The Foundation of Goodness’ 10th Village Heartbeat Empowerment (VHE) Centre opened its doors on Sunday 1st July 2018. Situated in Bindunuwewa- Bandarawela District, this marks the Foundation's first VHE Centre in the central region of the island, following the establishment of three Centres in the South, three in the East and three more in the North, in a steady progression.
The Centre was declared open by renowned Sri Lankan cricketer Mr. Sidath Wettimuny. We also wish to salute the Wijesuriya Family from UK who gifted ‘Farleigh’, their beautiful ancestral property, as the location to establish this Centre as well as Mr. & Mrs. Mohan and Geetha Chandramohan from USA, the development sponsors for a period of 5 years, helping us deliver these valuable services which will help uplift the surrounding under-served communities.
You can now book a ‘Plates of Goodness’ experience to learn more about traditional Sri Lankan cooking at the Foundation of Goodness via Airbnb. Click here to see more.
Lahiru Pre-school celebrated its 13th anniversary this month with a special almsgiving providing a delicious meal for the residents of a nearby elders’ home. The Pre-school is currently sponsored by the Elizabeth and Nicholas Nainani Foundation under the guidance of Sapan Nainani. These outstanding acts of generosity are spearheaded by Sapan Nainani who is leading by example, creating a longstanding legacy for his children Elizabeth and Nicholas who recently made a very special donation to the Foundation of Goodness in honour of Fathers’ Day, understanding at such a young age how important it is to help others in need.
Melinda Chomley from Australia who volunteered at the Foundation of Goodness in 2015 returned once more this month accompanied by her son to teach him more about her experiences at FoG. During her visit, she also conducted a workshop on CPR for the Seenigama Diving & Training Centre students.
Dr. Gaithri Fernando conducted a special workshop with the FoG Community Psycho-social Unit on therapy and intervention to help people dealing with issues such as domestic violence and alcohol abuse. The CPU Unit has ongoing training sessions such as this with professionals in the field of psychology and counselling so that they are well equipped to take on all situations encountered through their work.
The Erepola Sri Mahinda School (Eheliyagoda) dancing & drumming team approached the Foundation of Goodness for help purchasing three drums in order to develop the impressive talents of their students. Following the handing over of the drums by the Foundation of Goodness, we are proud to announce that the team have obtained 1st place in their category at the National Schools Drumming & Drama Competition.
Stationery was donated to the Mirihandi Special Needs Home and Navodya Special needs Home in Colombo District as part of FoG’s efforts with long-standing donor Dr. Nagendran to improve special needs education all across Sri Lanka. Special support was also extended to the Zonal Level Special Needs Children’s Sports Meet in Kilinochchi when they needed help securing ground rent and t-shirts for the event in order to make it a great experience. Additionally, special needs training material donated by Serendip Foundation (UK) were handed over to special needs units at 5 government schools in Kilinochchi and Jaffna.
Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centres:
The Foundation of Goodness Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centres are designed to empower rural disadvantaged villagers, especially through English and IT which are essential to reduce the levels of poverty. Other programmes also include life skills & values, educational subjects, vocational training and sports to help them make better progress overcoming the disparity between the urban and rural communities.
While the milestone 10th VHE Centre opened in Bandarawela on 1st July all our other Centres were buzzing with activity all through the month of June.
- A special Good Values Workshop took place at the Mathagal VHE Centre (Jaffna)
- The students from the Udumulla VHE Centre (Galle) visited Labuduwa Farm House to learn more about agriculture & animal husbandry
- Select students at the Mathagal VHE (Jaffna) participated in a one-day palmyrah weaving workshop
- The Oddusuddan VHE Centre’s Children’s Good Values Initiative (Mullaitivu) planted a home garden while the Rathgama VHE Centre (Galle) Celebrated World Environment Day by planting trees.
- The Chunnakam Ambal Volleyball Team visited the Murukandy VHE Centre (Kilinochchi) and enjoyed a rousing game of volleyball with our students.
- The Women’s Empowerment students at the Gandara VHE Centre (Matara) organised a special programme at the Thalalla Elders’ Home where they spent time with the elderly and handed over a variety of gifts
- The Udumulla VHE (Galle) beneficiaries took the time to visit a local elders' home and spend time cheering them up.
- Special community clean-ups organised by the Centres this month included the Thirukkovil (Ampara) and Eravur (Batticaloa) beneficiary’s conducting a special clean up at their local Kovil. Meanwhile, in an effort to keep their Centres looking beautiful, the Mathagal VHE Centre (Jaffna) beneficiaries cleared up their premises and the members of the Children’s Good Values Initiative at the Rathgama VHE Centre (Galle) joined together to repaint their play park equipment.
Sports
- Congratulations to the FoG Swimmers who participated in the XLIV National Sports Festival Games Inter-District Open Swimming Competition – 2018 on their winning performances including Yasindu Kavishani who won 1st place at all three of her events (100m Freestyle, 50m Freestyle, 50m Breast Stroke) and Gavindu Kavishka who placed 1st in the 1,500m Freestyle event.
- Congratulations to FoG swimmer Pranami Apeksha who practices diligently at the Bryan Adams Swimming Pool Complex and was selected to participate in the 5km swimming championship to be held in the Maldives.
- The Foundation of Goodness Cricket team were able to advance as far as the semi-finals at the Red Bull Campus Cricket Tournament - Sri Lanka, which took place over the month of June.
- A big congratulations to our young Karate students who participated in the Galle District Karate-Do Championship where A. H. Chasith Salitha won 1st place at the Male Kumite (30 Kg) event and L. W. Vidul Hansana won 1st place at the Male Kata (25 Kg) event.
- Table Tennis player Sanduni Prabuddhika participated in the Maheepala Herath Open All Island Ranking Table Tennis Championship 2018 and obtained the U18 Runner-Up position.
- The monthly cricket coaching camp by Hemantha Devapriya sponsored by Tokyo Cement was conducted for 36 cricketers and 7 coaches at the Sports Academy in Seenigama while the 7th North/East Coaching Camp took place in Batticaloa with 60 students and 2 coaches participating
- National Netball Coach Hyancinth Wijeratne conducted a full day coaching camp for our netball players.
- Regular weekly training takes place for the members of the Sports Academy Elite Squad with Lakruwan Wijesiri.
- Community aid sports tours this month included visits by Melbourne High School (Australia), Croire Cricket Academy (India) and Michael House College (South Africa). These friendly matches are a valuable experience for the local and visiting teams because of the opportunity to play and learn from each other.
The Medical Centre Team conducted their monthly wellness check-ups at the Madampagama, Hikkaduwa and Wellawatta Elders’ Homes to make sure that the residents remain in good health while the Dental Clinic continues its monthly oral care programmes introduced by American teenager Sonali Ranaweera’s Recycling4Smiles initiative.
Community aid programmes conducted by our beneficiaries this month included a visit to an elders home by the students of the Women's Enterprise & Empowerment Centre, a special clean-up session at the Sports Academy by the Karate students and weekly beach cleaning sessions by the Diving & Training Centre students.
12 Village Welfare projects (which are in addition to the monthly ongoing sector programmes) amounting to Rs. 47,550/- (USD 300/-) divided among areas such as healthcare, education 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.
