Featured Charity of the Month
The Tea Leaf Trust
The Tea Leaf Trust was set up in January 2008 to alleviate poverty and provide opportunities to the tea-picking regions of Sri Lanka.
The tea picking community mainly consists of Indian Tamils and is drawn disproportionately from low-caste groups. The poor conditions and wages on the tea estates have lead to widespread alcoholism as well as high rates of domestic and sexual abuse. The suicide rate amongst women in the tea estate areas is the highest in South East Asia.
The charity came about as a result of a visit by founder, Tim Pare, to the region in 2007: “I felt a very clear sense of responsibility on hearing their story, as it was the British who first brought Indian Tamils to the region to pick tea 150 years ago, and then left them with no legislative rights when they withdrew from the Island in 1949.”
Tim and his wife, Dr Yasmene Shah, will be relocating to Numara Eliya in January 2009 and will commit long-term to establishing and managing a School and Community Centre in the Ragalla area of Numara Eliya which is famous for its beauty. Tourism flourishes in the area with many affluent residents of Colombo having holiday homes in the area, and although this trend makes the polarisation of the society even starker, there are good opportunities for training the locals to work in the tourism industry. With an initial fundraising budget of £30,000 the charity plans to introduce a raft of projects including training in English, IT and vocational training to enable even the most impoverished people to find employment. Alongside the programme there will be a series of workshops to address other social needs of the regions, such as health awareness, women’s groups and activities for community cohesion.
On 22 November the charity will hold its inaugural Sri Lankan Winter Ball at the fabulous Porchester Hall, Bayswater. There are some amazing prizes on offer including a luxury all-inclusive break in Sri Lankan.
Tickets cost £70 (£650 for a table of ten) more details from tealeaftrust@yahoo.com or call Yasmene on 07875 014355.
See past charity of the month entries here.