The final UKFG event the Hewavidana Family held was the Galle Party. Here, a massive function was held for all UKFG scholarship children located in Galle, the region which was most impacted by the Asian Tsunami in 2004. It was held at the famous historical Buddhist Temple Wijayanada Pirivena with venerable Buddhist Monks involved to make sure everything ran smoothly.
The event started with performances by scholarship children who performed a variety of items such as traditional dancing, reciting speeches, and singing. After a few performances, lunch was served to all guests.. When lunch was over, Deshan and Dinum took to the limelight to perform some English and Sinhala songs. These included the highly entertaining rap to ‘Boyfriend’ by Justin Bieber and the great harmonies in ‘I’m Coming Home to Sri Lanka’.
Afterwards, Deshan took to the microphone to address his friends back home in England, saying that everyone he has accomplished is all down to their support. To round of the schedule Mr Gamage and Devsiri took to the stage to talk about the get together and their UKFG experiences. Mr Gamage thanked everyone for turning up and talked about the sense of community embodied in Galle, whilst Devsiri made a heart-warming speech saying that he doesn’t expect anything from his scholarship children, but that they make Sri Lanka a better place in the future.
At the end, every child received a gift pack of stationery. They and the children posed for more group photos with Deshan, Dinum and the venerable Buddhist Monks. Most children were saying that they could not wait for the next years party. As expected, ice cream was handed to everybody to round up a fascinating and heart warming event .
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