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On 23.12.2014 the children of Pamunugama
YMCA visited houses in the village with carrols.
They were singing carrols on the road as well as
door steps of the houses in the surrounding.
During home visits children performed the birth
of Jesus Christ while the others were singing car-
ols standing around the holy family. Santa claus
who joined the team did not forgot to bring gi)s
to the children of the houses they visited.
Dear Friends,
This edition of the Voice of Silence comes to you as a special
edition for the YMCA Founders Day Celebration 2015.
Today the organizations like YMCAs are strug-gling due to
various issues due to funding, less vol-unteerism and wrong
priorities. Therefore this is the best time to reflect on the work
of Sir George Williams and the roots of the YMCA where he dedicated
his time and life with an innovative methodology in the context he
lived in London in 1840s for the betterment of the society.
YMCA is a movement came-up to response the need of the
marginalized community, but today the YMCA is becoming a place
which response and fulfill the needs of privileged. Everything
counts on money and the words, deficit and turn-over of the YMCA
have become more important than im-pact and outcomes of the YMCA
activities.
Conflicts, unjust, disasters and problems are all over the world
and thousands are dying, displaced and suffer. YMCAs are all over
these places. Being a world-wide movement, it is fair to say that
our involvement is far less than our potential. There is no one
else to be blamed other-than our selves who lead this movement in
various capacities.
In the context it is a uphill task to swim upstream in
responding to above mention difficult situations. News we bring to
you with this are some of the attempts to do so in the YMCA of
Pamunugama.
We wish all you the courage and braveness that George William
had to be innovative on this very special day we celebrate his
life. Ridma
Pamunugama Children bring the message of peace to homes!
Editors Note
Voice of Silence.
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Founders Day Celebrations 2015
Voice of Silence.
YMCA of Pamunuga-
ma is organizing a se-
ries of programmes
during the month of
June to mark the
YMCA Founders Day
2015 which falls on
every 06th day of
June.
Kick-o event was
held today (06 June,
2015). Childrens Club
members had a Road
Cleaning Shramadana.
Children of the YMCA
gave their volunteer
service to clean the
way that leads to the YMCA from the main road.
Following are Among other events organized during the month of
June to make the Founders day .
Kubb Tournament
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Children and teenagers attached to the YMCA had their Annual
Cultural Concert on 07 December, 2014. There were around 50 kids
took part in the show where they have performed number of danc-es,
dramas and carol singing.
Children of the pre School per-formed several dancing acts and
drama while the members of the Girl Guides Group and the Scout
Group also staged several danc-es, drama and a carol singing.
Rev Father Cloud Wanasinghe, Shivankara Ranaweera, Presi-dent of
Pamunugama YMCA, Si-mon and Vindis (Scouts from Bronnoy Scout
Group) and sever-al other Board Members attended the event as
guests while around three hundred people came to witnessed the
event. YMCA of Pamunugama were able to bring
this wonderful concert as a result of hard work by the Pre
School teachers with the support of parents and children's
club.
Voice of Silence.
Pre School Kids, Guides, Scouts and Children's Club on
stage!
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Voice of Silence.
Scouts and Guides make the day happy....
On 10 May, 2015 the Guides and the Scouts had a
day camp in the Pamunugama YMCA premises. 19
Guides and Scouts came to the YMCA in the morn-
ing a)er a8ending the Sunday Service to spend
the day together with their scouts and guide
friends.
Day's work started with preparing lunch in three
patrols (Penguin, Eagle and Pasbara). They made
rice, dall curry and a sausage devil in
three groups. Then they all enjoyed the lunch
a)er praying together to God for providing the
daily bread and for the opportunity given to spend
the day together with the YMCA.
Following the lunch, group sang songs and had a
few indoor games and then watched PK (A Bolly-
wood Movie). Last event of the day was a tourna-
ment of Kubb which was newly introduced to Sri
Lanka by the YMCA of Pamunugama. Before the
group dismissed, the had a short verbal evalua=on
where most of the kids shared posi=ve thoughts
on the day.
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New Year Festival 2015
Voice of Silence.
YMCA of Pamunugama organized a
New Year Fes=val at the YMCA of
Pamunugama grounds on 01 May
2015. Around 250 children and adult
from the village as well as several
YMCA friends from outsta=ons also
a8ended the event.
Event started with welcoming the
guests Mr. Randima and Rev. Sister
Nilanka by the Pre-School kids. A)er
raising the Na=onal ag by Mr. Randi-
ma the New Year Games started.
Number of tradi=onal New Year
Games were taken place under dier-
ent age categories and number of fun and tradi-
=onal games were conducted for adults and
youth. Kana Mu@ Gesima, Placing the eye to the
Elephant, Ko8a Pora (Pillow Wrestling), Carrying
Lemon on Spoon, Bag Race, Ges-
sing the number of seeds in the
Papaya, Filling the water bo8le
were among some of the
games.
