September Highlights
The 5th edition of the Murali Harmony Cup took place from the 20th – 25th September across 5 venues in the North, with FoG trustees and legendary cricketers Muthiah Muralidaran, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena in attendance to motivate and advice the 16 boys’ teams and 8 ladies’ teams that participated from all across the island, with Nittambuwa Ladies and Mahinda College- Galle taking home the ladies and boys’ trophies respectively.
Cricket scholarships sponsored by the Patsy & Norbert Mellawa Scholarship Fund were handed over to outstanding young players from the north in Under 13, Under 15, Under 17 and Under 19 categories by Hon. T. Gurukularajah, Northern Province Minister of Education, Cultural Affairs and Sports with Ranjan Mellawa and Christine Seneviratne also in attendance during the final day of the Murali Harmony Cup 2016 in Kilinochchi. Cricket bags were also distributed to five schools in Kilinochchi to help develop school cricket in the north.
Netball Australia partnered with the Foundation of Goodness to deliver a two phase training programme in the North and South of Sri Lanka. Phase one took place in the south for 10 netball coaches from the north and south and the second phase was in the north for the netball teams trained by these coaches with 120 individuals participating. The training included leadership programmes conducted by the National Peace Council and a motivational lecture by Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala, the first Sri Lankan to summit Mt. Everest. The coaching programme was conducted by Olivia and Stephanie from Netball Australia.
25 students from St. Rock Maha Vidyalayam and Kanagarathnam Maha Vidyalayam accompanied by 2 teachers visited Colombo from the 16th – 18th September as sponsored by the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka to attend an SOSL concert and expand their experiences through travel and sightseeing.
The 8 international teams participating in the Red Bull World Campus Cricket Tournament visited the Foundation of Goodness in Seenigama and played a friendly match with the Sports Academy players.
The Asia Foundation Fellows for the year 2016, including Heima Sritharan who is assigned to volunteer with the Foundation of Goodness visited the MCC Centre of Excellence and Sports Academy in Seenigama to gain a more in-depth understanding of the wide variety of programmes carried out by the Foundation of Goodness in its efforts to uplift rural communities and bridge the gap between the rural and urban sector.
The Unity Mission Trust Youth Leader Programme took place at the Foundation of Goodness MCC Centre of Excellence in Seenigama and FoG Founder/ Trustee Kushil Gunasekera and Head of Project Management Fazana Ibrahim both conducted discussion panels with the 30 youth in attendance.
Bendigo Bank's 2nd Fundraiser in Australia, 'Showcasing Sri Lankan Culture to Melbourne' ahead of their charity bike ride across Sri Lanka starting 24th October was a great success and helped them surpass their fundraising goal.
Milan Fernando conducted a diabetic foot-care clinic in Seenigama at the FoG Medical Centre and treated 7 patients.
A second phase of cataract surgeries are underway for rural beneficiaries as sponsored by the Sri Lanka Association of Geneva, with 9 patients from the first batch of patients successfully recovering their sight following the surgeries, which were carried out in partnership with Help Age.
A store room was constructed for the use of the staff and residents of Madampagama Elders’ Home with the kind sponsorship of Andy Walder to help improve the lives of all the residents.
Minura Malinda who used to be a member of the Children’s Goodness Club returned to conduct a hand-crafts workshop for the current CGC members, and his kind sentiment is deeply appreciated by all at the Foundation of Goodness.
54 students graduated from the IT courses offered at the Oddusuddan IT Centre. To read more about our activities in the North, please click> North Journey So Far. We are presently looking for partners to collaborate with us as per the various sectors mentioned in the North Learning & Empowerment Centre Master Plan.
Students from the FoG elocution class underwent the Spoken English Examination at the Institute of Western Music and Speech, Colombo and we are delighted to announce that 18 of the 20 participants received honour passes while the remaining 2 individuals received merit passes.
The Community Psycho-social Unit conducted a variety of programmes including an early child development information session for the pre-school teachers, a community aid programme for expectant mothers where they gifted them with nutritious foods and baby items, and a programme for the Balapitiya Girls’ Home about good hygiene practices and unity. All these programmes are aimed at developing the local community.
The Women’s Enterprise & Empowerment Centre Cookery Class students visited the Udawalawa Grand Hotel as part of their coursework to gain practical experience.
The Seenigama, Akurala, Kahawa, Udumulla and Rathgama Chidlren’s Goodness Clubs united to participate in a General Knowledge competition to test their knowledge against each other and learn more in the process.
