The military cultured sport 'Paintball' became increasingly popular in Sri Lanka within the last decade or so. Currently patronized by people of all ages, tournament paintballing is used as a mechanism for fundraising events such as the one that took place recently.
The student body of American National College (ANC) in association with E FM hosted an event under the title "ANC Paintball Challenge 2008: Fight for the Children". This event was co-sponsored by Dialog 3G: Sri Lanka's widest and largest 3G experience. The main objective of this event, which was organized and conducted by the students of ANC, was to be the primary contributor to the 'Singithi Pothgula' charity spearheaded by the Children's Upliftment programme (CUP). CUP encompasses the masses of children in the nation in order to establish a bright and prosperous future, through the practice of building libraries in community centers and places of worship. This non-profit making organization founded in May of 2004 has established themselves as a reputable charity organization that contributes towards the well being of less fortunate children, more specifically: care giving to communities suffering from poverty, lack of consideration, nurturing and supervision. Their work on a whole, entails elevating the children of our nation in areas of education, self employment and discipline.
The 'Singithi Pothgula' project is aimed at inculcating the habit of sharing amongst children and providing them with the opportunity to borrow reading material from a library they could call their own. The students of ANC hope to develop and improve the "Siri Nanasuru" library, which has been established by the Children's Upliftment Program, in the Bodhikarama temple in Ratmalana. At present, the library occupies a storage space at the back of a school room with minimal resources. The distribution of books amongst 250 students ranging from ages 6 - 15 is regulated by six student leaders under the Sunday school superintendants administration.
In addition to the fundraiser, ANC students have made efforts to collect books from the university college as donations and plans to work with the respective administrative body to create library membership cards. They also hope to cultivate a learning environment by providing them with equipment such as notice boards, reference charts and stationary. In fostering competition and perseverance, the students ultimately hope to work with CUP to conduct a series of workshops in late December.
When asked to comment on the significance of this project to the students of ANC, a member of the organizing committee responded, "We have been fortunate enough to receive a college level education from internationally recognized universities. We want to be able to reach out to others in the hope of enriching children's lives through quality educational material. Organizing events like this gives us that opportunity, and we hope to further extend our efforts in the years to come".
Sunil Mansoor, Student of ANC
The fundraising event which was held at the Hustler's Paintball Arena, Excel World on the 30th of November attracted participants from various disciplines such as schools, educational institutions and business organizations. The requirement being that participants form teams of 5 to engage in combat until all the members of the challenging teams were eliminated. The atmosphere, comprising of DJ music and refreshments was only made livelier by the high spirited participants and spectators, and the splatter of paintballs ever so often. By sunset, 7 teams had participated and the team that emerged victorious was G.O.D.2 who was awarded Rs.30,000 as prize money, two thirds of which they donated towards the charitable cause, demonstrating the true meaning of charity.
Participating in the awards ceremony of the"ANC Paintball Challenge 2008: Fight for the Children", Ms.N.T.A.Dissanayake- Director (CUP), expressed her views on this project as follows:
"I am extremely happy to state that the Students of ANC have done a magnificent Job on behalf of the needy children of our country. This is an unprecedented experience by CUP, where we note that our children themselves have indeed played an active role in the cause of supporting children. This I believe, stands out as a real example to show that even children themselves could be of some service in strengthening our efforts for the betterment of society, no matter how small they may be." |
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