Sports Academy
We are incredibly proud of FoG chess player Sasith Nipun Piyumantha who won the Under 16 Open Gold Medal at the Asian Youth Chess Championship 2018 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. This is the 1st time in history that a Sri Lankan player received the highest medal in any age group at an Asian Youth Championship.
12 students who train at the Bryan Adams Foundation Swimming Pool Complex participated in the 5th Annual 5km Open Water Swimming Championship organised by the Sri Lanka Aquatic Sports Union where swimmer Pranami Apeksha was able to obtain 5th place.
Community aid sports tours this month included visits by Brighton College (UK), Somerset West Cricket Club (South Africa), St. Olaves School (UK), St Benedict's College (UK), Rokeby Prep School (UK), St. Paul’s School (UK), Bourne Cricket Club (UK), James Overy Cricket Club (UK), Victoria Veterans Cricket (Australia), Kings’ College (New Zealand). 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 4th North Cricket Coaching Camp conducted by Sri Lanka's National Women's Coach Hemantha Devapriya sponsored by Tokyo Cement took place in Mannar at the St. Xavier’s Boys' College grounds with 42 boys and 24 girls participating along with 3 local coaches.
Daily fitness training was conducted for the FoG elite squad by Lakruwan Wijesiri to help improve their performance. In addition to fitness training the members of the FoG Elite Squad also attended IT and English classes to give them a more well-rounded approach to success.
Medical Centre
The Medical Centre Team conducted their monthly wellness check-ups at the Hikkaduwa, Madampagama and Wellawatta Elders’ Homes to make sure that the residents remain in good health.
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.
The Foundation of Goodness' VHE Centres in Udumulla (Galle), Rathgama (Galle), Eravur (Batticaloa), Thirukkovil (Ampara), Murukandy (Kilinochchi) and Oddusuddan (Mullaitivu) all organised special events to commemorate the Sinhala/ Tamil New Year traditions and games, taking the opportunity to have fun while also celebrating their cultural heritage.
Students of the Mathagal Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centre (Jaffna) Dress Making Class organised an exhibition and sale, putting forward their most creative designs to showcase the best of what they had learnt over the duration of the course.
Cosmetics company ‘Bellose’ conducted a special hairdressing workshop for 25 students from the Beauty Culture and Dress Making courses at the Murukandy VHE Centre (Kilinochchi) training the students in very valuable skills including hair cutting, colouring and straightening.
A 2 day workshop on LED name board designing took place at the Oddusuddan VHE Centre (Mullaitivu) training the students in new and in-demand technological skills that can create lucrative self-employment opportunities, especially in rural villages such as this which are on the brink of development and expansion.
Special Events and Donations
Stationery and cots & mattresses donated by our kind supporters were handed over to the Kalubovila Special Needs Home and Methsewa Foundation Special Needs Home in Moneragala respectively, while a number of catheters also donated to us were handed over to a deserving beneficiary.
The FoG Community Psychosocial Unit joined the Mental Health Walk initiated by Nivendra Uduman which took place from the North to the South of Sri Lanka to raise awareness about the importance of mental health.
Speech therapy training was conducted at the Zonal Education Centre for special needs teachers in the Kilinochchi District by Speech Therapist Samantha from Jellybean Foundation in a joint effort by Serendip Children’s Home, The Zonal Education Office and Foundation of Goodness.
A special Life Skills workshop was conducted for 41 students from our English class with special sessions by FoG Founder/ Chief Trustee Kushil Gunasekera, Hashi Peiris from the University of Kelaniya and the Community Psycho-social Unit.
20 FoG beneficiaries from the South and 20 beneficiaries from the North were selected to test out Dr. Leonie Solomons' ‘Ecopolicy’ game which encourages players to learn more about the intricacies of economic policy and all its nuances in a fun and engaging way to create a more aware community.
The Foundation of Goodness is delighted to have 4 volunteers with us this month from Sri Lanka, Germany and UK, all of whom are adding value to our work.
18 Village Welfare projects (which are in addition to the monthly ongoing sector programmes) amounting to Rs. 253,047/- (USD 1,602/-) 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.
