MJF Charitable Foundation – Blog
Business is a matter of human service

Nearly 40 differently able children from the MJF Groups Kahawatte Plantations and another 30 – 35 from the surrounding villages of the plantations in Nawalapitiya will be trained in performing arts in 3 Centres within the plantations. This special programme will be commenced in August by MJFCF in collaboration with Sunera Foundation. 

The project introductory meeting for the Plantation Managers and health staff was held at Nawalapitiya on the 14^th of June.

Consequent to the formal launch of special English & Maths education project for 25 schools in Talawakelle at the Holyrood Primary School opening, the project was formally inaugurated at the Kotagala Tamil Maha Vidyalaya in Kotagala on the 24^th of May. Principals of all 25 schools, the Maths and English Teachers of the respective schools were present at the inauguration chaired by the Additional Zonal Director of Education. The objectives, the methodology and the expected outcomes of the project were clearly outlined to all school Principals and Teachers and all attendees whilst appreciating the initiatives taken by MJFCF to improve the achievements levels in Maths and English at the GCE O/L exam, assured their fullest commitment towards achieving the expected outcomes.

The 1^st model exam in Maths and English for nearly 1050 GCE O/L students will be held on 25^th and 26^th May respectively in all 25 schools.  MJFCF handed over the printed test papers to the Principals of all schools. Similar exams will be held every month till November – thus preparing the students suitably to face the GCE O/L exam in December. In addition nearly 6000 students in Grades 6 – 10 will face a mid year achievement test in June in English and Maths. 

Nearly 90% of the student population in the 25 schools in this programme are children of Tea Plantation workers in Talawakelle, Dimbula and Kotagala areas.

This special education improvement project is a joint venture between MJFCF and Noramix Group of Norway.

The MJF Kids held their Vesak lantern competition for the 4^th year in succession at their Kids home in Peliyagoda on 22^nd May.  Vesak is a Buddhist religious event celebrated in Sri Lanka in the month of May every year. The significance of Vesak is the birth, enlightenment and the demise of Lord Buddha.

All 8 groups within the MKF Kids produced colouful lanterns under theme of birds and animals associated with the life of Buddha. The panel of judges comprising of Vajira from QA, Nissala from HR and Shanthi from MJFCF from within the MJF group indeed had a hard task in selecting the best 4 as all groups produced some creative lanterns.

It was a great effort by the Kids amidst a week long heavy rains and floods experienced in most part of the country. However on the day of the event, there was no rains at all and the kids representing all religious faiths  were really overjoyed and thanked god for acceding to their week long prayers in giving them a rain free day to display their creative lanterns.

Team “Rose” emerged winners followed by Nelum and Manel Teams.

Dilhan and Serena along with the panel of judges distributed the prizes to the winners.

The week long events to mark the 80^th birthday of Mr. Merrill J Fernando culminated with the ceremonial opening of the new Primary School at Holyrood Estate in Talawakelle by Mr. Merrill J Fernando on 15^th May along with Malik, Dilhan and of course young Amrit. Hon. V Radahkirishnan – former Provincial Minster of Education who along with Dilhan laid the foundation stone for this school on 21^st November 2009 was also present in his capacity as Member of Parliament for the Nuwara Eliya district and formally took over the keys of the school from Mr. Fernando and handed over them to the Principal of the school. This modern and spacious facility with 5 class room/cum auditorium and teachers room with adequate toilets for girls and boys will replace the existing 69 year old one room school for nearly 197 students in Grades 1 – 5. The Minister expressed his sincere thanks to the Foundation for its magnanimous donation of this school especially with a view to improve the quality of education amongst the plantation children, which amply demonstrates the true meaning of “business is a matter of human service”. The school design was done in house by the MJF CF team which was highly commended by the Minister and suggested that this design must be replicated in other government funded new primary schools in the future.

On the same day the Foundation also launched a new special English and Maths education project for 25 schools in Division 2 of Nuwara Eliya Education zone. The main objective of this project is to enhance the achievement levels at the GCE O/L examination in Maths and English. Nearly 6000 students in Grades 6 – 10 from the selected 25 schools inclusive of 1050 students who will be sitting the GCE O/L exam in December 2010 will be benefited from this project, which is supported by Noramix Group of Norway – a close associate and distributor of Dilmah tea in Norway.

Earlier on 8^th May, Mr. Fernando handed over SEP grants to 12 beneficiaries of the St. Vincent Paul Society at the St. Mary’s Church at Mattakkuliya to inaugurate the 1^st phase of the SEP project. The children of this society had been supported by the Foundation with a nutritional improvement programme for the past 8 years.

Mr. Merrill J Fernando along with Malik, Kimarli and Dilhan laid the foundation stone for the expansion project of the Saddhasarana – MJF Home for the Elders in Pitipana a small village close to Mr. Merrill J Fernando’s birth place in Negombo on 8^th May. This elder’s home currently provides residential facilities for 5 elderly women and when the new wing is completed by October this year, it could accommodate another 22 inmates.

