Tuesday Nov 26, 2024
Tuesday Nov 26, 2024
Wednesday, 16 October 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The ceremony was conducted under the patronage of First Lady Shiranthi Wickramasinghe Rajapaksa where awards were presented to 23 young adults selected out of 3200 participants enrolled in the network. The project recognised the student leaders for their exemplary efforts in fostering unity, integration, healing and peace-building. 
‘Ray of Hope’ inaugurated in December 2011, provided the platform to the talented youth strewn across various parts of the island and the program brought their amazing talents into the lime light through a colourful fusion of mind, culture and talent.
Ekamuthu Oray Makkal Unity Mission Trust overview
The trust is a legally executed non-profit trust made up of a group of professionals and like-minded people committed to contribute towards fostering unity, reconciliation and healing particularly amongst and between the children of the north, south and elsewhere in Sri Lanka.
The Unity team is currently structured as a voluntary organisation with a pool of around 30 volunteers available to support ground level projects. In addition the Unity Team also has in affiliation a group of senior consultant and other qualified doctors numbering around 35 persons available to conduct medical camps and or be involved on site as is needed, during the conduct of Unity camps.
Its mission is to reach out to children particularly of the north and east of Sri Lanka to provide leadership training, personal capacity enhancement and foster growth of self-confidence in order to facilitate national unity, reconciliation and integration between children of all areas of Sri Lanka, on the basis that children are our nation’s most precious resource and foster the belief and acceptance that all children are equal sons and daughters of a united and beautiful Mother Lanka.
Its vision is to foster and facilitate national unity, reconciliation, integration and healing amongst and between children of the north, Wanni, south, central, east and other areas of Sri Lanka.
More information about the trust and its future programs could be found on their website www.unitymission.lk or by consulting them at No. 137/6, Kalalgoda Road, Pannipitiya.
Unity Mission Trust to host Unity Camp 6 at Killinochchi from 17 to 20 October
This October in Killinochchi, 500 student leaders from all over the island will gather; they have been nominated by their respective school to attend the 6th Unity Camp hosted by Ekamuthu Oray Makal Unity Mission Trust. The camp will be conducted from 17 to 20 October 2013, and will also have over 40 teachers and 60 volunteers (most of who are past campers) in attendance.
The Unity Mission Trust has been in existence since May 2009 and is a registered non-profit trust that is dedicated to fostering unity, integration, healing and reconciliation between the war affected teenagers and young adults in the Wanni area and their peers from all over of Sri Lanka.
The Unity Mission Team has pioneered and built up the concept of the conduct of multi-day residential overnight leadership development, capacity building and personality development oriented program; that aims to foster unity, integrations, and healing as part of a unique leadership program. These are known as the Unity Camps, and from 17 to 20 October, will happen for the 6th consecutive time, the previous camps having taken place in Colombo, Mullaithivu, Mannar, Tharanikkulam and Kandy.
The Unity Mission Trust is governed by a Board of Trustees, all of whom are recognised professionals and counts over 4000 students who are now linked together in a network of Unity. More information on can be obtained from the website www.unitymission.com.
The content of the camp will include leadership and personal capacity building sessions, sports activities, oratory, drama, music and singing competitions, art and craft workshop, team building and mind development activities.
The Unity team is currently structured as a voluntary organisation with a pool of around 60 volunteers available to support ground level projects. In addition the Unity Mission Trust Team also has in affiliation a group of senior consultants, most of who are retired education officers who have volunteered their time towards the work of Unity Mission Trust.
Unity Mission Trust has also in September of this year launched the ‘Power One Hundred’ program which was a tailor-made program for young student leaders from across the country that had just completed their A/Levels. This was done alongside the Inaugural National Unity and Integration Awards the first of its kind that recognised personal efforts and contributions made through UMT projects in fostering unity, integration and reconciliation.
The awards also identified those who proffered significant improvements through performing and visual arts towards the accomplishment of UMT’s objectives. The chief guest of the colourful awards ceremony, captioned as “Ray of Hope 2” was none other than the First Lady of Sri Lanka Shiranthi Wickramasinghe Rajapaksa.
Further, UMT encourages and partakes in the development of the skills of these young leaders so they will then understand and accept their status as equal sons and daughters of a beautiful Mother Lanka and move forward united as one to build a new Sri Lanka, a Sri Lanka that has the strength of all its people, heralding in the most wonderful part of our history.
Pix Lasantha Kumara
