News updates from November 2010 ↓

A different kind of event was organised by Friends of Sunera Foundation (FSF) to raise funds. The event was a 350 mile long ride on a bicycle by Heather Mayall (57).

Heather is a lady who has a great passion for the arts and believes that it has the power to be life-changing. She said she was absolutely thrilled to have completed the bike ride and have contributed towards Sunera’s activities.

Her journey started in Hove on September 13, and ended in Lands End on September 23. The long ride raised £3000 to help in Sunera’s activities.

In appreciation of our work in the plantation sector, the Government of India donated Sunera Foundation with a 17-seater TATA bus.

The bus will be used on a daily basis, to transport young persons with disabilities to and from the 30 estates, to the nine workshop locations in the Hatton and Maskeliya areas.

A raffle draw was held on October 31 to coincide with Deepavali, to raise funds to continue the activities in the nine workshops in the Hatton and Maskeliya areas.

The draw was held at the Darawala Planters Club in Dickoya and was quite a success with a number of well wishers and friends having donated gifts to the winners.

After many months of preparation the enthusiastic participants of Sunera Foundation are ready to get on stage to perform in the biggest event of the Sunera calendar, The Samanalayaya Drama Festival.

The festival which began in 2005 is the result of the workshop activities conducted by Sunera, during which every workshop participant performs on stage, in front of their family and community.

27 dramas were held at regional level and out these, the best six will be staged in Colombo towards the end of the month of November.

The dramas set to go on stage on Friday November 26 will be “Avasara ne” by the participants of the Thalawa Sunera Workshop, “Manu Satha” by the Dehiwala Sunera workshop and “Oba Ma Athara” by the Kurunegala Sunera Workshop.

The Badulla participants will be performing  “Sanhinda Pamula,” the Anamaduwa Workshop will be performing “Heta Davasa” and “Api Nodanna Ingreesi” will be performed by the participants from the Akuressa workshop on Saturday November 27.

Over the years, Sunera has seen a steady increase in the number of those participating in the Samanalayaya Drama Festival and this year, over 900 participants will be seen on stage.

Samanalayaya 2010 is sponsored by the Royal Netherlands Embassy and stage on November 26 and 27 at 4.00pm at S. De S. Jayasinghe Hall in Dehiwala.

For more details regarding the event, contact the Sunera Foundation office on 250-4041, 250-4043 or via e-mail on suneramedia@yahoo.com or sunera@sltnent.lk