IT Development and Computer Donations

Access to computers is a privilege that many people take for granted today, and it is a vital educational tool that literally puts a world of knowledge at your fingertips. However, in rural Sri Lanka few have had the opportunity to use, let alone own, a computer and the Foundation of Goodness is determined to change this.

We are lucky to have so many donors from around the world who are just as passionate about this cause and are always supporting us to reach out to more and more children and youth. In addition to the IT courses we conduct free of charge in Seenigama, Rathgama, Udumulla, Monaragala, Kilinochchi and Oddusuddan, we also do our best to provide rural schools with IT labs and present computers to children, youth and young adults who would benefit greatly from owning one.

OxAdventure are an adventure travel company from Kuwait who have visited us on two prior occasions and getting involved with community development initiatives and literally getting their hands dirty in building the community, brick by brick. On their third visit, the group was made up of Mohammed Aldamkhi, Saad Almutairi, Abdulmohsen Almansour, Saad Aljnaa, Omar Alessa, Omar Alsultan, Mohammed Khalaf, Taleb Alkout, Saleh Almosherji, Ibrahim Alfraih, Fahad Alshaya, Tariq Alaskar, Meshary Almarshoud and group leader Saud Aljuwaiyan.

Over the course of 8 days, these enthusiastic volunteers dived right into renovating and refurbishing the crumbling computer lab at the Kuleegoda School in Madampagama. After giving the room a nice new coat of paint both inside and out and installing carpeting and four ceiling fans, the team went onto donate 10 computers along with an equal number of UPS units, a printer, projector, 3 power extension cords, 15 ports computer network, a sub-woofer and other accessories needed for the room such as 2 cupboards, a white board, vacuum cleaner and curtains. This fully furnished and computer room was then handed over by the team to the young students of Kuleegoda School whose enthusiasm shone through bright excited young eyes.

We were also delighted to accept 22 used computers donated by Tim and his colleagues from AMEC Clough, as organised by Nathan Narendranathan, the Director of InfraTech. These computers were donated to four schools; Devalegama Kanitu Viduhala- Morawaka, Woodland Vidyalaya, Gonapinuawala, Kurundugaha Shantha Maria MV, Maliduwa Shariputhra MV- Boossa, as well as to the FoG ArtBanc BPO, Udumulla and Rathgama Village Heartbeat Project Computer Centres and 5 very deserving individual beneficiaries.

The last 3 of these computers were donated to the Kuleegoda School in Morawaka, which was a perfect example for why we introduced this programme. 80 kilometres from Seenigama, this extremely rural school was attended by 80 students from extremely poor backgrounds. Many of the children were orphans and came to school barefoot as they could not even afford a pair of slippers. This was the reason that we directed the OxAdventure group to renovate the IT room during their time volunteering with us. We cannot emphasize enough how important it is to give these children more than a fighting chance to escape the life they are trapped in, but attending a school without the necessary infrastructure and technological resources is an added hindrance to their education and future chances at success. Therefore, we will continue to work tirelessly towards bringing such opportunities to children and communities like this.

We also received 10 computers from Dushan Soza, Managing Director- Sri Lanka of WNS Global Services and these too were distributed to 4 deserving students, the Udumulla and Rathgama Village Heartbeat Project Computer Training Centres and to the Baranasooriya Boys’ Orphanage and Anula Vijerama Girls’ Orphanage for the children to enjoy in their leisure time and use for their studies.

A big thank you also goes to Gayan Wijesekera from USA who donated a brand new computer and external hard drive to the FoG IT Training Centre.

We hope that these contributions by caring people from around the world will help rural youth to discover a whole new world and use this knowledge to succeed in life.

05th February 2016