CELINE SAMARASINHE
Celine Samarasinhe, founder of the Kotahena Community Nursing Service and S-H-A-R-E- Foundation.

Having completed her training at Edgware General Hospital, Celine Samarasinhe joined the Community Nursing Service in 1976. After working as a District Nurse for 25 years around North London, Celine wanted to extend her time and medical skills to helping the poor and underprivileged people in her native Sri Lanka.

In 1999, Celine began the Pilot Project in the slum area of Kotahena, Colombo, with money that she had raised through her church. The project built a health centre that provides voluntary medical care to the elderly, sick and infirm and was modelled on the District Nursing Service in the United Kingdom. The Kotahena Community Nursing Service is now in its seventh year and has provided free nursing care to over 400 people.

Celine founded the S-H-A-R-E- Foundation in 2002 to provide funding for the Community Nursing Service in Sri Lanka. In January 2005, the Foundation raised over £22,000 to begin a second project in Kalutara where the Tsunami Disaster had devastated an entire fishing community. As well as offering a further Community Nursing Service, S-H-A-R-E- has donated fishing boats and other equipment to provide 176 families with a new source of income.

Celine now takes several months unpaid leave each year to return to Sri Lanka to continue her work for the Foundation. In 2005 Celine received one of five Unsung Heroes awards from the Celebrities Guild of Great Britain, as well as an award from the tsunami relief authority in Sri Lanka.

Top