Internet Cafe at the Hardy Institute

The Canadian Agro-Sustainability Partnership (CASP) set up an Internet Cafe at the exhibition held to mark the golden jubilee of Hardy Institute in Ampara. The exhibition was declared open by the Urban Council Chairman, Saman Desappriya, on July 28th at 9 a.m. and ran for two days. Mr. Desappriya was briefed about CASP activities in Ampara District as he visited the Internet Cafe, and he was very pleased with CASP's works to date.

Parliamentarian and former Minister of Health, P. Dayaratne, opened the second day of the exhibition, and he too visited CASP’s stall, commenting that he was seeing this programme for the first time in Ampara District.

The Internet Cafe attracted a large crowd of more than 5000 people, many of them school children from the various schools in Ampara District. It was a very special event for those children who previously have had no access to computers or the internet.

Professor Evan Hardy, a Canadian national, started the Hardy institute in 1956 to provide the people in Sri Lanka with technical education and training. Though Professor Hardy passed away in 1963, his vision still lives on and projects like the Internet Cafe at the Hardy Institute honour his memory.