With my last update dated 26th April 2006, my compassionate co-trustee and long time supporter and friend of our work, Rohan Iriyagolla, hits me hard one morning telling me to wake up; that I should not wait for 5 months to be furnishing progress by way of an update of the Foundation of Goodness actions.

In a way, he is right – with so much happening all the time, but then again our Communication Specialist, Lauren Patmore from AUSAID has communicated weekly major stories although Rohan insists that a general update from me is long overdue which was the case even on the last occasion when one of our great volunteers, Nick Kreider from the US reminded me of the same.

We are nearing the second tsunami anniversary shortly and 21 months have lapsed from that fateful episode and all I can say is that we have rebuilt a community that was in ruin, unimaginable to comprehend at the time how it can be done - seeing the debris and the shattered lives, but the waves of worldwide compassion coupled with direction and dedication of the Foundation of Goodness for humanity made the journey a reality. We are on course in driving to address the concerns by way of a holistic approach to establish a rural community model to help those in backward communities to make better progress with the right exposure and empowerment.

The major concerns and priority development work such as housing is almost at its tail-end having delivered almost 500 new dwellings and 400 partly damaged houses. It is estimated that another 150 new homes and a further number of houses that need to be repaired will be done in the next 3 months, except for the most modern tsunami double storied housing project initiated by the Victorian State Government in Australia which is done in accordance with Australian standards envisaged to be one of the best post-tsunami housing projects ever.

At this stage, it is pertinent to mention Children Action, our major partner for having donated 175 new houses and repaired 200 partly damaged houses, which of course is a huge donation. Victoria gardens would no doubt be the most exclusive of them all specially for the way it has been designed as a modern Australian kind of housing complex to benefit the 100 MT zone recipient families who are still living in temporary shelter but at the end fortunate enough to reside in their own village without being relocated elsewhere especially in such unique homes.

The other areas of livelihood restoration, schools development, children’s needs, healthcare, sports programmes, women’s enterprise, cultural and welfare programmes and many other concerns covering 25 villages with over 10,000 beneficiaries have been taken good care of with some of the projects continuing in the long term by way of generous sponsorship.

More importantly the MCC Centre of Excellence a learning institution sponsored by the Maryleborne Cricket Club in the UK and the Sports Centre supported by the Surrey County Cricket Club in the UK along with the famous pop star Mr Bryan Adams are two major landmark projects ever seen in the post tsunami era which would never have materialized if not for the power of the waves and the compassion that created ripples of kindness. We all remember respectfully all those who had to sacrifice their lives so unfortunately but we cannot reverse that status and have to look ahead, stay positive & do the best we can to turn adversity into new opportunities for the better.

It has helped us to reshape a village and introduce meaningful ways in which a community can prosper with the focus on children rather than follow the ancient habits adopted in villages particularly to pollute the environment etc. We have just commenced two children’s Goodness Clubs in our village and in the immediate neighbourhood which is working really well with the spotlight on the spirit of goodness and their motivation is really worth all the trouble we have taken. It is the goodness that can resolve any conflict and bring peace to oneself and that of others.

With this kind of development it certainly attracts new ways of marching forward with lots of interest shown by overseas visitors to live in a tsunami affected village doing community aid work in the Centre of Excellence and participate in sporting activities such as cricket, swimming, volley ball, badminton and basketball.

More stories covering all aspects of our work in progress with amazing features have been highlighted on our web site in detail for more information and our aim from the time the tsunami tragedy struck specially seeing the flow of very caring donors our decision to somehow establish a rural community model for the good of all developing nations became the focus. None of this would ever have unfolded if not for the most admirable global donor community not forgetting the hardworking volunteers from all corners of the world including our own and the dedicated village staff and volunteers.

Building a village from ruin is no easy task and dealing with the traumatized people is even more difficult but with perseverance and not wavering from the goal we have come far and how lovely it would be to see adversity turn into a blessing eventually which we hope can enable us to replicate this development plan in other villages not necessarily in Sri Lanka but other countries of a similar background in the 3rd world with the support of huge charities and other corporates.

Children Action in particular has gone beyond the tsunami affected and have donated 15 houses to begin with who are living in abject poverty in mud thatched houses with no sanitation facilities, electricity nor water which to me is real compassion and not extending a hand of friendship in a manner of compulsion. This is the big challenge now as people keep coming to the foundation and saying why on earth didn’t the tsunami arrive at our doorstep? Children in our village call this a golden wave and the blessings, that have accrued to brighten a village that was sleeping is hard to describe.

This is the reason why one of our close friends, Tishani Doshi a renowned journalist from Chennai, India came up with this caption, “A village in the wake of a wave” which is so appropriate.

We at the Foundation of Goodness always want to make something happen creating a positive difference. We are inspired by those who support us and appreciate our ideas as we keep moving ahead with purity of intentions that has the power to bring the desired results for the good of mankind particularly in desperate circumstances.

Kushil Gunasekera
Founder/Trustee

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