Minister Gurukularajah visits Foundation of Goodness MCC Centre of Excellence, Seenigama

Minister Gurukalarajah presents Kushil Gunasekera of FoG with the cheque from Oru Paanai Trust

Minister Gurukalarajah with Kushil Gunasekera and FoG Tamil Teacher K. Varshavithane

Northern Province Minister of Education Cultural Affairs and Sports Thambyrajah Gurukularajah with Foundation of Goodness Founder Trustee Kushil Gunasekera – pic by Sanjay Pathmanathan

The Foundation of Goodness hosted a historic visit by Northern Province Minister of Education Cultural Affairs and Sports Minister Thambyrajah Gurukularajah at the Foundation of Goodness MCC Centre of Excellence in Seenigama on Saturday 12 December. Gurukularajah participated in a special North/South exchange of school supplies packs as part of the FoG Essential School Supplies Program for the 2016 school year as well as visiting FoG’s 30 empowerment sectors in action, including the Seenigama Sports Academy.

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 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. 

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, utilising 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.

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 programs as distribution of 3,700 bikes, livelihood programs, 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 and medical care and the annual Murali Harmony Cup Cricket Tournament which has taken place across five venues in the North since 2012.

The distribution of these school packs are part of the Foundation of Goodness’s Essential School Supplies Program (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 from 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.