News updates for Events ↓

These photographs were taken during the visit of FSF Trustee Alison Skilbeck. During her stay, she visited many of the workshops.  She met with the parents of the workshop participants, trainers and staff of the Sunera Head Office.

The main highlight of Alison Skilbeck’s visit was that she staged her one woman show “Are There More Of You?” from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2011. The show, which was a fundraiser for the Sunera Foundation, was performed at British Council, Colombo, on January  13& 14. The event turned out to be a huge success.  Alison played to a full house on both nights and the audience greatly enjoyed it.

A review that appeared in the Sunday Times newspaper following the show stated thus, “Each woman’s story, is served up with a twist, and the audience is given the chance to be there, in the very moment they make their leap into a new life or resign themselves to the ones they already have. Each story is laced with panic and despair, humour and resilience……As an actress, Alison has a wonderfully expressive face, and she is beautiful to watch as she makes the transition from one character to another, adopting a new accent, attitude and appearance for each.”

   img_0464.JPG

It was a rare honour for the members of the Sunera Thalawa workshop who took part in the recent  North Central Provincial Art Festival when the short drama presented by the Sunera members ‘Awasara Nehe’ bagged the highest number of awards out of the nine shortlisted for the final competition.

Having taken part in the first competition held at Vivekananda School in Anuradhapura, the drama was also selected to be featured at the final ceremony held at the Anuradhapura Central College on 23^rd December.

Sandun Bandara Dissanayake won the Awards for the Best Script , Best Choreography and second place for the Best Producer. Niluka Seneviratne won the award for best costumes while K. D. Jayakody received an award for best stage management. Thanuja Lasanthi Wijeywickreme was selected the best make up artiste.

In addition, Gayathri Ranbgebandara, Thanuja Lasanthi Wijeywickreme and Chandani Ranasinghe became the recipients of merit awards.

The drama ‘Awasara Nehe’ was featured at the annual Samanalayaya concert in 2010.

The art festival was organized by the North Central Provincial Council and the Cultural Department. The North Central Province Governor Karunaratne Divulgane and Chief Minister Berty Premalal Dissanayake were among the distinguished guests who graced the occasion as chief guests.

Thalawa Sunera workshop is conducted every Friday at the main hall of ‘AKASA’ – an association for the differently abled females. The Sunera’s initiative receives the fullest support of the Chairperson of the ‘AKASA’ organization N.G. Kamalawathie. 

Members of the Sunera Negombo workshop celebrated Christmas on December 10, at Cardinal Cooray Church Hall in Negombo. The event featured a number of Christmas songs and dance items presented by the workshop participants.  In addition to the Christmas tunes such as   ‘Seenu Handin, Bethlehempure, Kalakata Pera Bethleheme, Pulun Wage which were sung by the workshop members to an audience of about 50 persons, a puppetry item was also presented by the well-known puppetry artist from Negombo, Nalin Rajan. All workshop participants received a Christmas gift sponsored by Mr. Camilus Fernando. Well-known artist Richard Manamudali and BOC Negombo Branch Manager Shantha Fernando were chief guests at the event.

It was a rare treat for the local classical music lovers who  witnessed the young American cellist Joshua Roman perform at two fund raiser concerts for the Sunera Foundation on September  26 and 30 in Colombo and Kandy respectively.

Joshua Roman  who has earned the coveted recognition as a  2011 TED Fellow, kept the audience spellbound with  his magnificent cello performance, accompanied by the veteran pianist Eshantha Peiris. The delightful  selection that was played included: Schubert’s ‘Arpeggione’ Sonata, J.S. Bach’s ‘Solo Suite No.02,’ Summer’s Julie-O (Solo), Ginastera’s ‘Pampeana No.2′ and  Popper’s ‘Hungarian Rhapsody’  among others.

His performance was magnificent, and had the members of the audience, both young and old, totally captivated throughout the show.

A drama festival was held on the 7^th of May in Hatton for  Sunera workshop members in nine workshops in the region; Stoneycliff, Batalgalla, Kew, Kotiyagala, Glentilt, Robghill, Yullifield, Gouravil and Welioya Estates. The programme featured four dramas and six dance acts. The dramas were directed by the well known theatre personality, Richard Manamudali.

