Sinhala and Tamil New Year Celebration 2012

This  Festival  is  celebrated   in  the  countries  in  the  South , South  East  and East Asian  Region with different  features  based  on  the  Sun’s  journey  towards  the  direction of  North . This  is  being described as  the  dawn  of  the  New  Year . The Sinhala and the Tamil communities jointly celebrate this festival on the same day, in the middle of the month of April. In some areas in Sri Lanka, this festival celebrated in accordance with their Culture. According to historical records, celebration on this festival had commenced in AC 7-8 Centuries. An English Man named Robert Knox, who had been in the prison of the Kandyan King has described about this celebration in his book. 

                  At Present, not only the ethnic group of Sinhala and Tamils, but also Muslims too has joined to celebrate this festival with this group.

                                                                                                       

                 However, within the diocese of Kandy, this is the only festival jointly celebrated by this group and this immensely contributes for the mutual trust and harmony among Sinhalese and Tamils. “SETIK” organization uses this traditional festival to enhance communal harmony among this group, by celebrating this festival under various projects in their fields. In some fields, this is being celebrated separately.

                Under the Integral Human Development Project (Which Is Also The Main Project ) and the supplemental work Programmes, two main Celebration were held. One celebration was held at Rotawewa in Dambulla on the 20^th of April 2012. People of Rotawewa, Batuyaya, Rathmalkatuwa, Etawarahena, Rotarygama, Bogahayaya, took part in this festival. Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims who belongs to Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam jointly celebrated this festival. They took part in various games depicting ethnic and religious harmony.

And a celebration was organized at the Wevelpitiya play ground jointly by the “SETIK” Community Based Organization at Mahaiyawa and the Kandy Municipal Council, on the 17^th of May 2012. The special features of this celebration were fully organized by the Community Based Organization at Mahaiyawa, and the entire membership comprised of Tamils, belong to Hinduism and Christianity. Buddhist and Muslims too had joined to celebrate this festival. This festival has greatly contributed towards Peace, Unity and Harmony among this settlement. Attention of the other settlements in the municipal area has now been drawn to this exemplary celebration of the community of Mahaiyawa.

Fund Raising Programme for the Construction of a Cancer Treatment Centre in Kandy

A fund raising programme was conducted for the construction of a Cancer treatment centre in Kandy during the Lenten Season (22-02-2012 to 08-04-2012), Vesak (5/6-05-2012) and at the annual Church Feast of Wahacotte (16/17-06-2012).

Kandy hospital committee and the Cancer society intend to collect Rs. One Billion for the construction of the proposed ten storeyed building.

On the request of Rt. Rev. Dr. Vianney Fernando, the Bishop of Kandy, and the guidance of Rev. Fr. Camillus D. Jansz, the Director of our organization, we organized a fund raising programme through all the Parishes in the Diocese of Kandy.  Rs. One Million collected from all the parishes, was handed over to Dr. Susil Siriwardana, the Deputy Director of the General Hospital Kandy and Mr. Mohan Samarakoon, the Chairman, Cancer Society by Rt. Rev. Dr. Vianney Fernando, the Bishop of Kandy on the 25th of June 2012.

The SETIK staff who engaged in this fund raising programme at the Dalada Maligawa premises during the 'Vesak' festival was able to raise an amount of about Rs. 350,000/-.

Every year, our organization conducts an awareness programme to the accumulated crowd during the annual feast of St. Anthony's Shrine, Wahacotte.  This year, the crowed was enlightened on the deadly disease of Cancer, by distributing hand bills among the crowd, with the intention of raising funds for the proposed construction of a Cancer Treatment Centre in Kandy.  During the two days (16th & 17th of June 2012), we were able to raise a donation of about Rs. 100,000/-, which was handed over to the Cancer society of Kandy.

Bi-Annual Evaluation 2012

The Bi-Annual evaluation of our organization was conducted on the 4th, 5th, and the 6th of July 2012 at the SETIK auditorium.

A thorough assessment of the efficiency of the staff and the performance of the units of our organization were carried out with the participation of an external resource contributor.

Mr. Aruna Shantha Nonis, who served as the Manager-Peace Programme of the IHDP project of Caritas Sri Lanka National Centre (SEDEC) earlier and presently working as the Consultant of the National Council of the YMCAs of Sri Lanka, served as the Resource person.

This evaluation was immensely benefited to our staff to enhance their knowledge and the performance of the units of our organization.