Mental health is still a highly unregulated sector of Sri Lanka, Samana aims to change this. Samana roughly translates to Equal in Sinhala and Tamil. This project will focus on meaningful and lasting ways of working towards an equal Sri Lanka.
Why did I start Samana alongside a friend of mine? I have suffered from severe depression since 2018 and after speaking openly about my struggles and how I cope, I received countless messages to this day; from people who can relate to the struggles and people thanking me for speaking out. However, I am just one person, Samana is a project that I know will go beyond me and my message. We have officially launched and working on a phased approach! To find out more get in touch with us on www.samana.lk.
Samana
The 25th Hour Podcast
I used to be told all the time to start a podcast, well here it is. Why the 25th hour podcast? I believe that we are always able to "Go One More". This podcast is structured around sharing my thoughts on different topics and speaking to individuals who have either succeeded in achieving happiness through their venture or a company they work for, and people who are working hard at carving out their slice of happiness.
Let's deep dive into what makes incredible humans tick, through the belief of the 25th hour.
Cosplay Clean Up
A little project two full-time university students put together to inspire one other person to be an #everydaysuperhero. Here's why I moved my life towards a more sustainable one. It was my first trip with my mother in 2018, we went to Jaffna and visited Kankesanthurai or better known as KKS beach. The sun was setting and I (the adventurer) decided to climb on to this abandoned structure by the beach. It was a beautiful moment until I looked down and found easily over 500kg of plastic bottles. That's when I realized, it's the things we don't see and easily ignore what is destroying our planet.
So Cosplay Clean Up is a combination of my love of superheroes and geekdom with sustainability. After partnering with amazing organizations such as Sea Shepherd, it was clear, we were inspiring people to change in little to big ways, and that in itself was amazing. It was a surreal feeling to organize 4 successful clean-ups in 3 countries in less than 4 months, cleaning up close to 1 tonne of plastic from beaches and the sight of a little superman and spiderman picking up trash. To quote a little superman - "I'm teaching my dad to pick up trash at home too". Win.
Good things cooking...
Other than my delicious chicken curry... Jokes aside, I am always working on myself and the projects I believe in. If there is something that you would like to work on that aligns with my values, pitch it to me! I believe in collaborations that make social change happen. After receiving countless messages from the people that support me, and seeing change happen in their lives, I've never looked back.