A groundbreaking ceremony for Jogye Order’s Welfare Town in Sri Lanka was held on March 5th in Pasala, with the President of the Jogye Order, Jikwan, about 80 concerned persons, the Patriarch of the Asigiriya Order, and 300 other people attending.

Ven. Jikwan expressed his appreciation: "Jogye Order’s Welfare Town is the result of combining Korean Buddhists’ warm hearts and Sri Lankan’s strong minds to recover from tremendous disaster." He added, "This Town is to help children who lost their parents during the tsunami, for their education and self support. I am elated that we could build this Welfare Town in this sacred place, and I am thankful to the Sri Lankan government for that.

Order President Ven. Jigwan visiting the President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, on the 6th

"I think Ven. Jikwan’s visiting Sri Lanka in Buddha era 2550 is the same as Buddha’s visiting. I am pretty positive that the diplomatic relationship of the two countries, as well as that of the religious part of the two countries, is being strongly increased."

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who’s leading 2 million Sri Lankan people, promised Ven. Jikwan that, "we will provide complete support for the satisfactory completion of the Welfare Town, which is expected to be finished by March next year," while having a conversation about the Jogye Order’s Welfare Town and the improvement of friendship between the two countries.

When hearing that the Jogye Order is going to run a permanent center for teaching Korean to Sri Lankan workers who want to go to Korea, the President of Sri Lanka said, "It’s a great idea. I totally agree with the idea of establishing Korean classes." He also promised that he will pay continuous attention and support to the building of the Welfare Town and running the Korean language educational institute.