Visit of Northern Province Minister of Education Cultural Affairs and Sports, Honourable Minister Thambyrajah Gurukularajah to the Foundation of Goodness MCC Centre of Excellence, Seenigama
The Foundation of Goodness hosted a historic visit by Northern Province Minister of Education Cultural Affairs and Sports, Honourable Minister Thambyrajah Gurukularajah at the Foundation of Goodness MCC Centre of Excellence in Seenigama on Saturday the 12th of December. Mr. Gurukularajah participated in a special North/ South exchange of school supplies packs as part of the FoG Essential School Supplies Programme for the 2016 school year as well as visiting FoG’s 30 empowerment sectors in action, including the Seenigama Sports Academy.
Northern Province Minister of Education Cultural Affairs and Sports, Honourable Thambyrajah Gurukularajah with Kushil Gunasekera, Founder Trustee, Foundation of Goodness- Pic by Sanjay Pathmanathan-.JPG
To mark the occasion of this visit, the Foundation of Goodness facilitated the exchange of school bags for the Southern and North/ Eastern communities, with a cheque for 300 school packs being presented to the Foundation of Goodness by the Oru Paanai Trust under the guidance of the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia Mr. Somasundaram Skandakumar to benefit children in the South whilst in return, the Foundation of Goodness presented a cheque for 633 school packs to be distributed in to the North, East and Estate Community school children.
Mr. Gurukularajah was fascinated to witness how vast FoG’s activities were and deeply impressed to see that the tsunami funding had been put to such good use in creating a holistic, one of a kind development model village which rose out of devastation to be so successful today. He was also especially touched by the focus on inculcating good values in children to create a brighter future. The Minister was very enthusiastic to replicate this model in the same way in the north, utilizing funding generated for redevelopment after the war, which is exactly what the Foundation of Goodness seeks to do by constructing the North Learning and Empowerment Institute in the Mankulam region, providing free of charge services to rural villagers in the northern region to help them rebuild their lives speedily following decades of conflict.
Minister Gurukalarajah-presents-school-bags-to-young-children-from-FoG-lahiru-pre-school.jpg-minister-gurukalarajah-presents-kushil-gunasekera-of-fog-with-the-cheque-from-oru-paanai-trust-at-the-fog-sports-academy.jpg December 27, 2015
The Minister’s visit demonstrated true reconciliation in action, rather than simply research but for productive action, as it was in reciprocation to 60 consecutive monthly visits to the north by the Foundation of Goodness, carrying out humanitarian and development activities since January 2011 touching the lives of over 25,000 beneficiaries through such programmes as distribution of 3,700 bikes, livelihood programmes, sports training and development, essential home items, agricultural provisions, schools development projects, relief aid, women’s empowerment, water and sanitation, village development, IT Trainings, psycho social & medical care and the annual Murali Harmony Cup Cricket Tournament which has taken place across 5 venues in the North since 2012.
The distribution of these school packs are part of the Foundation of Goodness’s Essential School Supplies Programme (ESSP) which has now been active for over 15 years, during which time we have deliver 25,000 school supplies packs to children all across the island.
The Foundation of Goodness (FoG) was established in 1999 to bridge the gap between the rural and urban populations. Operating principally out of Seenigama, the devastation caused by the 2004 Tsunami was a great challenge to overcome, which was seen as a chance to turn a setback in to a blessing by rebuilding the village even better. Establishing the MCC Centre of Excellence and adding a Sports Complex, Diving and Training Centre and three outlying Village Heartbeat Projects the Foundation grew to deliver humanitarian services to over 30,000 beneficiaries fr over 75 villages in the region annually, free of cost, via its 30 productive empowerment sectors as well as not operating in the North, East and other parts of the country.
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ALSO SEE
“Ordinary Perera, Nadarajah and Bandara: Hands, Feet and Donations across the Length and Breadth of Sri Lanka,” October 5, 2015 ……. https://thuppahis.com/2015/10/05/ordinary-perera-nadarajah-and-bandara-hands-feet-and-donations-across-the-length-and-breadth-of-sri-lanka/………
I = SEE & Listen to https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XGaos9NO5jE&sns=tw …….How A Walk Healed A Nation | Nathan Sivagananathan & Sarinda Unamboowe | TEDxColombo….TEDx Talks……2,912,917……14,688
