Horizon Lanka Foundation » Sucess Stories

Charika Madhushanthi of Horizon Lanka talks about her ambitions

horizonlankafoundationlk — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 14:30:26 +0000

In this video clip, Charika Madhushanthi of Horizon Lanka talks about her ambitions. Charika was selected to university after passing recently held Advanced Level exam with 3 A passes. She was ranked 47 from the whole Anuradhapura district.

A BRAND NEW LAPTOP FOR HANSI SUMEDHA

horizonlankafoundationlk — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 04:47:44 +0000

Dr. Ing. E. Leuthold from Switzerland contacted Horizon Lanka Foundation through email last April and informed us that he is willing to provide a brand new laptop for one of our students. Horizon staff selected Tharanga Sampath, a brilliant student at Horizon Lanka Academy. We thank Dr. Ing. E. Leuthold a lot for this generous donation. Dr. Ing. E. Leuthold promised to send two more laptops for the next two best students at Horizon Lanka Academy.

Ranuka Udayanga was the second student to get a brand new laptop from Dr. Ing. E. Leuthold. Hansi Sumedha got the third laptop.

Read an essay written by Hansi below.

“We are the buds that will bloom in the future. We should try to meet our parent’s expectations. Education is a true gift. Education can never be stolen away from us. It is not only to pass the exams or do jobs but also to help become good citizens in our country. Our teachers encourage us to do this. To help and love others you need to have a good heart. We don’t know what the future holds for us. Today if we learn good habits we can have a sparkling future. And achieve through this education a prosperous future.
An education is worthwhile only to those who try to learn, aspire to learn. There is a path laid out for you to follow using your vision why follow a path as a blind man. We live in a novel world. Man is developing little by little. Therefore, education is very useful to a man.”

Lak Saviya Foundation was involved in coordinating with the donor in Switzerland – Dr. Ing. E. Leuthold – and Horizon Lanka for the purchase and delivery of the laptop computers. Lak Saviya managed to liaise with the donor and the recipient (through Horizon Lanka) for selecting appropriate Acer laptops from Colombo that fits within the budget of the donor and suitable for the end users – two Digital Ambassadors in Mahavilachchiya village. We thank Lak Saviya for their generous assistance to us in this regard.

TWO MONTHS AT EUROCENTER DDC, COLOMBO – Iresha Dilhani

horizonlankafoundationlk — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 03:32:17 +0000

After I sat for my Advanced Level examination I was selected to participate in a two-month course on web designing at a software company called EuroCenter in Kollupitiya. The knowledge I obtained during these two months was most beneficial to me. If I had not been a student at Horizon Lanka, I would not have had the opportunity of realizing my dream.

The course was indeed very interesting. Most students complain that such courses are boring and uninteresting. Having completed the course with success, I cannot agree with them. Web designing was made interesting by the varied teaching methods implemented by the instructors.
At first, with the guidance of our instructors, we successfully designed a web site for the EuroCenter sports club. With the experience we gained we learned how to manage a project, meet with customers’ requirements, manage time for new ideas, work with a time table, work in a team and how a company functions etc. At EuroCenter we also learned to play table tennis and even took part in a tournament.
My thanks go to my dear EuroCenter friends who were kind and friendly and made our stay quite pleasant.

Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention that I took part in a delightful Christmas party and also in their year-end gathering. I have never been to a Christmas party before. It was really nice and joyful. Santa was there too! He gave me a gift and the office staff sang carols. The yearend party which was held at the Holiday Inn Hotel was one of my nicest experiences.
I shall never ever forget these wonderful two months and once more I would like to thank all the staff members of EuroCenter especially the CEO Mr Mano Sekaram and Mr Johann De Cruz for giving this chance to us.

(Updated: January 11, 2008)

eMAIL iresha@horizonlanka.org

WEB Iresha Dilhani BLOG http://ireshadilhani.wordpress.com/

CHAMILA PRIYADARSHANI EDIRISINGHA BECOMES A LANGUAGE TEACHER

horizonlankafoundationlk — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:08:43 +0000

I was born in Mahavilachchiya, a remote village about 40 km away from Anuradhapura city, situated about 230 km of Colombo, Sri Lanka as the eldest daughter in farming family. I had most of my primary education at Saliya Mala Viduhala, and secondary education at Swarnapali Balika Viduhala, Anuradhapura. I finished my G. C. E. Ordinary Level Examination in 1999, I passed the examination with one “D” pass and five “C” passes. After, I entered the Swarnapali Balika College to complete my Advanced Level Examination in 2000. I finished the examination in 2002, in commerce stream with two “C” passes and one “S” pass. After that, I got a chance to join Horizon Lanka Foundation in 2002. So, it was great opportunity to me, to carry on the ICT education and to improve my English knowledge well. During that time I could improve myself well. Of course I could get an “A” pass to English in 2004.

