CLUB NORD-SUD from Canada visits FoG

Club Nord- Sud (Club North- South) from Canada is an organization founded in 1994 which allows students from the Cégep de Victoriaville junior-college in Quebec to develop their awareness by living and immersing themselves in the life of those from the southern hemisphere in an effort to develop solidarity and international cooperation.

Their main aim is to integrate with community life, going beyond simply being an observer and becoming a true ‘citizen for a month’ to create within these participants an openness to new realities enshrined in international awareness.

In late May, a group from Club Nord-Sud consisting of 14 students and 3 supervisors arrived at the Foundation of Goodness MCC Centre of Excellence in Seenigama to dive into village life and get an in depth understanding of a monumental project which, through its holistic approach to development, uplifted a village from the devastation of poverty and a natural disaster.

The great thing about having such a wide array of activity sectors at FoG is that it gave the individuals an opportunity to select an area that they were most passionate about, and dedicate their time and effort to one or more of these chosen sectors, while coming together as a team to work on areas that held a common interest.

Each student worked in a minimum of four sectors located at the MCC Centre of Excellence, the Seenigama Sports Academy or the Udumulla and Rathgama Village Heartbeat Centres in sectors such as the Medical Centre, Pre-school, IT Sector, Community Psycho-social Unit, Women’s Enterprise & Empowerment courses such as cookery and beauty culture, English Language Teaching, and Sports such as Swimming and Badminton. Everyone helped out working with the Boys’ and Girls’ Orphanages, aged care projects visiting the Elders’ Homes and weekly beach cleaning projects.

The volunteers had a wonderful time working in the village, and over the course of their month with us, they truly became a part of the community. When it was time to say goodbye, they continued to give back to the community, gifting chairs to the Elders’ Home, volleyballs and a net for the orphanage, medical items to the Medical Centre, and donations to help repair pre-school play items and to pay for the water and electricity for the Elders’ Home.

We truly enjoyed having this group volunteer with the Foundation of Goodness, adding value across a wide cross section of the community from the youngest villagers at the pre-school to the oldest ones at the Elders Home. A special thanks goes to Caroline Morin from Club Nord-Sud who initially visited us at FoG to help make everything happen, not forgetting Carla Browne, a dear friend of the Foundation of Goodness who directed the volunteers to us when they first approached her organization, Children’s Hope.

15th July 2015