Sri Lanka Tourism launches Community Aid Tourism with Olympic medal winner

Melissa Franklin training the swimmers at Seenigama in the swimming pool donated by the top international pop star Bryan Adams after a tsunami destroyed the village in 2004

Melissa Franklin contributing $ 1 to the purchase a tree as part of her commitment to making her visit carbon neutral

From left: Foundation of Goodness Chairman Kushil Gunesekera, Olympic swimming Gold medal winner and World Record holder Melissa Franklin, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Chairman Rohantha Athukorala and SLTPB Director Gayathri Dassanayake endorsing the One Million Tree Stories project

Sri Lanka Tourism launched its Community Aid Tourism project in Sri Lanka – ‘Goodness for Hope’ – which was set in the beautiful rural village of Seenigama in the presence of four-time Olympic medal winner and 11-time World Swimming Champion Melissa Franklin.

The Founder and Chairman of Foundation of Goodness Kushil Gunesekera said: “Today we attract the best names in the world and hence give opportunity to the talent of this rural village which is the power of empowerment”.

“The twenty-year-old swimming great Melissa Franklin is endorsed by global sports giant Laureus Sports who accompanied the swimming sensation of the US ensuring that the event will reach 200 million viewers globally,” said Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Chairman Rohantha Athukorala said.

Melissa Jeanette Franklin currently holds the world record in the 200-metre backstroke and American records in both the 100-metre and 200-metre backstroke apart from being the US world record holder in the 4×100-metre medley. Franklin’s successes have earned her Swimming World’s World Swimmer of the Year and the American Swimmer of the Year award in 2012. In total, she has won twenty-seven medals in international competition.

Franklin held training sessions for the local swimmers as part of her visit while endorsing the One Million Tree Stories project.

Gunesekera was the man behind the concept of Community Aid Tourism. A new concept of travel for those people wanting a holiday that is a little bit different than the archetypal two weeks on a poolside sun lounger. “We’ve realised that more people are open to the idea of a few days relaxing and a few days participating in really good grassroots community projects like the Foundation of Goodness,” he said. 

"What is unique about Seenigama is that we see rural men and women learning web and graphic designing, electrical wiring, dress making, hair styling, English language and business development skills; mothers and their infants attending the paediatric clinic; the village U13 cricket team playing against another school in the magnificent Seenigama Oval – built with the assistance of Surrey CCC – that has been built alongside a 23-metre swimming pool donated by Bryan Adams."