As well as I commenced Diploma in Computer Studies course at IDM Academy totally free of charge with the courtesy of IDM’s chairman Dr. Bandu Ranasinghe. I went to India to participate the ICT training in IIT Madras in South India. As well as, I would like to thank Horizon Lanka Foundation and to ICTA of Sri Lanka for that.

While studying there, I could get an opportunity to study three languages in Rural Educational Development Academy. I learnt English, Japanese and Tamil. There we had three years’ training on those languages and after we had to teach in public schools. At the moment I am working after school in Siddhartha Maha viddhyalaya and working as a volunteer IT teacher in Saliya Mala Vidyalaya. So I decided to register in University of sri Jayawardanapura to do an English degree also. Now I’m going to classes and I want to be a good teacher and communicate in various languages. (Updated: January 10, 2008)

eMAIL chamila@horizonlanka.org

WEB ………. ……………………………………… BLOG http://chamilaedirisinghe.wordpress.com/

A sucess story from Krishanthi, the Birthday Girl

horizonlankafoundationlk — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 05:50:21 +0000

Krishanthi Priyadarshani krishanthi@horizonlanka.org

Hi, I am Krishanthi Priyadarshani a former student of the Horizon Lanka. Today (December 31) is my birthday. I have a pleasant story to share with you today.

I studied at Saliya Mala Viduhala in Mahavilachchiya. It is a small government school. At that time I was in grade 4. I had no much interest in studying English before but after arrival of Mr. Nandasiri Wanninayaka at Saliya Mala School, the students felt studying English is fun. English became more interesting than our mother tongue, Sinhala.

Later we started Horizon School in Mahavilachchiya. At the beginning the students studied under the trees due to inadequate facilities the school had but this situation has entirely changed at present and the students are very fortunate at present to study in a big computer laboratory (which was donated by Mrs. Lovina Charles) with unlimited internet access.

I have a personal web page. It was designed by me. My only dream is doing a job in graphic design and photography.

I am lucky to get advanced computer training at Sri Lanka Tourist Board through the Horizon Lanka Foundation. First I want to thank Mr. Udana Wickramasighe, Director ICT, Sri Lanka Tourist Board for giving me a chance first. Mr. Wickramasighe had been visiting Horizon Lanka site for a long time while he was in Australia. After coming to Sri Lanka he saw some stories in the press about Horizon Lanka and contacted Mr. Wanninayaka to help us. I am improving my computer knowledge here and I am spending my time on it. The staff here is very friendly with me. I thank Horizon Lanka for taking me this far.

How I got a job in Colombo – Majith Rakshitha Perera – Former student of Horizon Lanka

horizonlankafoundationlk — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 05:41:50 +0000

By Majith Rakshitha Perera – Former student of Horizon Lanka majith@horizonlanka.org

I am Majith Rakshitha Perera from Mahavilachchiya. I have long history with Horizon Lanka Foundation. I joined Horizon when I was studying in grade seven. Now I am 20 years old. I got good experiences from the Horizon Lanka. I haven’t got paper qualifications (certificates) for my computer knowledge. But I have knowledge than people with certificates. I know basic computer networking and computer hardware. I can learn any software very fast.

I am repairing computers in the village. This small business provides me pocket money. I got a good chance to work with Enterprise Technology (PVT) Ltd. It was the mesh Internet project of Mahavilachchiya. I work with them for six months. I got from them a good knowledge about networking. I got 15,000 LKR per month as a salary during those six months.

I learnt internet browsing at Horizon Lanka. We have unlimited internet. So it is a big chance for us. We can download the things we need immediately as we have unlimited internet access. I also have some experiences in teaching. I was a computer instructor to junior students at Horizon Lanka.

Now I am doing a job as a graphic designer in Colombo. I got all these opportunities due to the experiences I got at Horizon Lanka.