'It's the least that I could do,' says Tamil business owner after $2M
donation to UofT Scarborough
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/it-s-the-least-that-i-could-do-says-tamil-businessowner-after-2m-donation-to-uoft-scarborough-1.3947384
Donation from Ravi Gukathasan, CEO of Digital Speciality Chemicals, will
help fund Tamil studies
In the middle of Canada's first Tamil Heritage Month, a Scarborough
business owner — one of the University of Toronto Scarborough's earliest
Tamil alumni — has given his alma mater a $2 million donation to fund
Tamil studies.
"It's the least that I could do," Ravi Gukathasan, CEO of
Scarborough-based Digital Speciality Chemicals, told CBC's Metro Morning.
The donation will fund an annual post-doctural fellowship, scholarships,
a programming fund, and a digital fund.
Tamil one of world's oldest languages
Helping support the use of Tamil — one of the oldest languages still in
use today — is a cause close to Gukathasan's heart.
Originally from a farming village "with no electricity" in Sri Lanka,
Gukathasan left with his family for England when he was 14, but still
tries to speak the Tamil language whenever he can in Scarborough — the
area he now calls home with his wife and two teenagers.
"My children laugh at me," he said. "I drive through Tim Hortons or a
gas station, the minute I see a person, I know they're Tamil, and I
start speaking to them in Tamil."
Tamil community 'becoming its own'
While some languages disappear, Gukathasan wants to ensure Tamil sticks
around. And he thinks it will, with Scarborough's strong Tamil community
"making a mark."
"The community is becoming its own in Canada," he said.
He also hopes the donation is inspiring for the next generation of
students, who might look to Gukathasan as someone who went from a small
village to running his own company.
"The main thing I'm hoping is they're going to say to themselves, 'Hey,
if he can do it, I can do it too.'"
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