Objec=ve of organizing the event
was to bring all the villages to-
gether and to make build good
rela=onships among them. YMCA
of Pamunugama thank all the
friends, youth and well-
wishes who contributed in vari-
ous means to make the event a
success.
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Visit from Asker YMCA/YWCA Scouts
Voice of Silence.
Asker YMCA has been a long standing friend/
partner of the YMCA of Pamunugama over a
period of decade. Rolf Falchenberg a leader of
Asker YMCA YWCA Scout Group vis-
ited Pamunugama YMCA for a short
visit from 22 - 24 May, 2015.
During this visit Mr. Rolf discussed
on the ongoing partnership and
support that he provides to
Pamunugama YMCA as well as on
poten=al partnerships to be devel-
oped in the future.
Further he met scouts and guides of
Pamunugama YMCA and spend
some =me with his friends in
Pamunugama area. We thank Mr.
Falchenberg for visi=ng Pamunugama and his
kind concern for the development of the
YMCA of Pamunugama.
Map Reading Session for Scouts and Guides
On 15.05.2015 Scouts and Guides of the
YMCA of Pamunugama had a map read-
ing session at the Children's Club
mee=ng. Then they were given the task
to follow a map and to meet a person.
Des=na=on for the rst Group was Mr.
Ananda Ranaweera's house (Member of
the YMCA). During this visit they had to
learn about the history of Pamunugama
area and to learn the stories behind the
names of the villages in the Pamunugama
peninsula from Mr. Ranaweera.
Des=na=on for the second group was
Santosa Founda=on which is a like-minded organi-
za=on that work to reduce poverty in the area.
There they had to learn about the ac=vi=es of the
Santosa Founda=on.
Both groups reached the des=na-
=ons successfully and returned to the YMCA by
noon. Then they had a presenta=on on their visit
and shared their experiences on map reading
which was a new thing for most of the kids.
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Pamunugama YMCA Easter Celebration 2015
Voice of Silence.
Members of the YMCA including guides, scouts,
adult leaders on 30 March, 2015 gathered at the
YMCA main hall to meditate, and share the mes-
sage of Easter. Today the YMCA members
prayed together, sang hymns and listen to a
preach delivered by Rev Fr. Samidu Pathum
on the Easter and the Challengers for Chris-
=an in celebra=ng the Easter in today's con-
text.
Event started with an introduc=on to the
Easter by Ridma and then the group prayed
several tradi=onal Easter prayers and sang
hymns together. At the end Rev Fr. Samidu
Pathum delivered a meaningful preach
where he emphasized on Chris=an respon-
sibility in iden=fying what Easter really is
and the importance of celebra=on and liv-
ing with it as it is the most important feast in
the Chris=an Calender.
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Kubb for the first time in Sri Lanka
Voice of Silence.
Kubb is a recrea=onal game mainly popular
in Scandinavian countries, US and few other
places. YMCA of Pamunugama introduced
this game to the Children's Club members.
Most probably this is the rst =me this game
was played in Sri Lanka.
Children loved this fantas=c game and they
were so eager to learn it and to play it. Chil-
dren of Pamunugama will con=nue to play
this game and YMCA would like to spread
this game among other YMCAs as well as
interested groups. This is not only for kids.
It works very well woth adults too..
We thank Mr. Eric of US Kubb Chanpionship
and Mr. Jason Larson of JP's Backyard
Games of US for helping us to get the Kubb
set.
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Distribution of stationeries among flood affected Life
Agriculture Project Members
Four Pamunugama YMCA representa=ves visited
Horowpothana on 01 February, 2015 to meet with
the Life Agriculture Project Members. There are 25
families involved with this project.
Responding to a request made by the project mem-
bers Pamunugama YMCA arranged a distribu=on of
sta=oneries for the school children of these 25 fami-
lies during this visit. Each family received a set of
books valued around Rs 1,000/=.
Then YMCA representa=ves had a shat
about future project ac=vi=es and visited
home gardens and the destroyed pad-
dy elds belong to these 25 families due to
heavy oods during the end of 2014.
Among all nancial dicul=es, the project
members hosted a wonderful village lunch
for the YMCA representa=ves and appreci-
ated the eort of the YMCA for keeping the
promise by arranging sta=oneries.
On 04 May, 2015 Board Members of the YMCA of Pamunugama
volunteered to x few electrical prob-
lems and to pain the YMCA gate. Thank you for dedica=ng a
holiday for the YMCA.
Mini-Shramadana
Voice of Silence.
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YPPs in Pamunugama
Voice of Silence.
20 member (Young Peace Performers) YPP group
have arrived in Pamunugama on 17th December,
2014. During their visit to Pamunugama they in-
volved with various ac=vi=es in Pamunugama =ll
21 December, 2014.
As they arrived, the group was welcomed by the
young board members at Green Banks with a in-
troduc=on session and a welcome dinner.
