Sunday 4th January 2026

It was time to leave Daya's home this morning and head off to Nuwara Eliya. I had been invited to another good friend Donald's family for lunch on the way, but that quickly turned into my attendance at the Mini Miracles Preschool and Day Care Centre Graduation Ceremony, as Donald got a last minute invite to it and wanted me to join him before we went home to his for lunch. Of course, I accepted the invitation, and it ended up being very enjoyable, if rather long.

I arrived early, so I had time to see where Donald works now, as it is just round the corner. When I first met Donald in 2019, he was a teacher at Tea Leaf Centre Nuwara Eliya. He then set up his own teaching company called GROW in Nuwara Eliya, with Ladushan, who had worked with him at Tea Leaf, as had Kawya, who is now married to Ladushan and working for GROW too. Kawya was at Dreamspace Academy today running an innovation workshop for youngsters.

It is a great legacy for Tea Leaf that Donald moved on to set up GROW, and has diversified to take on a new role at Dreamspace Academy, where the newly appointed girl on their Reception desk was also a former Tea Leaf student at Tea Leaf Centre Bogawantalawa. Their landlord's wife set up the Mini Miracles Preschool in 2018, and it was through this connection that Donald was invited to today's event, and collared me into going as well.

Dreamspace Academy was very adversely affected when Trump became President of the USA and immediately cancelled US Aid across the world. It stopped Donald from earning additional income whilst at GROW to make ends meet. The recent flooding and landslides have also impacted Donald, as it has resulted in a drop in student numbers at GROW and at Dreamspace Academy, so he feels that life can very much seem like two steps forwards, but three steps back at times.

Tea Leaf Trust has played a vital role in educating and skilling up young people like Donald, Ladushan, and Kawya, so that they can then move on to achieve professional success, and over the past 16 years the impact that Tea Leaf has exerted within the Hill Country has remained as vital as ever, as these poorest of communities have lived through COVID, the collapse of the Sri Lankan economy, and most recently the shocking flooding and landslides.

Today's photos show a brief snapshot of the innovation side of the work that goes on at Dreamspace Academy, with the remaining photos showing what a delightful event it was attending the Preschool's Graduation Ceremony, before then heading off to have a lovely time with Donald's family over lunch (where I just enjoyed the social occasion and didn't take any photos!).