Latest News
Sunday 29 June 2008
From: Mike Fonfe
Received by: Email.
Women’s Swimming Project Get Going in Galle Lighthouse Community PoolFrom the Press Release of the Official Opening of the Lighthouse Community Swimming Pool in Galle, I can reveal that Christina was actually the unknowing inspiration for the creation of this swimming pool in the first place.
Hiran Cooray of Jetwing Lighthouse Holidays and Hotels, www.jetwing.com told guests at the Opening Ceremony on 29 June how, just after visiting the small fishing town of Welligama to assess tsunami destruction for another project, he came across Christina already teaching women and teenaged girls from the village how to swim in a tiny derelict pond (Hiran’s words) on an old coconut plantation. This unsolicited action by a foreigner inspired him to do something similar, but on a bigger scale that could address the large population of a whole community. And so the Galle pool project was born. With land donated by the Lighthouse Hotel and funds drawn together by the efforts of the People of the Dutch town of Velsen in memory of one of their own sons lost in the tsunami, www.velsenhelpgalle.nl represented on this day by Mr Kumarasinghe, and by the drive and determination of the well known hotelier Geoffrey Dobbs www.adoptsrilanka.com to bring together substantial donors for a sustainable project that would together benefit the community and pay tribute to those who had lost their lives, the pool was officially declared open by Sri Lanka’s Olympic swimmer, Julian Bolling, whose own program www.swimlanka.lk contributed expertise and technical know-how to the Project. And so, it was entirely appropriate that Christina Fonfe’ should have already had her girls from the Women’s Swimming Project www.icanswimcanyou.com piloting teaching and swimming operations in the Lighthouse Community Pool ahead of its official opening every Monday since early May. Monday is now Women’s Swimming Day in Galle. All we need is another six pools to cover the rest of the week for women. |