Diri Daru Piyasa – A Centre for Down Syndrome Children was declared open by the Founder Settlor Mr. Merrill J Fernando on 7^th May, at the MJF Centre at Moratuwa – A Centre for dignity with empowerment for the under privileged,   along with all the trustees of the Foundation including Mr. Selvam Mather, Mr. Rajan Asirwatham and Mr. K Ravindran and handed over the Centre to the Chairperson of Diri Daru Piyasa Ms. Miranda Hemalatha. This centre will provide learning in English, Music, Dance, IT, Sewing, Cookery etc., for nearly 50 Down Syndrome children so as to empower these children to be on their own and be a active member of the family in particular  and society in general by utilizing their differently able skills, ability and enthusiasm.  Earlier in the day the children who will make use of this facility accorded a warm welcome to Mr. Merrill J Fernando and all the invitees and they too sang happy birthday to him whist cutting the birthday cake.

The Foundation launched several new projects to coincide with the 80^th birthday of its Founder and Settlor Mr. Merrill J Fernando which fell on 6^th May 2010. The Foundation team together with all its stakeholders and the MJF Kids wishes Mr. Merrill J Fernando many more years of good health and happiness and the strength to bring about a change in the lives of many more less fortunate, under privileged and the differently able.

1. The MJF Challenge Trophy Cricket match for the blind was played at the NCC Grounds in Colombo on 6^th May between the School for the Deaf & Blind Monaragala and the Rajarata Jayaviru Deaf & Blind Sport Club Anuradhapura. The Monaragala team won the match handsomely by over 200 runs and carried away the trophy for the 3^rd consecutive year in a row. The lads from Monaragala scored 320 runs in 25 overs with an outstanding knock of 124 from the skipper Chaminda Deshapriya. He also won the best player of the match for B3 category.  Incidentally Deshapriya also became the 1^st student from the School for the Deaf & Blind Monaragala to gain admission to a University and is reading for his Arts degree at the Ruhuna University. The Foundation which is closely associated with the development of the School for the Deaf & Blind Monaragala for the past 5 years awarded a scholarship to Deshapriya to continue his University studies for the next 3 years. All awards and the scholarships were presented by the Settlor Merrill J Fernando along with the other Trustees of the Foundation – Himedra, Minnet, Malik and Dilhan. The children from the School for the Deaf & Blind sang Happy Birthday Chairman just prior to the presentation of awards.

The entire MJF Group took time off to have a day of great fun at the NCC grounds in Colombo last Sunday 7^th March at the inaugural Dilmah 6 – a – side Cricket and Volleyball tournament.

The organizing committee took great pains in looking into all details in ensuring a great day for all employees of the MJF Group.

The proceedings commenced at 8 in the morning with the hoisting of the National and Dilmah flags by Chairman Merrill J Fernando and the singing of the National Anthem and the Dilmah Anthems.

26 mens and 6 womens cricket teams and 4 volleyball teams representing the various departments of the group participated in the tournament. 61 cricket and 4 volleyball matches were worked out to precise timing in 5 pitches. All teams displayed good sportsmanship and competitiveness throughout the tournament backed by strong support and cheer from the respective departments. Typical Sri Lankan music and dance which one would usually see at the International cricket matches was also at hand to keep the supporters and cheering squads in high spirits.  Whilst the Production and Engineering Department teams fielded young players, Marketing, Operations and HR teams had players even  in their mid 50’s as well. Deputy Chairman Himendra a stylish cricketer during his days also played for the HR team.

Bulking Jumbos – representing the Production department won the mens cricket tournament whilst Premium Beauties consisting of the secretaries emerged the winners in the ladies finals.

Chairman along with Malik, Dilhan, Himendra, Minette, Roshan,  Rajeev and Upali gave away the awards and trophies to the winners. In his address to the staff, Chairman expressed his enthusiasm in having witnessed a well organized event played with good companionship and competitiveness and with the participation of the entire group as one family. He went on to say that this unity and comradeship was the need of the hour, not only at Dilmah but all over the world. The day’s proceedings concluded with a dancing session by the entire group to the popular rhythms of the Sri Lankan “baila”.

Having burnt out the entire hot and humid Sunday on the grounds the Dilamh teams were back at their work stations as usual on Monday morning . No aches or pains, no sprained muscles or ligaments!

That’s the Dilmah spirit and doing things the Dilmah way.

MJF Groups inter department  6- a side- cricket tournament will be played at the NCC Grounds in the heart of Colombo on 7th March. Teams representing the Tea Department, Marketing, Production, Engineering , QA, Shipping, Transportation and HR/Admin will compete at this inaugural tournamnent. Kamal and Eardley from MJFCF will play in the HR/Admin team whilst Neome will play for the womens team. Uditha and Reggie will lead the cheer squads and Sumi will be a silent spectator.

Versatile and stylish cricketers during their school and college days in the calibre of  Himendra Ranaweera, Sanjaya Perara, Vajira Sugathapala, Ravindra Dias, Shehan, Rajeev Mathangaweera and Spencer Manualpillai etc… will be in action on the 7th of March.

The MJF ladies will be divided into 2 teams and will be lead by Marini and Dushy.

The respective teams are hard at practice these days after work.