| March Highlights
A big thank you goes to Kadambari Jewelry by Rashantha Devanesan for organizing a sale in Singapore with proceeds directed towards supporting monthly running costs for the Foundation of Goodness’ 7th Village Heartbeat Project Empowerment Centre in Mathagal, Jaffna.
The Foundation of Goodness had a special programme for all the Women’s Enterprise & Empowerment Centre students and staff members on the 8th of March to commemorate International Women’s Day with speakers including Sociologist Dr. Shanthikumar Hettiarachchi, Financial Consultant Mr. Prithiviraj De Silva, Musician Sunil Perera and Consultant Psychiatrist Dr. Ramani Nanayakkara to pay tribute to all women. A big thank you also goes out to Anchor Milk who donated 300 packets of Milk Powder (250g each) as gifts for the ladies in attendance. The packs were handed over by the Anchor Regional Nutritionist who travelled there especially for the event.
The Spirit of Soccer 'Mine Risk Education' workshop in partnership with the Foundation of Goodness took place in Jaffna to spread awareness about mine safety through sport, to children and youth in the North and East in the aftermath of the Sri Lankan civil conflict, to ensure their safety and well being. This is the first phase of the programme during which 20 coaches were trained in mine safety messaging through soccer.
Oundle School – UK organised a fundraiser ahead of their cricket tour to Sri Lanka and raised GBP 9,000/- towards sustaining English Language Classes at the Foundation of Goodness for the period of one year. The cheque was presented by the team along with their coach, former England test cricketer John Crawley and accepted on behalf of the Foundation of Goodness by our trustee and legendary cricketer Kumar Sangakkara. The team will also play a friendly game with the FoG Sports Academy and conduct a coaching clinic towards the end on their Sri Lankan tour, in April.
Volunteers from the community aid adventure tourism company OXadventure – Kuwait spent time in Seenigama working on renovating and refurbishing the Rathgama Village Heartbeat Project Empowerment Centre, were they repainted the whole Centre in addition to donating 10 computer chairs and a lap top. This is the fifth group from OXadventure to visit FoG in Seenigama.
The annual Shelton Gunasekera Memorial Swimming Competition took place at FoG's Bryan Adams Foundation Swimming Pool Complex where all of our young swimmers had the chance to show off their talents before Chief Guest Mr. Chirantha De Zoysa, G.M. of Dialog TV & one of the late Mr. Shelton Gunasekera's grandsons. The overall winners are as follows:
A second phase of cataract surgeries are underway for rural villagers as sponsored by the Sri Lanka Association of Geneva and coordinated by Mr. Chinta Rajap from Switzerland, with 10 patients from the third batch of beneficiaries now successfully recovering their sight following the surgeries, which were carried out in partnership with Help Age.
The ‘Dance for Good’ shows held every Saturday at the Bansei Hotel in Hikkaduwa by the Goodness Rhythm Dance Troupe to raise sustainability income for FoG have now come to a close after the completion of 18 shows, with the ending of the tourist season in the South. We are very grateful to all our performers as well as the guests who helped make these shows a success.
The Lahiru pre-school teachers attended a special programme held by the government for southern-province pre-school educators where they were also presented with a collection of ‘Singithi Sara’ children's books. The preschool was also presented story books by Sakunthala Hansamali, read more about her in our ‘Success Story’ section below.
We were delighted to host students from the Asian International School Form 5 Geography Class and Elizabeth Moir School Form 3 Geography Class on their visits to Seenigama, to learn more about FoG, community aid and village life. The students also visited the Wellawatte Elders’ Home to spend time with the elderly.
Congratulations to young K. N. Thathsilu and S. P. Kumari from the FoG Elocution Class who received prizes from the Institute of Western Music and Speech for scoring 100 marks at their exams. A big congratulations also goes out to little Chamalya Hiruni who came 1st in her exam, winning this prize for the second year in a row.
Barbara Dietrich conducted her weekly physiotherapy sessions for children with special needs at the FoG Medical Centre. Meanwhile the swimming and cricket training classes introduced by her for special kids continue to take place every week along with the newly introduced dancing classes, giving the children a chance to enjoy a wider range of interests, skills and activities.
The little ones at Lahiru Pre-school held an outdoor market where they proudly presented various items brought for sale. Not only was this an exciting activity for them, it was also a fun and interesting way to learn about buying and selling.
