Interview: ‘What we have done has helped immensely’: The retired cancer specialist changing lives in Sri Lanka - Jersey Evening Post
by James Sharp · Jersey Evening PostPosted inNews
Interview: ‘What we have done has helped immensely’: The retired cancer specialist changing lives in Sri Lanka
by James Sharp 18 July 202618 July 2026
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SINCE arriving in Jersey in 1989, Dr Sivasithamparam Himayakanthan – affectionately known across the Island as Dr Hima – has devoted extraordinary time and effort to a broad range of charitable causes close to his heart.
Included in the now-retired oncologist’s dazzling portfolio of altruistic endeavours is a day of white-knuckle abseiling for Jersey Disabled Club, an Accelerated Free Fall Sky Dive to raise funds for his beloved Oncology Unit, and a London Marathon in support of the Island’s Association for Crohn’s and Colitis.
In 2004, following the so-called Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004 – which ravaged communities along the coasts of the Indian Ocean – Dr Hima turned his attention to helping afflicted people in his home country of Sri Lanka.
Under the banner of the ‘Island Friends Together’ charity, the London Royal College of Physicians fellow used money gathered via intra-Island fundraising to construct both an orphanage and a school building for children displaced by the catastrophic weather event.
More than twenty years later, Dr Hima remains as passionate as ever about using his local expertise in Sri Lanka to support vulnerable members of society still navigating the aftermath of not only a tsunami, but a deadly and prolonged civil war.
Dr Hima explained that people from Western countries often misconceive Sri Lanka as a country that does not “qualify” for overseas aid.
“The tourists look upon the tourists’ paradise,” he said. “But what I’m doing, and what the charity is doing, is in the many pockets of extreme poverty.”
A selection of hundreds of past projects carried out by the charity include installing two wells in the remote northern island of Delft, upgrading the community’s grocery shop and building a house for a fatherless family-of-five.
For many years, Dr Hima’s modus operandi involved sending large shipments of second-hand clothes, electronics and tools to Sri Lanka by sea.
“In Jersey, we have access to all these second-hand goods that are unwanted, unused, or whatever, and they are not gold, but platinum, in my part of the world,” he said.
“In one shipment, it was 60 computers, loads of clothes, shoes, you name it – it was a big list – and that is given to so many people, who are so grateful to have it.”
However, during his most recent trip to the country he still calls “home” in February 2025, Dr Hima – with approval from the Jersey Overseas Aid – adopted a markedly different strategy.
Instead of straightforwardly supplying people directly with goods and services, the charity began to explore the idea of using Jersey Overseas Aid funds to promote “income-generating activity” in the area.
The former consultant oncologist happily described the change of tack as a “great success”.
A charity document provided to the JEP refers to an extensive list of Sri Lankan citizens now in a stronger financial position because of the income-generating support provided to them by Island Friends Together, in collaboration with Jersey Overseas Aid.
Dr Hima spoke effusively of one woman who managed to use the gift of a sewing machine to first open up a small shop, and then train a group of students in a nearby village.
“She now has an apprentice in her newly opened shop training the second batch of students, and training more students in a distant village,” he explained.
“Jersey Overseas Aid initially supported her with an income-generating activity, which now has a ‘positive multiplier effect’, increasing several income-generating activities.
“Her ambition is to produce stitched clothes on a larger scale and export to overseas via friends’ requests for local tailoring and embroidery.”
In another case, a Sri Lankan man was able to gain contracted work cutting trees after being given an electric chainsaw.
“He sent me a photo showing a massive pile of logs waiting to be delivered to wood shacks,” the doctor laughed.
“Furthermore, he now has a team of members working under him, employed by him and [he is] also training them.
“He now has a vehicle too, to help with his increasing workload – I witnessed all these when he came to do some work with cutting trees and clearing them in my premises.”
The charity patron says he hopes to return to Sri Lanka soon to monitor the progress of the many beneficiaries.
“What we have done has helped immensely, it has helped greatly,” reflected Dr Hima. “That is why we keep doing it, because it is not just pleasure – it is because of how much people benefit from the work.”
While Dr Hima is confident that Island Friends Together has made huge strides in alleviating extreme poverty across pockets of northern Sri Lanka, he is equally sure that “a lot of work remains to be done”.
As a result, he continues to spend a considerable amount of his spare time cooking huge, delicious batches of curry for fundraising evenings – and is always on the hunt for fresh fundraising opportunities.
“What’s the secret behind it all? Obsession – a mad obsession,” he chuckled.
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