2023 Goal
2022 Goal
2021 Goal
2020 Goal
Last year, The Karunakaran Memorial Education Fund raised around $12,500 which was used by Palmera to fund the running of the only deaf and blind school in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. This school provides accommodation and living facilities for 16 children who come from rural areas and are particularly vulnerable. There are also 16 day students who attend the school from nearby areas. The funds raised covered all school expenses for the year up to 30 June 2023, including costs of the school teachers, accommodation for the 16 children, travel for the additional 16 day-students, uniforms, educational materials, food and maintenance.
Today, 11 July 2023, on the Wedding Anniversary of our Amma and Appa, we re-launch the Karunakaran Memorial Education Fund and in partnership with Palmera have committed to raise the required $20,000 to keep this school running for another year for these extremely vulnerable children. We are re-launching the Fund again this year with an initial amount of $5,000 and welcome our family and friends to also make your own contributions, no matter how big or small, as part of The Karunakaran Memorial Education Fund to help us reach our $20,000 target for the Batticaloa deaf and blind school for children.
To learn more about our Amma and Appa’s lives, their values and the impact they had – please read below. We hope that their grandchildren Ishaan, Mira, Riya, Arjuni, Jishnu and Rasan, will also derive meaning in their own lives from the rich legacy of their beloved Appama/Ammama and Appapa/Thaatha.
Thank you for your support of The Karunakaran Memorial Education Fund and creating a lasting legacy of our loving parents
These two university sweethearts fell in love whilst studying at the Peradeniya university campus, got married a few years later at the Nallur Sivan Temple on 11 July 1968 after graduating from the University of Peradeniya, and shared 50 wonderful years of marriage together. They lived their lives full of adventure, fun, travel, love, friendship and generosity.
They built their careers as High School teachers (Appa in Mathematics and Amma in Economics and Geography) and their passion and commitment to education and the empowerment of others led them to live and work in Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, London and finally, Sydney.
Many of their students including those who received tuition privately or in classes, have gone on to build successful careers and lives and many more students over the decades have acknowledged Amma and Appa for their positive and lasting impact as teachers and mentors.
Amma and Appa were soul mates and kindred spirits in the truest sense. They shared an abundance of joy and also weathered the most heart-breaking and painful times together – the most difficult being the loss of our brother Arjuna when he was just one week old.
Their unwavering, steadfast love for each other, unconditional love for us and the sacrifices and choices they made for our benefit, ultimately enabled us to create the lives we wanted for ourselves and our own families. We are incredibly lucky to have been blessed with such parents and are so very fortunate to have everything we need and more.
Throughout their lives, Amma and Appa demonstrated a deep generosity of giving to others in need – from helping close and extended family members to obtain an education, to helping thousands of their students in a meaningful way and through their charitable work and donations to help those less fortunate, particularly children.
They instilled in us the sense that it is in fact our duty to give and help those in need.
Amma and Appa, as individuals and as a partnership, had a profound impact on us (their son and daughter), their daughter-in-law Seema and son-in-law Julian, their precious grandchildren Ishaan, Mira, Riya, Arjuni and Jishnu, friends, family and countless students. As such we want their legacy to continue to have a lasting impact on communities who need our help the most.
Palmera is an organisation that we as a family have been very passionate about and we are confident that the funds will be used to maximise the impact and create lasting and sustainable outcomes for those in need in our motherland Sri Lanka.
The Karunakaran Memorial Education Fund is our way of honouring the lives and legacy of our Amma and Appa and also our brother Arjuna. Every year on the 11th of July, which is Amma and Appa’s Wedding Anniversary date – the Karunakaran Memorial Education Fund will continue its support for the educational related work carried out by Palmera.
We are grateful for your support of The Karunakaran Memorial Education Fund and the legacy of our loving parents.
Kishore and Shameela
DONOR WALL
The Karunakaran Memorial Education Fund
2020 Goal
2021 Goal
2022 Goal
2023 Goal
Last year, The Karunakaran Memorial Education Fund raised around $12,500 which was used by Palmera to fund the running of the only deaf and blind school in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. This school provides accommodation and living facilities for 16 children who come from rural areas and are particularly vulnerable. There are also 16 day students who attend the school from nearby areas. The funds raised covered all school expenses for the year up to 30 June 2023, including costs of the school teachers, accommodation for the 16 children, travel for the additional 16 day-students, uniforms, educational materials, food and maintenance.
Today, 11 July 2023, on the Wedding Anniversary of our Amma and Appa, we re-launch the Karunakaran Memorial Education Fund and in partnership with Palmera have committed to raise the required $20,000 to keep this school running for another year for these extremely vulnerable children. We are re-launching the Fund again this year with an initial amount of $5,000 and welcome our family and friends to also make your own contributions, no matter how big or small, as part of The Karunakaran Memorial Education Fund to help us reach our $20,000 target for the Batticaloa deaf and blind school for children.
To learn more about our Amma and Appa’s lives, their values and the impact they had – please read below. We hope that their grandchildren Ishaan, Mira, Riya, Arjuni, Jishnu and Rasan, will also derive meaning in their own lives from the rich legacy of their beloved Appama/Ammama and Appapa/Thaatha.
Thank you for your support of The Karunakaran Memorial Education Fund and creating a lasting legacy of our loving parents
These two university sweethearts fell in love whilst studying at the Peradeniya university campus, got married a few years later at the Nallur Sivan Temple on 11 July 1968 after graduating from the University of Peradeniya, and shared 50 wonderful years of marriage together. They lived their lives full of adventure, fun, travel, love, friendship and generosity.
They built their careers as High School teachers (Appa in Mathematics and Amma in Economics and Geography) and their passion and commitment to education and the empowerment of others led them to live and work in Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, London and finally, Sydney.
Many of their students including those who received tuition privately or in classes, have gone on to build successful careers and lives and many more students over the decades have acknowledged Amma and Appa for their positive and lasting impact as teachers and mentors.
Amma and Appa were soul mates and kindred spirits in the truest sense. They shared an abundance of joy and also weathered the most heart-breaking and painful times together – the most difficult being the loss of our brother Arjuna when he was just one week old.
Their unwavering, steadfast love for each other, unconditional love for us and the sacrifices and choices they made for our benefit, ultimately enabled us to create the lives we wanted for ourselves and our own families. We are incredibly lucky to have been blessed with such parents and are so very fortunate to have everything we need and more.
Throughout their lives, Amma and Appa demonstrated a deep generosity of giving to others in need – from helping close and extended family members to obtain an education, to helping thousands of their students in a meaningful way and through their charitable work and donations to help those less fortunate, particularly children.
They instilled in us the sense that it is in fact our duty to give and help those in need.
Amma and Appa, as individuals and as a partnership, had a profound impact on us (their son and daughter), their daughter-in-law Seema and son-in-law Julian, their precious grandchildren Ishaan, Mira, Riya, Arjuni and Jishnu, friends, family and countless students. As such we want their legacy to continue to have a lasting impact on communities who need our help the most.
Palmera is an organisation that we as a family have been very passionate about and we are confident that the funds will be used to maximise the impact and create lasting and sustainable outcomes for those in need in our motherland Sri Lanka.
The Karunakaran Memorial Education Fund is our way of honouring the lives and legacy of our Amma and Appa and also our brother Arjuna. Every year on the 11th of July, which is Amma and Appa’s Wedding Anniversary date – the Karunakaran Memorial Education Fund will continue its support for the educational related work carried out by Palmera.
We are grateful for your support of The Karunakaran Memorial Education Fund and the legacy of our loving parents.
Kishore and Shameela
DONOR WALL