Fawzia with her surgeon

in 2000, after Fawzia was diagnosed with breast cancer, she underwent surgery in the USA for a double mastectomy. Here she is with the surgeon who operated on her.

Scholarships in Fawzia's Memory - Update

In 2018, I donated Rs. 800,000/ to the Malay Rupee Fund and Rs. 400,000/ to the Women's Association of Sri Lankan Malays (WASLAM) to fund scholarships for Malay undergraduates.

The Rupee Fund recently informed me that four students were awarded scholarships this year. Please note that all the scholarship funds did not come from my donations. There are other donors, too.

CHILAW -  Azana Noordeen (BSc Pharmacy) Uni. Jaffna; KADUWELA - Tuan Ahamadon ( BSc ) Uni Sri Jayawardenepura; BORALESGAMUWA - Yasid Jayah (Management) Uni Jayawardenepura ; IBBAGAMUWA -  Shihanza Ousmand (Management) Uni Sri J’pura

The recipient from Chilaw, Azana Noordeen, happens to be a distant relative of Fawzia's.

WASLAM has also been supporting four Malay undergraduates. One of them, Rishad Hameed, graduated recently with First Class Honors in Business Management from Rajarata University. Mr. Hameed sent the following message of thanks

"The financial assistance I received through your scholarship scheme not only eased the burden of my studies but also motivated me to excel academically. Your dedication to empowering students like me is truly commendable, and I pray that your efforts continue to make a meaningful impact in the lives of many more deserving individuals.

Once again, I extend my sincere thanks to your organization and to the sponsor, Dr. George Braine in memory of Fawzia Braine. May Almighty Allah bless you all abundantly and grant your organization the strength to keep supporting aspiring students."

Old photos

At Raddolugama. August, 1986

July, 1975. At Jaya Estate, Chilaw. Santhi carrying Roy.

December 2, 1978. At Santhi and Ranji's wedding at Wennappuwa church.

Recently found photo of Fawzia

 Leaving the USA for the last time, in August 2011. also the last time she saw Nelum, Roy, and Shannon.

Fawzia Braine Memorial Award - 10th Year

Title: "Corpus insights into the harmonization of commercial media in China: News coverage of migrant worker issues as a case study" by Eric Yin Liu

Journal: Discourse, Context & Media (Vol. 41, 2021)

Abstract:  Literature abounds regarding media censorship in China, but relatively few studies show how this is linguistically realized, and what impact it has on Chinese media discourse. Using news coverage of migrant worker issues as a lens, this paper demonstrates convergence in reportage between commercial media and state media in China that took place in the last few years. Our corpus-based critical discourse analyses show that negative words/phrases about migrant workers’ miseries (e.g., discrimination, physical assault, etc.) have decreased significantly in commercial reportage while positive words/phrases that praise the government’s achievements and actions in dealing with migrant worker issues (e.g., the increased income, the active entrepreneurial policy for migrant workers, etc.) have increased remarkably. We also note more shared vocabulary between the reportage of commercial and state media, which reflects a convergence in their reporting style. We attribute such changes to the political ideology of harmony that exerts sweeping influences on Chinese society and raise concerns about the health of the media landscape in China.

Bio: Eric Yin Liu is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of English at the University of Hong Kong. His research interests include media and internet politics, political communication, sociolegal studies, linguistic/semiotic anthropology, language and law, (critical) discourse studies, and the ethnographic approach to vulnerability. He had served as a coordinator of the Sociolinguistics Reading Group at the University of Hong Kong. Between 2021 and 2022, he is a Harvard-Yenching Fellow in the Linguistic/Semiotic Anthropology Advanced Training Program at the Harvard-Yenching Institute and the Department of Anthropology, Harvard University. 

Funds to support Malay university students

Distributed through the Women's Association of Sri Lanka Malays (WASLAM)

The following candidates will be receiving Rs, 3,500/- Rs 2.500/- or Rs 2,000.00 per month as stated below. 