The Community Psycho-social Unit conducted a variety of programmes this month including organizing kids’ fairs, creative activities to help children with critical thinking and skills development, counseling at the local Elders’ Homes and conducting awareness programmes on subjects such as child welfare and family happiness to various FoG sectors including the Women’s Enterprise & Empowerment Centre and Business Skills Centre.
The 7 FoG Village Heartbeat Project Empowerment Centres have also been busy this month. The Monaragala VHP organized a special kids fair and three of its students also attended an ‘Active Citizens’ training programme organised by the British Council while the Udumulla VHP organized a medical camp for all the adults attending programmes there, a beach trip for the kids and also an alms giving at the Wellawatta Elders’ Home.
The FoG Medical Centre held special clinics at the Hikkaduwa, Madampagama and Wellawatta Elders’ Homes to make sure that the residents remained in good health. These monthly wellness checks help the elderly to remain happy and comfortable even late in life.
Beneficiary community aid projects this month include a special blood donation programme organized to commemorate FoG Founder Kushil Gunasekera’s birthday, a visit to the Madamapaga Elders’ Home and temple cleaning programme by the MCC Kids Computer Class and weekly beach cleaning sessions by the MCC Children’s Goodness Club and Graphic Design students.
Talented up-and coming cricketer Haren Buddhila Weerasinghe, the highest spin bowling wicket taker in the current school cricket season, received a cricket development scholarship for the period of one year from Stassen Export Pvt. Ltd. as overseen by Mr. Brendon Kuruppu in addition to cricket equipment presented by Mr. Nick Gray- Managing Director of GRAY-NICOLLS, Melbourne, Australia. These contributions give young players with great potential the necessary support to pave the way for a successful future.
A netball coaching camp for 30 players was held at the FoG Sports Academy by National Coach Ms. Hyacinth Wijesinghe, while the Sports Academy Elite Squad received their weekly training with Victor Celestine in addition to attending special English Classes with FoG English Teacher Mrs. Abeynayaka in an effort to to aid their development through a holistic approach.
Community aid sports tours this month included visits by the Ontario Cricket Academy – Canada, Leys School – UK, Portsmouth School – UK and the British Army Air Corps. The British Army and Lays School teams also donated cricket equipment to the Sports Academy to help develop rural cricket. The friendly matches are a valuable experience for the local and visiting teams because of the opportunity to play and learn from each other.
Our ongoing monthly projects include Recycling4Smiles bi-weekly oral hygiene programmes made possible by Sonali Ranaweera- the remarkable teenager from USA who has now sponsored over 2,500 rural kids to enhance oral care and hygiene, which is a great achievement & an example for us all and the sponsorship towards the Navodaya Centre for Special Children by FoG Trustee Muthiah Muralidaran. Such projects provide ongoing care to ensure the continued well-being of a wide cross section of beneficiaries.
The Foundation of Goodness is delighted to have 30 volunteers with us this month from UK, Germany and Kuwait all of whom are adding value to our work.
12 Village Welfare projects (which are in addition to the monthly ongoing sector programmes) amounting to Rs. 63,648 (USD 450/-) divided among areas such as healthcare, education, elders' care and general welfare were facilitated this month to uplift the living standards of rural villagers to ease their burden in addition to the ongoing campus style of operation in place.
TOTAL BENEFICIARIES
17+ years in the South : 310,000+
6+ years in the North and East: 34,000+
Our concept is followed by interested viewers from 50 countries.
Major Upcoming Events:
17 international cricket teams will visit the FoG Sports Academy next month for community aid sports tours.
AXA Group from Spain to visit the MCC Centre of Excellence and Sports Academy - Seenigama in April to learn more about charity & development as well as enjoy a variety of local immersion programmes and fun activities.
Ugandan coaches to visit the Foundation of Goodness in April for further training & development to establish standards in setting up their cricket & sports management academy funded by Peter Yobo.
The Harrow School (UK) Fundraiser and Community Aid Sports Tour to take place in July 2017.
Richard Huish College (UK) Community Aid Sports Tour to take place in July 2017.
FoG's 8th Village Heartbeat Project Empowerment Centre to be established in Oddusuddan (Mullaitivu) in partnership with SriLankan Cares (the CSR arm of SriLankan Airlines) with discussions underway for a 9th Centre in Kilinochchi.
Magic Bus - India year long programme in collaboration with FoG on 'Leadership through Sports' (2017).
Rural pre-school development & expansion in Ambanpula, Anuradhapura.
New and innovative enterprise avenues for sustainable income generation underway to attain self-sustainability by the year 2020.
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