SEENIGAMA HONORS JILLIAN RAY FOR A YEAR OF SERVICE AND FRIENDSHIP

On August 28th, the Villagers of Seenigama hosted a ceremony for its adopted resident, Jillian Ray whose official year as Australian Youth Ambassador with the Foundation of Goodness has come to a close. Complete with a procession of dancers, musicians, a carriage, hundreds of well-wishers from the entire area joined in the festivities to celebrate and thank Jill for all her efforts in the village.

The parade, which started at the juncture of Galle Road and Temple Road, wound its way through the village to the steps of Lahiru. Once there, members of the Foundation staff as well as the Village Committee and private citizens spoke before the crowd of all that Jill has come to represent to them: a good friend, a sister, a confidant, a true champion of their plight, an inspiration.

One young man, Dilan, spoke of how much it meant to him that Jill decided to stay after the tsunami, when others might have sought the safety and security of their own countries. She counters that by saying this year has been more important to her in terms of what she's experienced with all of them than what she believes she's given back. "It's cliché, but true," she says, "Despite all that happened, this has been an incredibly amazing time in my life."

Prior to the tsunami, Jill lived in the village at Kushil's Lahiru villa. As a youth ambassador, she was active in the Foundation's community development and outreach projects, but all that changed after December 26th. En route to the village on that day, for a reception at the Foundation, the bus she was on miraculously moved through the area between the two big waves. Unable to stop until Hikkaduwa just to the south, it took her more than two hours to walk to Lahiru (a walk that normally takes only 30 minutes). She says the memories and visions of that day are in black and white.

After the tsunami, her involvement with the Foundation became more demanding as Kushil, key Foundation staff and supporters immediately went in to rescue, rebuild and reconstruction mode. Her first order of business was to relocate to Colombo to organize administrative efforts out of the Foundation's main office. Although she preferred life in the Village, it was tantamount to Kushil's relief efforts that they work directly together on a daily basis.

In the past eight months, Jill's dedicated efforts have paved the way to consolidate the partnerships with a variety of global entities - both private and public - for funding and sponsorship for the Foundation. Some of those include:

Perth City Council, Perth, Australia
Victorian State Government, Victoria, Australia
American Buddhist Seminary, Sacramento, California
Laureus Sport for Good Foundation
Danish Aid

Also, she took on the important need to overhaul the Foundation website on a weekly basis. As the Foundation has truly gone global, its website required accurate and timely updates to inform and attract supporters. Additionally, she's been maintaining donor correspondences, writing grant proposals and overseeing the Foundation's application.

Although Jill's immediate involvement with the Foundation of Goodness has ended, she fully intends to return next year to work specifically with the Centre of Excellence.

As the saying goes, you can take the girl out of the village, but you can't take the village out of the girl. Her smile and laugh will never be far from the hearts and minds of everyone in Seenigama and, when she does return, likely there will be another ceremony welcoming her home.

Kushil says that her attitude, kindness and the ever ready affable nature to help is truly amazing and those characteristics made her the star of Seenigama.

FOUNDATION OF GOODNESS