I'm swimming around Sri Lanka!

My name's Charlotte and I'll be 17 in August of this year. Every three years my school, Trinity Academy in Edinburgh, organise a hockey and rugby tour for 4th, 5th and 6th years. In 2019 the tour that I am involved in will be travelling to Sri Lanka. We pay for our own travel, accommodation and meals but also want to fundriase to make a donation to a local charity when we are away as well as fundraising for our tour kit too. The chosen charity for this tour is The Foundation of Goodness. We have lots of exciting fundraising events planned but I wanted to do something that brought together the two sports I love and support a great cause at the same time.

I train and play hockey matches every week for both my school and club. My fundraising goal starts away from dry land though in some of our local swimming pools. I swim competitively and train many times a week. Sri Lanka's coastline is 1,340 kilometers long and I am going to swim that distance in training and competitions before we leave on tour in June 2019. I've made a good start and have been adding up the meters since January 2018 but I still have a long way to go.

I'd like to tell you something about the charity we're fundraising for. I've taken much of the information below from their website and have added a link below in case you want to read more. There are also some You Tube clips.

https://www.youtube.com/user/foundationofgoodness http://www.unconditionalcompassion.org/indexc.php http://www.unconditionalcompassion.org/sub/images/FOG-STAT.jpg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXa35ZkxtaM

When we're in Sri Lanka we're going to do some community aid work. Some of the things we might be asked to do include beach cleaning, cleaning or painting Temple premises, cleaning an Elder's home or cleaning or painting a classroom in the school.

A donation to the Foundation of Goodness can have a significant impact on the lives of the villagers in the Seenigama region of Sri Lanka. Any contribution made to the Foundation will go towards the general fund and be used for projects such as education, scholarships, upgrading of school facilities, infrastructure, teaching/ training, sports and medical care; depending on the most pressing needs. So far, the generosity of supporters has enabled the entire Seenigama region to be rebuilt. While the tsunami in 2004 was utterly devastating for so many people, thanks to donations hundreds of lives have been rebuilt. Amazing facilities have been created to increase the long term opportunities for this rural community so that they have the tools to create a prosperous future for themselves. However, poverty still blights the lives of many families and in neighbouring communities help is still needed.

Foundation of Goodness projects are always delivered in accordance with the highest standards in project management and accountability. Pre-tsunami, 100% of donated funds went directly to projects. With the increased work created by this disaster, the aim is to spend no more than 2% of donated funds on administration. A group of dedicated local volunteers has been set up to oversee all sectors of the Seenigama community into a formal management structure. The Seenigama people have appointed a management committee who are consulted and involved in every decision. It is the goal that the community be the driving force in their own redevelopment.

Thanks for reading about the Tour and the chosen charity. Please feel free to contact me if you want more information.