Happy New Year! 2007

Shakti TV - a famous national TV station came to our orphanage to celebrate the Sinhala/Tamil new year on the 14th April 2007. The program was telecasted LIVE throughout the country. The children all danced, sang and played games. Some children from the neighboring boys' orphanage 'Arun Shantinivas' also visited Gokulam and performed a dance program for the TV.

Easter Party at Il Ponte

Thirty children celebrate the Easter Party on the 10th April, 2007 at IL PONTE, Colombo. Sponsored by Mr. William Costley, General Manager, Hilton Colombo. 

Opening ceremony of School Building - Second Floor

The second floor of the school building was declared open by Mr. Shailendra Kumar Gupta

Chairman, VSNL Lanka Limited on he 1st of February 2007.

Christmas Outing

The Children went on a trip to Cine City - a cinema theater, Sathu Tu Uyana - an amusement park and to Cinnemon Hotel - a five star hotel on the day after Christmas 2006! The outing was sponsored by the Lions Club of Cedar Valley - Canada and the Lions Club of Mutual Town - Colombo.

The children left the orphanage at 9am in the morning to the theater where they watched a recently released famous tamil comedy 'Imsai Arasan 23am Pulikesi'. From the theater, they proceeded to the amusement park where they spent their time playing till evening. On their way back, they went to the Cinnamon Hotel where they were warmly received by the hotel management who provided them with welcome drinks, snacks and also a tour around the hotel .

     

ACTRESS POOJA VISITS ON CHRISTMAS!

Pooja, a South Indian Actress visited Gokulam on the Christmas day and presented
the children with cake, soft drinks and toys. The program was arranged by Vijay
Publications. She was accompanied to Gokulam by the members of Vijay Publication,
Thaalam FM. Also present on the occasion was Mrs. Priya Shankar a famous
beautician in Colombo. The Children had a wonderful time in the party. They sang songs
and enjoyed the treats.

Floods

"Heavy rains has been a huge disaster to Gokulam for these two years. We thought the November 2005 flood was the last we would ever see here. And even after the precautionary works such as raising the ground level etc, the flood has not only returned unexpectedly but it has exceeded the previous level by two folds" (Nandarani Devi, Principal)

At 11pm on the 28th October 2006, in a matter of a few hours the water level rose rapidly to 4ft inside the ground floor buildings. The children and the caretakers in the ground floor dormitory had to hurriedly shift their belongings to the upper dormitories. However, no proper action could be taken until the next morning.

Doors, furniture, cupboards, books, washing machine, refrigerators etc has been damaged by this flood.

This flood has not only been a disaster to Gokulam, but also to the whole area including hospitals, schools, residencies etc situated, for many of who this flood was a first experience. The flood level was so high that even the main airport road on which Gokulam is situated was not accessible for a day.

After lasting for 4 days, the flood has finally gone down. However, Gokulam wont be back to its normal state for another week or so, as there is the cleaning and disinfecting. And after that the damages have to be repaired which is estimated to cost at least SLR 1 million (USD 10,000).

Dwight Englewood's continuous support

Dwight Englewood continues to sponsor 5 children from 2007-2009 and have given US$4000.

Opening Ceremony of School Building - First Floor

The first floor of the School building was declared open on the 30th May 2006 by Mr.Per Kvarum, Vice President Industrial, Yara Internationa Asa, Norway. The floor was donated by 'Ceylon Oxygen Ltd'. pictures

Opening Ceremony of School Building - Ground Floor

The Ground floor of the School building was declared open on the 12th February 2006 by, Lion. Graetian Gunawardena MJF (District Gevernor 306B2). This floor was donated by The lions club of Cedar Valley (Canada) in collaboration with Lions club of Colombo Midtown.

Raising of the ground level after floods

The ground level is being raised by filling earth and necessary alterations are done to the building to avoid future floods.