�NGOs should not be above the people they work with� our strength will flow from asking ourselves the basic questions of who we are; where do we come from; what is our rationale for being��

-Chandra de Fonseka, �NGOs: Challenges & Future Directions �(1994)

Dear ANGOC Colleagues and Friends:

The thunder left in a hush. Chandra de Fonseka, ANGOC�s former chairperson, passed away quietly last June 7,1999. His whole life was dedicated to the empowerment of the poor in his native Sri Lanka and the Asia-Pacific region.

Born on February 13,1921, Chandra was a member of the Civil Service of Sri Lanka since 1945 and held various Executive positions in the Sri Lankan government. In 1963 he joined the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome and later moved to the Regional FAO Office in Bangkok. There he was involved with programmes for the rural people of the Asia-Pacific region. He founded a local NGO named Uva Govijana Kendraya (Uva Farm People�s Centre) in November 1991 where he acted as Chairperson of the Board of Trustees until he fell ill. He retired in 1983 and settled down in Bandarawela in the hilly region of Sri Lanka and associated himself with the work of rural NGOs.�

During the last two years of his outstanding life, he suffered from a stroke that left him bedridden until his demise last June 7. His body was cremated in Colombo last June 10. He left behind his daughter Tara who is now married to Mr. Indrajith Coomaraswamy of the Commonwealth Secretariat at Marlborough House, Pall Mall, London SW 1 Y 5 MX, U.K. Kindly send your condolences at the said address c/o Mr. Coomaraswamy.

ANGOC holds Chandra de Fonseka in the highest regard and with great fondness. He was one of ANGOC�s founders and pioneers in 1979 and he took over as ANGOC chairperson for a year when Dr. Dioscoro Umali died in 1993. Chandra was also the Editor-in-Chief of� LOK NITI, ANGOC�s journal of Asian issues and initiatives for rural development. Chandra christened the journal with its name, Lok Niti, which means �people power� as against Raj Niti, which refers to state power. This Gandhian principle, according to Chandra, demonstrates �Gentle Anarchism� which could be the most valuable source of ideological strength and countervailing power for NGOs in dealing with government and the people.