Let’s give them all a chance to study Manjula Dissanayake

Based in Washington D.C. can be proud of his many achievements; but among them his greatest would be Educate Lanka, an organisation which helps needy young Sri Lankan students to complete their education. Here he talks to

Dressed in a pressed blue shirt and jeans with his meticulously styled hair, and speaking with a slight foreign accent, he looks like any other young Sri Lankan who has returned to Sri Lanka for the December holidays.

His story begins too like most other young Sri Lankans living across the globe. He grew up here, completed his local Advanced Level exams and then left home to study abroad, reading for a degree in finance and following it up with a Masters in social innovation and entrepreneurship.

Make no mistake, the similarities end there. Manjula Dissanayake, now based in Washington D.C. is hardly your average Sri Lankan expatriate. At the age of 32, he was named in the 2013 international list of top young Global Influencers in Foreign Policy under the age 33 by the Diplomatic Courier Jehan, adding in true Jehan style that he is “claaaaass”. “What he and Educate Lanka are doing is truly amazing - and so much of it is hinged on Manjula’s passion and drive. It’s inspiring to see somebody who can bring an idea to life the way he has. That’s an important lesson to others - especially the young people who have great ideas, please make them happen!

Jehan has helped the Educate Lanka cause whenever possible. “I promote Educate Lanka whenever I can, for example I recently shared a thank you letter that the student I sponsored sent me. I posted it on my Facebook page and invited others to sponsor a student too and Manjula called me and told me that Educate Lanka had a huge increase in sponsors! So much so that it crashed their servers! We have plans for a few things this year, so keep an eye out. I hope we can all crash the servers many more times! GO LANKA!”

Jehan has become a brand ambassador for Educate Lanka from 2014.

Educate Lanka’s inaugural charity walk “Educate Lanka – Walk for a Cause” will take place next Sunday, January 19. The walk starting from Independence Square at 8.30 a.m. will end at the CR & FC Grounds.

Manjula hopes that this would give them an opportunity to not only raise funds, but also to raise awareness and enlist volunteers for their work.

Participants can donate to Educate Lanka by buying a ticket. It costs Rs. 1000, to educate a child for a month.

For more information, see: www.educatelanka.org