A Visit to Delft Island

Located 30 Kms off the coast of Jaffna, Delft  is an isolated island consisting of just 50 km². Its current population is approximately 5,000, belonging to 1,353 families who live in poverty. It is a place where modern life does not exist beyond a few random power lines and faint 3G signals from the mainland. It is home to feral horses, the ruins of a Dutch colonial fort & other historic buildings, making it seem lost in time. The residents of the island rely on the 15-20 tourists that usually visit the island, fishing and agriculture for survival. They are in desperate need of infrastructure and support to emerge from poverty. 

The Foundation of Goodness aims to bridge the gap between rural communities, such as Delft island, and urban Sri Lanka.  Our Founder, Kushil Gunasekera and a team from FoG, visited the island on the 20th of August 2020 to meet with the NGO Humedica Lanka who had reached out to us about supporting the population on Delft Island, to look at potential new humanitarian projects. The meeting with the Delft Divisional Secretariat revealed that the residents are in urgent need of proper schools to educate their children, a constant supply of clean drinking water and access to electricity. We also discussed how the Foundation of Goodness could improve sport and tourism infrastructure on the island, in order to create sustainable sources of livelihoods for the island residents.

Our first project on the island was the donation of 100 essential grocery packs for the locals, thanks to the generous support of Dr. Sangarappillai Asokan and facilitation from Humedica.  With the most urgent need for food and nutrition taken care of, discussions are now underway for a potential Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centre on the island and a variety of other projects which will empower this under-served community. 

Click to learn more about our Village Heartbeat Empowerment Model