Graduation Unfolds for English, Diving & Photography Students

A graduation is a turning point in every person’s life; it is the time that marks end of one’s journey as a student of a particular discipline and the beginning of one’s life as an educated, skilful and cultured person.

The Foundation of Goodness hosted three graduations in combination on the 18th June 2011 for English, Diving and Photography students. 12 students from English belonging to the 2nd batch of English course coming from 12 different villages; 33 students from 6th batch of Diving training belonging to 25 villages; and 10 students from the 09th batch of photography course coming from 6 villages were among those who walked away with certificates of completion in hand.

The ceremony commenced by welcoming the chief guest, Ms. Ramya Tennekoon and Kushil Gunasekera, founder/trustee of  Foundation of Goodness, by offering beetle leaves in a traditional ritual. The welcome was followed by lighting of the traditional oil lamp made using bamboo and coir that exhibited artistic talent.

Sampath Viraj welcomed the guests in his speech and shed insight to the meaning of the word “Lahiru” – (a word that is closely associated with the Foundation of Goodness’ facility at Seenigama) –mild rays of the sun that, depict the strength and energy  of Seenigama and its people.

The occasion was graced by the worldly wisdom of Kushil Gunasekera who never fails to add humour in his messages. He spoke about the coincidence of being born to the village of Seenigama and getting involved in Sugar business, as an adult. More importantly, he recounted his personal experience of the tsunami and of having a vision in a dream prior to the horrific event that made water appear in his dreams. He also mentioned how this dream has been interpreted as a sign of fertility which in fact stands true for how the village has re-emerged stronger and better fertilized, after the devastation caused by the tsunami. Kushil also made way to point at some living examples from the village by recounting the story of two girls named Manuja and Sameera who have been trained as divers who could reach as far as 42 meters in to the sea despite the trauma caused by the tsunami. The morale of the story is how we should look for the silver lining in every dark cloud, in other words, we all can turn any setback in to a blessing by choosing to walk on the correct path.

This meaningful thought-sharing speech by Kushil ended with the presentation to the audience on Foundation of Goodness’ official website www.unconditionalcompassion.org and associated videos that can be found on youtube.

Height of the occasion was marked by certificates being distributed among graduating students. In addition, recognition of the “best student” was done by way of awarding a special gift. For English, W. Ruwini; for diving Danuka Sandakalum and for photography U.W. Kanchana won awards as best students.

Ms. Ramya Tennekoon took a few moments to share some timeless wisdom with the audience in which she stated that one should never postpone today’s work for tomorrow and how one should treat each passing day like their final day on earth. She also stressed on the importance of living life for one’s sake and not for the sake of another and spoke about the importance of maintaining a comfortable distance with others. She elaborated on the importance of doing the maximum one could do and living up to the best way one could. Relating to Foundation of Goodness founder, Kushil Gunasekera’s vision on looking at the brighter side of life, our chief guest too confirmed how one should accept suffering and problems as part of life and how courage should be sought from those challenges to build self esteem, confidence and patience. She spoke about the importance of envisioning the future happiness and shared a little technique with the audience of how they could alleviate negativity from life, on a daily basis by talking to oneself in front of the mirror each morning and doing away with negative thoughts such as “I can’t” and “I don’t have”; rather to embrace and invite success, new experiences and positive changes in to one’s life.

Marking the cornerstone of educating a total of 29 English students, 160 diving students and 150 photography students up-to-date, the bits and pieces of life changing advices and wisdom imparted by the founder of Foundation of Goodness, Kushil Gunasekera, Chief Guest Ms. Ramya Tennekoon and the compassionate lecturers were worth to be carried along a lifetime.

Before a special speech was made in English by the student who scored highest marks in the subject and before the vote of thanks were delivered by a student of the diving training centre, the three lecturers that worked immaculately at making this day come in to existence had a few words to share with everyone present.

Mrs. Chandra Abeynaike, lecturer of English, emphasized the importance of living one’s life by stretching the idea of “goodness” and expressed how grateful she is to be working at the Foundation of Goodness because it is a place that harness “goodness” and therefore, goodness, generosity and virtues spread all across the centre from sign boards to places and people.

Mr. Sudath Wijeratne, lecturer of photography, spoke about the importance of cultivating good habits and learning only the good from others while doing away the bad. He reinstated how he will provide best of support for students and requested the students also to improve on cultivating good habits, practical knowledge and skills.

Lecturer for diving, Mr. Alan Sahabandu’s speech about success stories of fellow divers who graduated previously, who have by now not only found employment but have also built houses, bought vehicles and even found employment abroad,  inspired graduating students and made them realize the gravity of this massive opportunity of free of cost education and training provided for them.

The graduation concluded this way in good spirit while the graduates walked away happily. It goes without saying that each graduation is a new experience for students as well as everyone at the Foundation of Goodness because it brings the feeling of wanting to serve humanity without taking a single step backwards; because it feels right in the consciousness of all virtues known to human beings and simply because students who come from rural villages such as Udumulla, Kalupe, Ampegama, Ambalangoda, Meetiyagoda, Rathgama, Hikkaduwa, Weeragoda, Kahawa, Baddegama, Gintota, Galagoda, Batapola, and Seenigama have the opportunity to look forward to a better future in which they can prosper limitlessly.

“Wisdom and Goodness Are Twin-Born; One Heart Must Hold Both”

~William Dean Howells

2011.06.21

Proud sustainability Sponsors

English Courses – Grammar School at Leeds

Diving Training – Planet Wheeler Foundation

Photography Course – Cooper Investors (Pty) Ltd.