Ground Breaking Ceremony for the North Cricket Grounds and MCC President Mr. Roger Knight’s Visit

The Foundation of Goodness is delighted to initiate development of the North Learning & Empowerment Institute with the ground breaking ceremony for the North Cricket Venue in the presence of FoG Founder/ Chief Trustee Mr. Kushil Gunasekera, the President of the Marylebone Cricket Club Mr. Roger Knight & Mrs. Chris Knight as well as Mr. Mano Ponniah and Mrs. Radhika Ponniah.

Once completed we hope to have a state of the art, campus style, holistic operation that will provide off a large number of diverse needs which will help the local population develop their future. The Learning & Empowerment Institute will have two sports grounds- the international cricket grounds and a second sports ground for volleyball, netball and other sports as well as a swimming pool. With the Seenigama Sports Academy receiving roughly 50- 60 visits from foreign sports teams (mostly from UK and Australia) every year, we feel this will be an excellent opportunity to stage some of these matches in the North as a unique experience for all parties involved.

The educational and vocational training complex will offer our Women’s Enterprise & Empowerment courses, Business Skills classes, Language skills and contain an IT Centre. There will also be a special Business Process Outsourcing centre which will enable rural northerners have access to high-paying job opportunities as well as an Elders’ Home to provide essential community care services and an auditorium. We also hope to introduce sustainable income generation ventures such as accommodation centres, shops and restaurants open to the public.

The North Learning & Empowerment Institute will also contain many eco-friendly elements including a rainwater harvesting pond, and we hope to preserve many of the large trees already existing on the property and incorporate it in to the very design of the premises.

During his visit to the North, Mr. Roger Knight also took the opportunity to present MCC Cricket Scholarships to 5 boys from the North and East who were members of the 2015 Murali Harmony Cup Unity Squad. This gesture is significant not only towards developing rural cricket, but also towards promoting unity and harmony amongst all Sri Lankan communities, since this team is a melting pot of players from all across the island, who overcome social, cultural and language barriers through the power of sport.

Mr. Knight had already taken the opportunity to present scholarships to 6 other members of the team during his visit to the MCC Centre of Excellence and Hikkaduwa MCC Sri Sumangala Lords Grounds where he also took the time to tour the projects and experience first-hand the immense development that has taken place since he first played a key role in establishing the MCC projects in Seenigama.

“I enjoyed being back at Sri Sumangala again.  I wish all the scholars every success in their future careers in cricket and I hope you will pass on my best wishes to them. These will be treasured memories of another fascinating visit to Seenigama. It is a wonderful place and you should all be proud of the goodness you bring to so many lives,” said Mr. Knight.

For us, it was a very poignant moment to have him with us as we launched the longstanding dream to replicate our campus style holistic rural development model from the south in the north as well. We take this opportunity to appeal to the Foundation of Goodness family, which stretched from donors to volunteers and well-wishers, to support us in completing this monumental endeavor which will bring hope to the lives of many thousands struggling to regain normalcy and success following years of violence and devastation.

05th April 2016