Sports

Brothers Murali and Prabu Empower Rural Nuwara Eliya with the Foundation of Goodness

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Muttiah Muralitharan with Kushil Gunasekara, the former cricket board secretary and renowned philanthropist. 

Sri Lanka’s Nuwara Eliya District is famed for its picturesque views, flourishing tea estates and awe inspiring waterfalls. The colder climate also makes it a favourite destination among local and international visitors. However, among the beauty of this district are rural communities that struggle everyday to afford their basic necessities.

This district is home to some of the most under-served rural Sri Lankan communities, consisting mostly of tea estate workers and daily wage earners. Unfortunately, these communities are often marginalized with little or no support to elevate them from the vicious cycle of poverty that they are trapped in.

It is against this backdrop that the Foundation of Goodness recently established not just one but three Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centres in Ragala, Kothmale and Hatton in the Nuwara Eliya District. These Empowerment Centres provide free educational, vocational and sports courses such as English Language training, dressmaking, computer training and STEM education, and act as the nerve centre of the village by empowering its population. These new skills provide a step up for rural beneficiaries to better their lives and open new doors of opportunity.

Recently, the Foundation of Goodness together with Founder Kushil Gunasekera and Centre sponsors, Trustee Muthiah Muralidaran, Muthiah Prabagaran and Snackings (Pvt) Ltd declared open the Kothmale and Hatton Centres.

“Murali is someone very passionate about giving and caring for the less privileged and since both Murali and his brother Prabu pledged to establish these productive village empowerment centres, they delivered their promise to match their word of honour. He is well aware of the prevailing circumstances in the tea estate communities and as such the numbers registered exceeding 4,000 is a record breaking achievement from all our 15 centres that demonstrates the need to provide facilities of this kind for their progress,” said Kushil Gunasekera.

The Centre in Ragala located in a tea estate will benefit 1150 rural villagers from 14 villages in the locality. The Kothmale Centre has registered over 1721 rural villagers from 20 villages while the Hatton VHE Centre will empower 1198 villagers from 11 villages.

In total, these Centres will benefit over 4,000 rural Sri Lankans from 45 villages, giving them access to opportunities brought by the Foundation of Goodness that go beyond educational and vocational training, such as educational scholarships, overseas competitions and mentorship.

The total number of Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centres established across Sri Lanka by the Foundation of Goodness now stands at 14, empowering over 10,971 rural beneficiaries from 150 villages.

The Foundation of Goodness recognises the extraordinary contribution made towards growing our reach to the central highlands of Sri Lanka by Trustee Muthiah Muralidaran together with his brother Muthiah Prabagaran and Snacking PVT Ltd. Murali always keeps FoG in his heart and over the years, he has donated the entirety of many of his endorsement fees and has now launched his Cameo celebrity promotions exclusively in aid of FoG, ensuring that thousands of rural Sri Lankans across the island receive empowerment courses free of charge, urgent medical and welfare needs and helps improve rural sports development. He constantly promotes the Foundation of Goodness and truly believes in the vision for a better Sri Lanka.

The Foundation of Goodness was established in 1999 and has worked extensively to develop a one of a kind holistic rural community development model that seeks to bridge the urban-rural divide. In 2021 alone, despite struggles brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Foundation of Goodness delivered a wide range of programmes to over 68,000 beneficiaries from 900+ villages across Sri Lanka, free of charge. In addition to its flagship venue and project headquarters, the OYOB Centre of Excellence and Sports Academy in Seenigama, the Foundation of Goodness has also branched out to offer its key courses and resources to distant rural villages via Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centres which strive to empower disadvantaged communities so that they may have equal opportunities to excel in life. As the nerve centre of the village, the Village Heartbeat concept works to give underprivileged villagers access to skills that will enable them to develop to their full potential.

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