TEA LEAF TRUST
Tea Leaf Trust is a UK-based charity that runs educational programs for children and young people in Sri Lankan tea estates, lifting them and their families out of poverty through employment, further education, and training.
The current constantly evolving economic situation in Sri Lanka, in particular, the high inflation and increased cost of living, is making it extremely difficult for our students to regularly attend school. They are being forced to choose between going to school and having enough food for their family.
Tim Pare and Yasmine Pare started the Tea Leaf Trust in 2010 — an immersive English program where 18-24-year-olds from the tea estates learn language, leadership, and self-efficacy skills. While in the program, TLT students go into the tea estate communities teach weekly English lessons to younger students and do service projects to benefit the broader community. Several TLT students have returned to become teachers in the program!
Gnanam Foundation in partnership with Tea Leaf Trust
I met Tim and the Tea Leaf Trust in 2022, and I was very impressed with their work. Gnanam Foundation issued our first grant to Tea Leaf Trust in 2022, to help partially support the Nuwara Eliya Tea Leaf Center at Nanu Oya in the Central province of Sri Lanka. We issued our second grant in 2023 to support the same center. I made more than 3 visits to the center in 2023, and I was very impressed with the students and their performance. Gnanam Foundation has extended our support to Tea Leaf Trust in 2025 on their education-based initiatives to empower the youth in Sri Lankan Tea Estate communities. We would be supporting their Nuwara Eliya TLC and their Pussellawa TLC for the year 2025.
