Mahawilachchiya Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centre (VHE)

We are excited to welcome our newest Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centre in Mahawilachchiya to the Foundation of Goodness family!

Mahawilachchiya is a remote village situated in the Anuradhapura District and the new Centre will be helping 300 beneficiaries, through a BPO centre, pre-school and after school classes all provided free-of-charge to the villagers.

Founder and Chief Trustee of FoG Kushil Gunasekera and Ms. Lovina Charles of Charles Education Centre UK signed the MOU handing over the operations of the Centre to the Foundation of Goodness.

“The Centre here is amazing, you’ve done such a good job and the children are wonderful. The whole experience was just beautiful.” said OYOBTuk Tuk Rider Mary Ignatidis speaking of their visit to the Mahawilachchiya VHE Centre. Funds raised by the 2019 OYOB Tuk Tuk Ride, goes towards conducting some of the classes for the beneficiaries of Mahawilachchiya for one year in addition to the support the Centre receives from the Charles Family.

The Centre currently conducts English and Tamil language classes as well as Computer Science and Dress making classes. We have also introduced our Children’s Good Values Initiative to the Centre, where children engage in group activities that empowers them to give back to society and pass on the kindness they have received.

The pre-school is a one of kind for the area, providing quality early-childhood education for the villagers. The pre-school as well as all other services are available for the community free-of-charge. The goal of the Centre is to empower rural Sri Lankans to have equal opportunities with their counterparts in the city.

FoG Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centre Model

FoG originally started its community aid rural development initiatives in 1999 and subsequently the first Village Heartbeat Project in Udumulla was set up in 2007 as an experiment to alleviate poverty in a cost effective method of learning for empowerment  of disadvantaged communities.

Today it has extended to 09 more locations island wide i.e. Rathgama. Monaragala, Eravur, Thirukkovil, Mathagal (Jaffna) and Oddusudan in Mullaitivu, Murukandy,Bandarawela and Mahawilachchiya.

A Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centre is a rural community development model that can be replicated in rural villages across the Island. It is designed to empower local people through the provision of services vital to the community in one location at the heart of the village. All programmes conducted by VHE Centres are free of charge and are taught by qualified teachers. Overseas volunteers work with them to develop new skills and these classes are open to all who wish to attend from the villages and surrounding areas.  The centres are also used as venues for public meetings in the villages and this concept is becoming very popular in and around its vicinity.