature, I hated it! I hated it with passion. I refused many times as he never looked at me or in my eyes but asked me to keep it on his table and go!
One day I was asked to sit down. I was amazed….this was nearly after one year of my joining… I knew it was the split second that I make or break with him. Just one glance…and he told me offer Rs 15million to a well known firm. I stared hard at him…. “No I will not” was my answer. He pushed back on his leather seat very relaxed and looked at me. “Are you sure?” he asked calmly, in a very fatherly manner. I went off like a gushing flood, giving him my reasons but it was like arguing with a brick wall, until tears started rolling down my cheeks. He stood up and walked to my side of the table….placed his hand on my shoulder and said “Menik you make sense, and I agree with you more than you do, but just because you are female don’t make business decisions like one.” and he left the room.
I instantly got what he meant, though his choice of words may be seen today as gender discrimination. “Menik, look at the bigger picture,” was all he wanted me to understand. And that meeting was the turning point in my relationship with Mr. Perera.
That year witnessed the restructuring of Sindbad Hotel, Mahaweli Reach Hotel, Ranweli Resorts, Uni Walkers to name a few. It was an uphill journey, with investors turning their back on us many times as they confronted us with every minute security breach in the country then. If the mess walls could talk, they would say how many glasses of wine were drunk, and plates of bites were consumed in this process.
Nothing would ever beat the boat ride in the Negombo seas! But with the undying support and constructive criticism of Bhathiya, L.G. Perera, Ruwanganie and Chandrin, I recovered the full Rs 2.8bn portfolio within the first financial year. I mentored and trained my first Management Trainee, Suranji, wrapped hundreds of door gifts and trained DFCC to undertake tissue paper gift wrapping.
The girl who was tipped to fail working for R& R was internally head hunted to do a more masculine job of brand development and developing the first ever field sales team in the history of Sri Lankan banking industry to take over MERC bank in 2001. And that ‘girl’ happened to be me. On selection I ended up in Mr. Perera’s room, and asked him if by any chance I felt that the Treasury was not the place for me whether I could revert tocome back to R&R to work with him. “It’s not like you to come back Menik, you will prove me wrong once again,” was all he said. I knew that was the confidence he placed in me.
And to-date if I had known a boss who had stood by me at the risk of his reputation, it was Mr. Perera. I have mentioned this to every single staff member I mentored during my 15 years in banking and telecom industry in London, and thereafter.
When I started to set up my office, the first to visit me in my container office at NTB was Mr. Perera. He clearly was upset about the state of the office. He told me that the doors are always open, if at all I wanted to come back. I thanked him and said ‘no’. I explained no matter what, that I would not go backwards. He left with a heavy heart I could sense.
I got married and had kids. He visited me in London with his family. He never treated me as any less than family. Every time I was in Colombo, he made it a point to meet up. When he moved temporarily to Australia, when he fell ill there would have been sleepless nights, endless calls between Bhathiya and me, just to check up on him to put a smile on his face.
When I met him on December 7 last year for dinner I printed and gave this tribute to him. Something deep down told me that I would not see him again.
May you attain the supreme bliss of Nirvana!!
Love always,
Menik