 (1) ISSADEEN SLASA FATHIMA AZMA from HAMBANTOTA Institution: Ramanadana Academy of Fine Art, Ramanadan University of Jaffna – Course details: Fine Arts Will receive a grant of Rs. 3,500.00 per month x 48 months = Rs. 168,000.00 

(2) MUHAMMATHU NISFAL ITHREES from Oddamavadi Institution: Rajarata University Course: Management Studies Will receive a grant of Rs. 2000.00 per month x 24months = Rs. 48,000.00 

(3) HAMEED RISHAD ABDUL from Kurunegala Institution: Rajarata University Course: Management Studies Will receive a grant of Rs. 2000.00 per month x 24months = Rs. 48,000.00 

(4) GNEI FATHIMA IFRA DOOLE from Hambantota Institution: Eastern University Faculty of Swami Wipulananda Institute Course: Visual and Technology Arts Will receive a grant of Rs. 2,500.00 per month x 48 months = Rs. 120,000.00 

(5) GNEI FATHIMA RASHMA DOOLE from Hambantota Institution: University College of Matara Course: Event Management Will receive a grant of Rs. 2,500.00 per month x 48 months = Rs. 120,000.00 

Total disbursement Rs 504,000.00 (Rupees five hundred and four thousand only.) 

Fawzia Braine Memorial Award - 9th Year

 

Presentation of the first Fawzia Braine Memorial Award, 2013

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8D3TnLsnPk

The winner was Jim Chan, who is now the President of the Hong Kong Association for Applied Linguistics (HAAL)

Preview YouTube video HAAL Fawzia Braine Award Presentation By Prof George Braine June 3, 2013

HAAL Fawzia Braine Award Presentation By Prof George Braine June 3, 2013

Recipient of WASLAM award in Fawzia's memory

Ms. Irshani Rajabdeen, Sabaragamuwa University, Faculty of Management Studies. BSc. (Hons) in Financial Management. She receives Rs. 3000/ per month till December 2021.

 

In Fawzia's memory

 1. Since 2012,  a monthly donation of Rs. 30,000/ to St. Joseph's Home for Elders at Marawila. This feeds 150 destitute elders breakfast, lunch, and dinner for one day each month. The amount was increased to Rs. 60,000/ in 2022.

Fawzia with two nuns from St. Joseph's Home

2. "Fawzia Braine Memorial Award" (worth HK$2500) given every year to a novice scholar for the best journal article. Managed by the Hong Kong Association for Applied Linguistics. Shue Yan University, where Fawzia taught, and Mark and Isabella Taylor, our neighbors and friends in HK, also contributed to setting-up the award. Nine annual awards have been made so far.

3. To the Rupee Fund, run by the Sri Lanka Malay Association, a donation of Rs. 800,000/ to help with their charity work.

4. To the Women's Association of Sri Lanka Malays (WASLAM), a donation of Rs. 500,000/ to set up the "Nghei Fawzia Braine Fund". The bank interest generated helps a Malay university student every year.

5. Rs. 600,000/ to purchase additional land for a home for mentally disabled children at Bolawatte.

6. A paver stone at the National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in Maryland, USA. 

7. Rs. 300,000/ for corrective surgery for a child with cleft lip and palate. Some contributions came from the USA.  

8. Rs. 300,000/ to replace the roof of the community hall at St. Joseph's Home for Elders at Marawila. 

Fawzia Braine Memorial Award - 8th Year

The Hong Kong Association for Applied Linguistics (HAAL) is pleased to announce that this year, Mr Greg Chung-Hsien Wu, a PhD candidate in the Centre for Applied English Studies at the University of Hong Kong, will receive the Fawzia Braine Memorial Award for his paper "Engaging senior-year admitted students' academic literacies across the discipline: A language practitioner's perspectives" (published in Innovations in Education and Teaching International, in press). 

A paver (paving stone) in Fawzia's memory

 

A paver was installed at the National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes on the campus of Mount St. Mary’s University, Maryland, in Fawzia's memory.

Fawzia Braine Memorial Award

Mr. Chan Ka Long, Roy, a PhD candidate in the Department of English at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, will receive the Fawzia Braine Memorial Award for his paper "Being a 'purist' in trilingual Hong Kong: Code-switching among Cantonese, English and Putonghua" (published in Linguistic Research, March 2018). 

Dr. Ricky Lam, President of HAAL, presenting the award on May 30, 2019

Fawzia - Seventh Anniversary. 28 January

In Memory of Fawzia Braine

Spirit on Earth

           like a flame

burning

           your eyes

           with gentle light

you came to see the world

            its soil and flowers

you came to know

            the God who wandered

            among us

            who loved

us with open heart.

Fawzia, you believed

              our God made flesh

              You soared

              above calamity.

