With love from the land Down Under
Harsha de Silva and Lisa Atwood (below pic), with some of the gears they collected, while many others from Brisbane too keenly got involved for the worthy cause
Former local first class cricketer and Sri Lanka women’s and St. Joseph’s College coach, Harsha de Silva successfully initiated a donation drive in his adopted country Australia, to collect cricket gear for underprivileged young cricketers in Sri Lanka.
Unexpectedly, the cricket gear donation drive had a massive response, as Harsha and his team in Brisbane were able to gather loads of cricket equipment and clothing, that are ready to be sent to Sri Lanka for distribution through the charitable entity – Foundation of Goodness.
The donation, which Harsha initiated in early September, received a massive response from Brisbane, where the successful coach is based presently. Since leaving Sri Lanka to settle down in Australia few years ago, while continuing his endeavours in cricket as a coach, Harsha has successfully completed a few projects that would benefit the young Sri Lankans back home.
With the ongoing pandemic stalling the usual routine of many young cricketers throughout the world, an idea struck Harsha that would make the young children from two lands thousand miles apart happy – for the simple practice of sharing.
“There are lot of underprivileged girls and boys who don’t have proper gear playing cricket back in Sri Lanka. Most parents can’t afford to buy expensive new material. My idea was to collect new or usable cricket gear, footwear and clothing to send over for their use,” Harsha stated on how he started off the project.
With many young cricketers in Australia replacing their used cricket gear for new seasons, Harsha made a kind appeal through social media, which would receive the support from his club, Wynnum Manly District Cricket Club and their local Councilor, Lisa Atwood who pledged their support to promote and assist with collecting the gear.
“I would greatly appreciate if you could spare any gear for this worthy cause. Please share this message with your friends,” Harsha shared in his Facebook account, to spread the good word of sharing and caring through cricket.
After a few weeks, Harsha’s project became a grand news for many in Brisbane, who were willing to share bags full of cricket equipment while Australia was going through a rough period during the COVID-19 pandemic this year.
“Finally managed to sort through the donations collected and take an approximate count. An idea to try and help a few less privileged kids in Sri Lanka turned out to a big cricket gear, clothing and footwear collection which will benefit hundreds,” an overwhelmed Harsha revealed on his social media platform on October 24.
“What an amazing response from the generous cricketing community of Brisbane, Australia. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic where everyone is going through a rough time. This will bring so much joy and smiles to many faces,” he added.
According to Harsha, the donations are to be packed and shipped to Colombo shortly, where the consignment would be handed over to the charity organisation, Foundation of Goodness for distribution among rural school kids in Sri Lanka.
Harsha gratefully mentioned the support received from the donors and contributors, namely Graham Mapri of Wynnum Manly, Local Councilor Lisa Atwood, Neil Udukala, Vic Williams of Sandgate-Redcliffe, Kamal Wanigasooriya, Ian Lewis of Ferny Grove, Buddhika Samarawickrama of Toowoomba, Norm Martin of Heighfields and Districts Bulldogs, Shandy Harris of Brisbane State High and Robert Bailey of Valleys, John Devine of Sea Eagles TV, Andre Fernando of MAC Holding and Kushil Gunasekera of Foundation of Goodness for their support in promoting the project and collecting materials.
Meanwhile, confirming the donation of used cricket gear to benefit rural disadvantaged kids in Sri Lanka, the Foundation of Goodness thanked Harsha for thoughtfully and proactively initiating a project that would bring smiles to young cricketers in Sri Lanka, who are less privileged.
“The Foundation of Goodness is delighted to hear the good news of Sea Eagles coach Harsha de Silva from the Wynnum Manly Cricket Club in Brisbane, initiating such a kind and timely gesture of collecting used cricket gear in aid of highly talented and skilled cricketers from marginalised backgrounds, to be blessed with equipment they would not otherwise have access to. It is not the first time that Harsha has made this happen with the help of many like-minded, caring donors for which we are extremely grateful and extend many blessing in abundance, especially unasked which is always a superior quality, helping those in desperate need,” the press release issued by Foundation of Goodness stated.
The Foundation of Goodness is engaged in many sporting activities through its one-of-a-kind, holistic, rural community development model serving in 500 villages islandwide, free of cost with a beneficiary portfolio of 31,000 with cricket being an integral part of its operational plan, especially with the trustees of the calibre of Muttiah Muralidaran, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Russell Arnold, being legendary cricketers.
Prior to the COVID-19, annually 60 young cricket teams mainly from England and Australia have toured the village run by Foundation of Goodness, not only to play cricket but also to engage in community aid work which coach Harsha also has seen first-hand as per the last tour he undertook namely HDS Winter Cricket Tour in 2016.
| “There are lot of under privileged girls and boys who don’t have proper gear playing cricket back in Sri Lanka. Most parents can’t afford to buy expensive new material.” | |
