Hermenegild Joseph Fernandez

1976 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Public Service from France (worked in Sri Lanka). Bro. Hermenegild Joseph Fernandez is credited for having conceived, nurtured and developed the idea of a training for life and employment for uncared-for Sri Lankan boys. He sought to demonstrate that boys, coming from poverty-stricken families, could be taught skills so that they would be able to find employment. With meticulous planning, shrewd enlistment of local and foreign support, and efficient organization he developed a 44.53 hectare site to provide refuge and redirection for very poor, orphaned and handicapped boys, and delinquents from correctional institutions.

Bro. Hermenegild founded the Diyagala Boys’ Town to assist in every manner and extent possible the underprivileged, handicapped, orphans, single parent children, victims of war and otherwise abandoned youth of Sri Lanka, irrespective of caste, creed or race, between the ages of 15 -20 years enabling them to secure a decent place in society. Bro. Hermenegild’s legacy continuous to be the source of inspiration of the Boys’ Town (located in Ragama, Sri Lanka) as the seminal influence of his vision and dreams permeates through their activities today.