Thursday 29th October 2026

Today was a very special day, as I had been invited to attend the Tea Leaf Centre Bogawantalawa Speech Conference. For many reasons, not least being that I have felt a part of this Tea Leaf Centre since it first opened three years ago in October 2023, this is my absolute favourite Tea Leaf Centre. I also love Speech Conferences, whichever Tea Leaf Centre I attend them in, so I was well pleased - indeed, quite excited - to be one of the Chief Guests in Bogawantalawa today.

Staying at Daya's means I only have a fairly short three-wheeler ride to Bogawantalawa, and it is a beautiful journey, and so much more comfortable now that most of the road had a serious upgrade not so long ago. I met this cohort of students when I last visited this Tea Leaf Centre towards the end of January earlier on this year, so it was particularly impressive to see them performing in their Speech Conference towards the end of their Main Diploma year.

Ms. Kalyani Subagaran, the exceptional Principal of Tea Leaf Centre Bogawantalawa, together with her lovely team, had made a wonderful job of arranging this Speech Conference, and I am sure that Ms. Jesmin Arumugam, who was attending as one of Tea Leaf's senior members of staff in her current role as Development Director, was very impressed with what she saw today. The whole event was a huge success, and it was such a fabulous day for me to play a small role in.

One of the highlights for me was four groups of students delivering presentations for business ideas that they had developed, and I thought the group that was judged the best was exceptionally good. I was also particularly impressed by Hasmita's delivery of her persuasive speech about overcoming poverty in Sri Lanka. She had a very exceptional, powerful style of delivery, and I made a special point to congratulate her, and take a photo with her, afterwards.

Today's photographs are all from the Speech Conference, with the third photo being me with Ms. Jesmin Arumugam, the seventh photo showing me presenting Dhushanthi with her certificate for being judged the most impactful presenter today, and the eighth photo showing me congratulating Hasmita (a tiny young lady, with a big impact, who I anticipate will be very successful) on the magnificent delivery of her speech today.











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