Coming from a village background, Kushil Gunasekara got the amazing opportunity to study in Ananda College Colombo.
Knowing the limited resources students in the village work with compared to that in Colombo, Kushil talks about his guilt at being lucky enough to get opportunities which smarter, more talented kids in the villages were not afforded. With the initiation of the Foundation of Goodness, Kushil aims to provide the opportunity to kids who have what it takes to be successful within themselves but constrained by external resources. Today the Foundation of Goodness follows the goal of serving those in need in rural areas.
The uniqueness of the Foundation of Goodness that has helped them stand out is its sport oriented nature. Among many other charity organizations who accommodate only the basic needs, this foundation out stands as a caterer to the athletic needs of the rural population. “We are huge on our sports. Cricket is the most known platform, but we do a big sports program. We do cricket, we do Swimming, we do Netball, Volleyball, Badminton, and even Chess,” Kushil remarked. “and sports has the power like Nelson Mandela once said not only to unite the world, but also to bring good will, build up team spirit and confident in challenges. It’s also very colourful compared to simply having a learning center,” he added.
The sports program has also helped the Foundation of Goodness to work on social problems. Driving the stress away from participants’ minds people in poverty are taught to be optimistic about their future. Sports teach people to be target oriented and physically active which brings in confidence to their personalities. 400 youth are annually trained and compete for Swimming championships; 80 rural students are selected for the Cricket squad and provided with facilities for training; 288 children take part in Volleyball championships; 35 students are annually selected for martial art training; 32 girls are trained for Netball along with ladies cricket and last but not least Chess is played among 35 rural kids and youth.
The achievements in above mentioned sports field cannot be undermined. Tharindhu Kaushal, Ashidha Mendis, Pulina Tharanga have reached national level achievements in cricket while, Amila and Lakruwan have archived similar success in Swimming. As per outstanding female recognition Neranja Maushani, Nishadi Dilrukshi, Mandira Charuni, Harsha Priyadarshani, Rashimi Sudari and Ureshika Maduwanthi have achieved national level sporting success in Netball. Expanding it’s achievements to international level, the cricket team of the Foundation of Goodness has become the Malaysian KAF International Cricket Champion in 2009. Not forgetting the squad has continued to be the Runners up in 2010 and 2011 in the same tournament.
In 1999 the Foundation of Goodness was initially started to bridge gap between the village and the city. At this time Muttaiah Muralidhran also joined the projects with funding. This concept was named the village ‘heartbeat’. Ranging from the sport necessities of the students, heartbeat contained skills development centers and many more infrastructural bodies to help the villagers. However, this initial project got washed off as disastrous T-Sunami struck the cost of Sri Lanka.
The Foundation of Goodness took this opportunity to turn these waves of destruction in to blessings of compassion. Today the Foundation has built a holistic rural community model that empowers thousands of villagers from over fifty neighborhoods. The new model not only holds a fully equipped sports academy but also a preschool, dental clinic, environmental management, photography training body, electrical training academy, linguistic (Tamil, English) teaching, professional diving training and many more facilities for the villagers free of cost. “The success stories I’ve heard from these trainings are phenomenon and I’m really pleased that goodness as I always knew is one investment that doesn’t fail.” Founder of the Foundation of Goodness Kushil Gunesakara lamented about his legacy. The success of the Foundation of Goodness depends on its consistency. Since 2011 January, in the last 36 months the foundation has aided the villagers uninterrupted to ensure continued success in villagers lives. “I think we have provided resources to 13,299 villagers as documented” Kushil noted.
Kushil believes as the city is developed the village should also be provided with similar facilities. Following the words of the President his Excellency Mahindha Rajapaksha – I want to take the city to the village and bring the village values to the city – the Foundation of Goodness is on a path to make huge changes to all of Sri Lanka. Kushil points out that the Sri Lankan cricket team today comprises of many villagers to the contrary to what it had been decades ago. “There are many villagers like you and I who want to do great things but it wasn’t possible till recent. Today as we provide them with necessary English and internet skills it’s no longer an obstacle”
The story of Foundation might have not been possible if not for its sustainable income development projects. It carries a business process at the back end. Tying hands with John Keells and another American client, the foundation is doing a sports oriented back office operation in the village. Today it has expanded to cater community aid cricket, community aid tourism and professional diving. These areas are focused to self-sustain. Encouraging all Kushil’s final message to charity organizations was to always surpass the donor expectations.