The Udumulla Children's Goodness Club had a special leadership programme and educational session with FoG Founder/ Chief Trustee Kushil Gunasekera on life values.
Seenigama Ladies defeated the Palink Ladies at the Ladies Division 2 Finals and have now qualified as a Division 1 team which is a great accomplishment for the Foundation of Goodness.
Special training for the Sports Academy this month includes Hemantha Devapriya’s monthly coaching camp sponsored by Tokyo Cement for 24 cricketers, fitness training conducted by Victor Celestine from Nigeria on four days of the week for all FoG sports squads and a special swimming training session by Mathew Barber who also donated swimming equipment to the Sports Academy.
Community aid sports tours this month saw the Gateway International School test their skills against the FoG Sports Academy Team. These friendly matches are a valuable experience for both teams because of the opportunity to play and learn from each other.
Special Beneficiary programmes conducted this month included a special donation made by the MCC IT students to help a beneficiary from Galle obtain a prosthetic arm, monthly visits to the Wellawatta and Madampagama Elders’ Homes by the Medical Centre Staff, a visit to an Elders’ home by the MCC and Aviva Kids Computer Class students and beach & temple cleaning programmes by the Children’s Goodness Clubs, MCC IT course students and the Diving & Training Centre students.
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 2,000 kids to enhance oral care and hygiene (click to read more about Sonali), the sponsorship towards the Navodaya Centre for Special Children by FoG Trustee Muthiah Muralidaran and monthly grocery packs donated by the Elizabeth & Nicholas Nainani Foundation & Nature’s Goodness (click to read more) and Gemma Nolan towards families in need and Elders' Homes, respectively. Such projects provide ongoing care to ensure the continued well-being of a wide cross section of beneficiaries.
FoG donors have gifted various items to benefit rural kids and youth including 50 grammar books donated to the Gandara Village Heartbeat Project by the Deen Brothers and other reading & study material donated by various sponsors which were distributed amongst Anagarika Dharmapala Maha Vidyalaya and Sri Wimala Buddhi Maha Vidyalaya to improve the lives of rural beneficiaries.
The Foundation of Goodness is delighted to have 4 volunteers with us this month from Sri Lanka, France and Saudi Arabia, all of whom are adding value to our work.
73 Village Welfare projects (which are in addition to the monthly ongoing expenditure) amounting to Rs. 2,231,750/- (USD 15,150/-) divided among areas such as healthcare, scholarships, education, electricity, 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
16+ years in the South : 300,000+
5+ years in the North and East: 28,000+
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Major Upcoming Events:
Fundraising for the FoG Essential School Supplies Programme for the 2017 school year has now begun. 1 school pack containing everything from uniform material, shoes, books, stationery, lunch box, water bottle and school bag costs only USD 30/-. Click here to DONATE.
Upcoming community aid sports tours from 3 overseas teams to visit the FoG Sports Academy in October.
Elizabeth Moir School is the first ever international school to introduce the Good Values Initiative to their students in partnership with the Foundation of Goodness.
Trauma counseling to begin in October for the Aranayake landslide survivors.
Magic Bus, India to visit FoG Sports Academy in October.
Micro-Finance grants to be presented to 25 rural villagers in October by Lions Club (20 grants) and Givers League International- USA (5 grants).
2 Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Plants sponsored by the PMTT Charity Ride will be handed over to the villagers of Mullekumbura, Buththala and Kallanchiya, Galnewa in October.
The Foundation of Goodness supports the 'Trail' walk (commencing October 6th), both in the Seenigama region as well as in the North as they walk across the island in aid of cancer treatment and in support of their outstanding Tellippalai Trail Cancer Hospital in Jaffna.
Bendigo Bank (Australia) Charity Bike Ride from the North to the South of Sri Lanka to take place from 24th - 28th October- 2016, including the distribution of 100 bikes to take place on the 23rd.
PUNCHLINE: Live Stand Up Comedy Show to benefit the Foundation of Goodness to take place on 25th November at the Ananda College Kularatne Hall, Colombo.
Decathlon beach games to be introduced in Seenigama.
FoG’s 7th Village Heartbeat Centre to be introduced in Mathagal (North) end 2016.
Proposed establishment of a new Elders' Home in the Seenigama Region.
Rural pre-school development & expansion in Ambanpula, Anuradhapura and pre-school renovation in Welikanda.
Development of the Foundation of Goodness North Learning & Empowerment Institute in the north.
New and innovative enterprise avenues for sustainable income generation underway to attain self-sustainability by the year 2020.
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