Work Camp
On 18th morning they involved with a Work Camp
where they supported a family in Pamunugama to
build a part of their house. All these events were
organized by the YMCA of Pamunugama and vari-
ouse ac=vi=es with Children and Youth were
scheduled for their stay.
Tree Planng Programme
To mark the visit of the YPPs to Pamunugama a
tree plan=ng programme was organized on 18th
December,
2014 with
the par=cipa-
=on of the
YPPs, chil-
dren and
youth of
Pamunuga-
ma YMCA.
Programme
started with
plan=ng a palm tree named as YPP. Then the YPPs
together with local members planted several trees
in the YMCA premises.At the beginning of the pro-
gramme It was men=oned that the YMCA is one of
the best place to talk about on environment as we
are sca8ered all over the world from grass-root
levels to the top interna=onal levels.
Following the tree planta=on programme held in
the YMCA on 18th the YPPs went to the Beach
with the children of Pamunugama. Cnt..
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YPPs in Pamunugama Cnt...
Voice of Silence.
Fishing
On 19th the YPPs arrived at the YMCA in the
morning from their accommoda=on. Then they
went to the beach again to join the shermen to
drag nets from the sea. YPPs learnt how the sher-
men in Pamunugama make their living with lot of
dicul=es.
Visit to Children's Home
On the same day evening they went to visit a Chil-
dren's Home in Pamunugama. Their they per-
formed a show for kids. Pamunugama YMCA have
arranged gi)s to all the children living in the Chil-
dren's Home as YMCA does it every year.
Volleyball
Following the visit to the Children's Home group
came back to Pamuugama and had fun a8ending
friendly volleyball tournament among the YPPs
and the local youth and children.
Day was ended with a BBQ dinner where both
Pamunugama youth and YPPs enjoyed the even-
ing.
Day with Children's Club/Scouts and Guides
On 20th the YPPs came back to the YMCA and
atended the Children's Club mee=ng. A)er the
mee=ng the YPPs performed a show which ad-
dresses various jus=ce issues such as gender, envi-
ronment, corrup=on. Following the show Guides
of Pamungama performed two dances for the
YPPs.
Last day
Youth of Pamunugama joined the YPPs for a short
session on Subject to Ci=zen (S2C) concept before
they ended up with short evalua=on discussion
where the YPPs shared their thoughts on the stay.
According to some of the YPPs they were im-
pressed with the programme provided by the
YMCA of Pamunugama and some said that they
were amazed by the way young people involved in
higher ranks in the YMCA of Pamunugama.
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YMCA of Pamunugama
Suruwela Road, Seththappaduwa, Pamunugama Sri Lanka
Port City and its negative impact
Voice of Silence.
We the Pamunugama YMCA situated in the coastal
belt just north of Colombo (where the Port City is
under construc=on) are very much concerned on
the nega=ve impact that port city could bring to
our area. Sea-erosion which could create a lot of
problems to shermen and those who live by the
coast seems the main thread among many other
social and environmental impacts. According to
the experts the project was started without any
proper environmental impact assessment. We also
concerned and very worried over the geopoli=cal
dynamics behind this project as Chinese invasion
on the land (port city) will create a lot of sensi=ve
and complicated geopoli=cal scenario where Sri
Lanka is going to trapped between powerful na-
=ons.
On Saturday 21st March, 2015 YMCA of
Pamunugama organized a discussion to educate
the villagers on this regard at the YMCA main hall.
Mr. Ravindra Kariyawasam (Environmentalist) and
Mr. Aruna (Fishermen ac=vist leader) a8ended the
discussion as resource persons. There were
around 15 villagers a8ended the event and YMCA
of Pamunugama will con=nue the educa=onal pro-
cess together with those who attended the event on Saturday.
Right to Information Act - By Dr. Rohan Edirisinghe
Jus=ce and Peace Commi8ee of the Na=onal
Council of the YMCAs of Sri Lanka together with
the Na=onal YWCA of Sri Lanka jointly organized a
workshop on the Right To Informa=on (RTI) Act at
the YWCA Head Oce at Kolpe8y.
Workshop was conducted by well-known social
ac=vist Dr. Rohan Edirishinghe. Dr. Edirisinghe ex-
pressing his views he shared on the back ground of
the bill, pressure on Sri Lanka for such a bill, key
elements of a progressive RTI bill, Challenges in
working out the bill in the Sri Lankan poli=cal con-
test and the main elements of the bill which has
already been dra)ed.
Group of around 25 YMCA and YWCA sta and
members a8ended the event. Ridma and Nico
from Pamunugama YMCA also attended the work-shop.
Tel: 0094 31 222 65 71 E mail: [email protected] Blog:
http://ymcaofpamunugama.blogspot.com/