How could you foresee

               the Great Sleep?

Swept from the mountaintop

                 by mighty wings.

Joanna Radwanska-Williams

2012, Hong Kong 

Donations to Sri Lanka Malay charities in Fawzia's Memory

Donations were made in memory of Fawzia to two Sri Lanka Malay charitable organisations. The Rupee Fund was given Rs. 600,000 and the Women’s Association of Sri Lanka Malays (WASLAM) Rs. 400,000. The Rupee Fund of the Sri Lanka Malay Associations was started in 1953. One objective is "to grant scholarships to deserving students ... to enable them to prosecute their studies". A previous donation of Rs. 200,000 will be added to create the Nghei Fawzia Braine Scholarship Fund.  The Women's Association of Sri Lanka Malays (WASLAM) was formed in 2010. One objective is to help "all Sri Lankan Malay women to develop their education and inherent skills at grassroot level ... to become self-reliant and contribute tangibly to family and community". Mrs. Eileen Dane, the President of WASLAM, an old friend of the family, and Sandra Sourjah, another friend, were present at the donation.

Fawzia Braine Memorial Award for 2018 - Seventh Year

The winner was Peter Wingrove, a doctoral student at the University of Hong, for his article "How suitable are TED talks for academic listening?", published in the Journal of English for Academic Purposes.

The award was presented by Prof. Christoph Hafner, President of the Hong Kong Association for Applied Linguistics (HAAL), at an academic conference held in Macau.

Addo uncle

Addo uncle was Fawzia's mother's youngest brother. During the last years of his life, he lived with his daughter in Kalutara. Whenever she visited Sri Lanka, Fawzia would do a round visiting all her elderly aunts and Addo uncle. I recently discovered two photos taken during these visits.

June 2008.  Fawzia, Shirley, along with Addo uncle's wife, daughters, and son-in-law Rashid. I took the photo.

June 2011

The Hillary Clinton relationship

One of the stories mama (amongst many) fondly told anyone that would listen, was her chance conversation with Hillary Clinton in the summer of 1996 prior to his re-election and during Bill’s re-election campaign.  

It was summer time in Arkansas and the Clintons were scheduled to appear at an event in downtown Little Rock.  Mama grabbed a couple of her friends and was excited to be at the event not knowing how close she would be to the Clintons.  She went early with her friends and found a way to be at the entrance where Hillary and Bill would walk past after there speech.  She loved the Clintons.  To her they were similar to the Kennedy Family.  After the event, as planned the Clintons went past where her group was standing.  When Hillary was walking past and shaking hands, mama “forced” her way to the front and yelled “Hillary you went to Sri Lanka and I am from Sri Lanka”.  When Hillary heard this she came to mom and shook her hand.  Hillary had just returned from her trip to South Asia including a visit to Sri Lanka in 1995.  She told mom how much she respects our country, especially how progressive women were in Sri Lanka.  Her admiration that our tiny island elected a woman as the president when women’s rights were still in the initial stages in the U.S and hoped one day the American president would be a woman was something that stayed with mama forever.

When mama retold this story, what came out was the admiration of Hillary’s commitment for the advancement of women and childrens’ rights. During the election year Nelum became an Committed follower of Hillary. I was amazed that Nelum at such a young age understood what Hillary meant to the gender equality debate. What I saw in Nelum was the same passion I saw in mama many years before. Even though mama was not part of most of Nelum's life, she had successfully past the baton to the next generation. And her granddaughter will continue that fight until true equality is achieved by her young generation.

Sent by Roy

Photos from the Memorial Award ceremony

The winner of the Fawzia Braine Memorial Award for the fifth year (2017) is Mark Feng Teng, a doctoral student at the Hong Kong Baptist University. The presentation was made on June 21 by the President of the Hong Kong Association for Applied Linguistics (HAAL).

Fawzia Braine Memorial Award for 2017

This annual award amounting to HK$2,500 is made in Fawzia's memory to a novice scholar (postgraduate student or a recent graduate) of a university in Hong Kong for a journal article published in an international refereed journal in applied linguistics. 

Ten entries were received this year, from students at five Hong Kong universities.

The winner is Feng Teng of Hong Kong Baptist University for an article titled "Immediate and delayed effects of embedded metacognitive instruction on  Chinese EFL students’ English writing and regulation of cognition" in the journal Thinking Skills and Creativity.