From the feedback received, it was clear that there was much interest among not just the parents of the participants but also the people in the area, about Sunera’s work  with the differently abled.

 Bank of Ceylon savings accounts were opened for a large number of members from  Sunera workshops, following a project initiated to mark the Sambudathva Jayanthi celebrations.  The project covered workshops in Akuressa, Matara, Weligama, Galle, Imaduwa, Horana, Dharga Town, Panadura, Dehiwela, Maharagama, Kurunegala, Nikaweratiya, Horombawa, Horagolla, Negombo, Puttalam,  Anuradahpura, Chilaw, Anamaduwa, Thalawa, Kekirawa, Badulla, Bandarawela, Welimada, Mawanella and Kandy.  The selection of beneficiaries was done according to a list of names updated as at April 1, where members  who attended workshops regularly were entitled to receive the savings accounts with a deposit of Rs. 2000.  The project was the concept of  Bank of Ceylon Chairman Dr. Gamini Wickremesinghe and the Chairperson of Sunera Foundation Sunethra Bandaranaike. Prior to handing over the savings books, parents and guardians of the participants were briefed by the bank officials on the benefits relating to the savings accounts.

Mawanella workshop participants receiving their savings deposits at a ceremony held on August 14.

For those of you who are classical music lovers, here is good news….

The young American cellist Joshua Roman will arrive in Sri Lanka to perform at a fundraiser concert in aid of Sunera Foundation on Monday September 26^th at the Lionel Wendt Colombo and Friday September 30^th  at the Mahaweli Reach Hotel in Kandy at 7.30 .pm. He will be accompanied by Eshantha Peiris on piano.

Having earned his Bachelor’s Degree in cello performance in 2004 from Cleveland Institute of Music and Masters in 2005, Joshua Roman, won the principal cellist job with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra at the age of 22, thereby becoming the youngest principal player in that orchestra’s history. His most recent achievement was when he was named a 2011 TED Fellow- one of the most recognized fellowships in the world.

Tickets for the Colombo concert are available at the Lionel Wendt theatre while for the Kandy show, tickets can be obtained from Mahaweli Reach Hotel Kandy.

“Api mama saha api,” a play written by Nishantha Jayasekara and co-produced by him and Nissanka Dharmatilaka was staged at the Trinity College Hall in Kandy of February 15, 2011. The play is a production from Samanalayaya 2010, and was staged to celebrate the first anniversary of the Kandy Sunera Foundation workshop.

A sports festival was organised by the Sabaragamuwa Branch (Sethmini) of Caritas, in which the participants of the Mawanella workshop were involved.

The festival was held on January 22, 2011 and those who participated were given certificates and gifts.

Samanalayaya 2010 was staged on November 26 and 27 at the S. De S. Jayasinghe Hall in Dehiwala and without a doubt was the best of the Samanalayaya festivals held so far.Even though the weather was gloomy with rain threatening to dampen the mood of the event, the participants of Samanalayaya 2010 were cheerful and eager to deliver a fabulous performance. And a fabulous performance they did deliver, as the audience was not disappointed in the least.The six dramas staged were filled with emotion, including that of deep sadness as well as happiness and joy while a number of dance performances were performed in between the plays as well.

This year’s festival saw over 900 participants take to the stage.The six plays which were staged were “Avasara ne” by the participants of the Thalawa workshop, “Manu Satha” by the Dehiwala workshop, “Oba Ma Athara” by the Kurunegala Workshop, “Sanhinda Pamula,” by the Badulla workshop participants, “Heta Davasa” by the participants of the Anamaduwa Workshop as well as “Api Nodanna Ingreesi” by participants from the Akuressa workshop.

A few journalists had this to say:
Dhananjani Silva – The Sunday Times Magazine“
Samanalayaya - 2010 was truly moving and showcased great young talents … Fulfilling its objective of identifying the hitherto untapped talents of disabled young people to enable them gain recognition in society.”

Sarasi Paranamanna – The Nation EYE
“The children enthusiastically performed in front of their families and community showing that despite the differences – or maybe because of them – they have the talent to amaze the world.”