AGRICULTURE AND STEM ACTIVITIES

At the Foundation of Goodness, we always aspire to deliver the highest quality of services to both our donors and beneficiaries, and this means that we are constantly reviewing and updating our activities and programmes to adopt new trends and technologies.

This is especially important given that we work in rural areas where our students are often marginalised or disenfranchised from the urban rat race and find it difficult to keep abreast of the new trends and opportunities that spring up. This is combined with our efforts to provide high quality courses and extracurricular activities that will allow our beneficiaries to reach their full potential, while also growing up as thoughtful, outgoing and strong leaders. 

To this end, we have newly introduced two very special subjects to our Empowerment Centres, the Goodness Agriculture Initiative and STEM activities which tie in to our established Children’s Good Values Initiatives and seek to broaden minds while inculcating good values and providing knowledge. 

STEM activities 

STEM activities (Science,Technology, Engineering and Math) are all the buzz in education. Kids love finding out how things work through fun, hands-on projects, while preparing for a technology-centered future. As part of FoG’s Village Heartbeat Empowerment Sectors’ 2020 vision to enhance the learning experience of our student beneficiaries, we have introduced STEM education at all our Empowerment Centres island-wide. Currently, this programme will be incorporated into the existing Science and Maths courses, with a special focus on carrying out activities related to the Goodness Agriculture Initiative. The talent and drive to learn is evident in our beneficiaries, who have already shown great enthusiasm for the new activities. 

W are already off to a promising start as young Sadeesha Dileesha from the Mahawilachchiya (Anuradhapura) VHE Centre was inspired to build his own walking robot, after watching videos about making simple robots as part of the programme.

The Goodness Agriculture Initiative

Environmental awareness is paramount in today’s world, with climate change and ever increasing pollution levels. Launched in June this year, the Goodness Agriculture Initiative is currently underway at all our Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centres (VHE) islandwide. It teaches our beneficiaries the intricacies of agriculture, gardening, Planetary Health Education and much more! 

This month, our beneficiaries got to go out to the home gardens at our Centres and have hands on experience in gardening and planting! Sri Lanka being a predominantly agriculture based economy highlights the importance of knowing the key challenges of agriculture, the best solutions and which plants are best suited for the climate in each area.

Dr. Anusha Seneviratne who volunteered at FoG designed this timely programme for us. She is a scientist currently working to help develop the Cell & Gene Therapy industry, having previously researched cardiovascular disease for 9 years and obtained a PhD from Imperial College, London. Her concern about climate change and her time at FoG inspired her to create this course and educate the children of FoG to become future world leaders in sustainability and champions of nature!

 We hope our educational endeavours continue to push our beneficiaries to reach their true potential.