Ray of Hope 2, A Fusion of Mind, Culture and Talent

Ray of Hope 2, A Fusion of Mind, Culture and Talent

On the 13^th of September, the Unity Mission Trust (UMT) organised Ray of Hope- 2 ‘A Fusion of Mind, Culture and Talent’ which included the inaugural ‘UMT- Unity and Integration Awards’ at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute. The event held under the patronage of the First Lady of Sri Lanka; Mrs. Shiranthi Wickramasinghe Rajapaksa was organised by the Board of Trustees of Ekamuthu Oray Makkal UMT.

The event showcased a blend of Sri Lanka’s rich culture from the North, South and Central areas championing groups of outstanding students from across the country through the Unity and Integration Awards. The awards were held in recognition of exemplary student leaders for their efforts in fostering unity, integration, healing and peace building. The evening was truly inspirational in creating awareness of the goals of the UMT showcasing the many lives in Sri Lanka that have already been impacted.

The event was conducted tri-lingually with the compere’s being – Kshyala Pinto-Jayawardena speaking in English, Nipunika Hewagamage in Sinhala, and Arthiga Ramasamy in Tamil.  The program also included compiled of three short, gripping speeches in Sinhala by Shivanthi Ratnayake, Tamil by Priyathanushan Balakumar and English by Shehani Rajendra These three speakers were handpicked UMT Student Leaders who elucidated how UMT has positively influenced their wellbeing and how important it is to them. The program concluded with the vote of thanks also being delivered by two of UMT’s young leaders – namely Bhagya Wickramage from Colombo and Yasodha Selvarajah from Killinochchi.

 

Further, two significant initiatives were launched; on a national level the ‘Inaugural Unity and Integration Awards’ and the unique ‘Power ONE Hundred Project’ tailor-made for student leaders having recently completed A Levels.

 

The Inaugural Unity and Integration Awards are the first of its kind that recognised personal efforts and contributions made through UMT projects in fostering unity, integration and reconciliation. The awards also identified those who proffered significant improvements through Performing and Visual Arts towards the accomplishment of UMT’s objectives. The winners for the night were: Methunshanka Suduwelikandage (Matara), Sasha Pinto-Jayawardena(Colombo), Fazlan Faiz(Colombo), Dinushkanth Thiyagarajah(Colombo),  Anfal Nilar (Colombo), Vishwa Steinwall (Colombo), Firnaz Mohamed(Colombo), Maleesa Fernando(Colombo), Priyathanushan Balasingam (Mullaithivu), Vinoth Manimaran(Mullaithivu), Yasodha Selvarajah (Killinochchi), Shani Samuel (Colombo), Sajisangar Karunanithy (Jaffna), Ahmed Ibrahim Mohamed Hizam (Batticaloa), Shehani Rajendra (Colombo), Taniya Lakshamenon (Kandy), Ellon Newton (Colombo), Prunthaban Gunarajah (Jaffna), Shivanthi Rathnayake (Kegalle), Mayuranraj Sadacharalingam (Mannar), Eric Evans (Bandarawela), Anne Roach (Marawila) and Anne Keshali Fernando (Kalutara).

 

The Unity and Integration awards aims to raise awareness and increase efforts to promote peace and harmony amongst student leaders across the Nation by giving credit to those who have attempted to do so.

About UMT

The UMT has been in existence since May 2009 and is a non-profit voluntary organisation that is dedicated to fostering unity, integration, healing and reconciliation between the war affected teenagers and young adults in the Wanni area and their peers from all over of Sri Lanka. Further, UMT encourages and partakes in the development of the skills of these young leaders, they will then realize their status as equal sons and daughters of a beautiful Mother Lanka, and move forward united as one to build a new Sri Lanka, a Sri Lanka that has the strength of all its people heralding in the most wonderful part of its history yet.