Milestone 10th Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centre Opens in Bandarawela

The Foundation of Goodness’ 10th Village Heartbeat Empowerment (VHE) Centre opened its doors on Sunday 1st July, 2018. Situated in Bindunuwewa- Bandarawela District, this marks the Foundations’ first VHE Centre in the central region of the island, following the establishment of three Centres in the South, three in the East and three more in the North, in steady progression.

Centres in the South:

Udumulla- Galle District
Rathgama- Galle District
Gandara- Matara District

Centres in the East:

Hingurukaduwa- Moneragala District
Eravur- Batticaloa District
Thirukkovil- Ampara Dsitrict

Centres in the North:

Mathagal- Jaffna District
Oddusuddan- Mullaitivu District
Murukandy- Kilinochchi District

In essence the Centres are designed to empower rural disadvantaged villagers, especially through English and IT training which are essential in developing skills necessary for lucrative career opportunities that can then lead to upward socio-economic mobility, breaking the cycle of poverty they are trapped in. Other programmes also include life skills & values, educational subjects, vocational training and sports to help them make better progress, overcoming the disparity between the urban and rural communities.

This initiative, we believe, is an ideal solution to alleviate poverty elevating their standards, harnessing the rural talent and skill of the disadvantaged to make better progress as we have experienced in the last decade where kids, youth and women have accomplished amazing feats.

One of the beautiful features of this unique concept is that a few exceptional families have gifted their ancestral properties for the Foundation to create such a productive undertaking for the betterment of our nations and as donors can see the impact measurement firsthand knowing that given the opportunity, facilities, training and the exposure they are able to succeed with confidence.

The programmes offered at the Bandarawela VHE Centre include:

English Language
IT
Women’s Empowerment
Tamil Language
Science
Mathematics
Grade 5 Scholarship Classes

Additionally, the Centre will also include a library and pre-school while the students attending programmes will be encouraged to join the Children’s Good Values Initiative.

The Bandarawela Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centre was declared open by renowned Sri Lankan cricketer Mr. Sidath Wettimuny. We also wish to salute the Wijesuriya Family from UK who gifted ‘Farleigh’, their beautiful ancestral property as the location to establish this Centre as well as Mr. & Mrs. Mohan and Geetha Chandramohan from US, the development sponsors for a period of 5 years, helping us deliver these valuable services which will help uplift the surrounding under-served communities.

We salute all the amazing donors who have believed in this concept to sponsor these learning and empowerment institutions for long periods of time, sustaining the model as we envision to establish 15 other Centres in the island, giving rural villagers a chance to excel.

05th July 2018