Thishantha Ganearachchi
With the retirement of Newton Perera, Extra Cover has appointed Thishantha Ganearachchi to be the head of Extra Cover Foundation, its NGO partner in Sri Lanka. Thishantha graduated with a degree in Agriculture in 2000, and immediately began a career working in the NGO sector. Following the tsunami of 2004, he joined “Basicneeds”, a UK based NGO, working in the field of community mental health, where he used his counselling skills to develop intervention programmes for high-risk groups, including those facing redundancy and suffering from possible post-traumatic stress disorder.
In 2008, he linked up with the Dutch organization “Hellabeem Sri Lanka”, which runs a rehabilitation and vocational training centre for boys with walking disabilities. Thanks in part to his administrative and pastoral skills, Hellabeem has proved a great success, with many boys now able to lead independent lives. He is married and when he has the chance, loves to engage in his hobby of landscape gardening. Extra Cover is absolutely thrilled to have Thishantha on board – his knowledge of the NGO sector, not least those areas concerning children and youth with disabilities, is proving invaluable. From his home in Colombo, Newton continues to help us in an advisory capacity.