We are the Aram Initiative, a group of young professionals and students who are looking to become the next young changemakers in Sri Lanka. Our initiative currently consists of an annual volunteering trip that facilitates university students and young professionals to visit a range of underfunded and disadvantaged institutions such as orphanages, disabled centres, community centres, schools, nurseries, and alternative education hubs.

This exposure that we give to young professionals aims to initiate a passion for discussion on developing Sri Lanka and in turn provoke productive discussions about how we can go about enacting change as a diaspora, sustainably.

We listen to what the institution would like from us and also what we think would be useful and the best use of our volunteers’ skill sets, conduct a variety of projects depending on the institution we visit, and spend money on donations that will maximise welfare.

Our donations focus on:

1) providing immediate joy through recreational activities like spending time, teaching mindfulness and meditation, playing games, donating sports and music equipment, and

2) long-term support such as through medical checkups and developing micro infrastructure.

An example of how we used donations last year was building a chicken coop at a boys’ orphanage in Batticoloa. This was done to promote self-sustenance where boys raise, use and sell the chickens and eggs which encouraged responsibility and reduces their costs on food and generates an income stream.

Some examples of activities and donations that we are looking to fundraise for this year is the installation of virtual screens for the Tea Leaf Trust, a water tank project in a village that has a lack of access to proper water infrastructure due to their isolation from wider society and to an angricultural micro-finance project in Mullaitivu. Which are but just a few examples.

Our facilitating partner for this trip is TamilAid UK registered charity.