Program Reviews

I did my volunteer experience for two weeks with TLT. I was lucky enough to experience the speech conference in both Maskeliya and Nuwaraeliya. The teachers and team are incredible- they are so welcoming and it was such an eye opening experience. It was a privilege to experience the full circle of students becoming teachers while also learning about the social issues TLT is looking to solve. I highly recommend volunteering at TLT and the accommodation spots recommended were so safe. I stayed with Krishan at Sky Haven and they made me feel part of their family. It was so lovely.

I had a truly wonderful experience at Tea Leaf Trust. All the staff are incredibly passionate about their work, creating a welcoming and inspiring atmosphere. They run impactful and sustainable projects, such as those focused on women’s empowerment, which help provide skills and confidence for a better future, as well as the cookstove project, which supports environmental sustainability and improves daily life for local communities.

I learned so much during my time there and gained valuable insight into the challenges these communities face, as well as the meaningful solutions being implemented. This experience has definitely changed the way I see things and inspired me to get more involved in similar initiatives.

Thank you so much for giving me the chance to be part of this amazing work!

I have been volunteering in Maskeliya for 3 weeks. Tea Leaf Trust mainly focuses on the educational aspects, but there are several projects run by TLT that uplift the community. For example, they organise workshops and help women workers on the tea estates to set up their own businesses. And the other interesting project is the cookstove, which not only helps the community but also protects the earth. I am so grateful to volunteer here, it is hard to express my feelings in words. Once you experience volunteering, you will understand exactly how I feel!

My volunteer experience at TLT was amazing. As a 17 year old, I was super nervous to go overseas alone, but the people at TLT made me feel at home immediately. While working, I wasn’t treated like an outsider, but as one of the staff and made close friendships with the staff and students that I will miss. However, the best part of course is TLT’s genuine impact on the country, and how every volunteer gets the opportunity to contribute. I got to see and be a part of the live’s of Sri Lanka’s future an experience I will never forget.

I am now 70 and I have travelled a lot in different countries . Earlier this year I spent nearly 3 months with Tea Leaf. It has been a wonderful experience with great people: persons in charge, teachers, students taught me a lot about life and I did my best to help them. All these people make the experience worth it, they move forward and make us change in a good way. I am not the same person I was , I try to understand why people do things, behave in a certain way rather than judge them without knowing anything about them.

We got to see the amazing work of Tea Leaf Trust in the beautiful inland area of Sri Lanka, in Maskeliya. The staff are very passionate and dedicated. Everything was well planned, and the teamwork went smoothly. The people here are so kind, and you get a good understanding of the organization’s work. You really have to see for yourself how great their work is.
The students are very polite, kind, and eager to connect. You also hear their stories and learn about the big challenges they face. The Tea Leaf Trust team created a great program for us, and you can really make a difference here. I highly recommend volunteering with them!.

The Tea Leaf Trust is an amazing NGO that are achieving so much for the local tea plantation communities.

It is far more than upskilling their English language skills as they learn about business methodologies, public speaking, how to develop their confidence and much more!

I spent two weeks in the school in Nuwara Eliya and was so impressed by the principal and teachers, all of whom attended this school as students.

And the students themselves are wonderful, eager, inspiring young adults who I wish all the best for their future.

An amazing NGO all round!

This was one of the most special and memorable experiences of my 6 months travelling Asia. If you want to open your eyes to how people from a disadvantaged community facing poverty live, get a deep insight into Sri Lankan culture and contribute to a cause that’s making a significant impact in changing lives, then this is the place for you!

I spent a month at TLT - 3 weeks in Maskeliya and 1 week in Nuwara Eliya - during that time I supported teachers in their lessons, helped them with their English and lead language games to support advanced students with their conversational English. Beyond that I formed wonderful friendships with the teachers and students and listened as many shared incredibly inspiring stories of the hardship they’ve faced and the resilience they’ve used to tackle problems over and over again. Outside of school I explored the stunning areas where the schools are based with teachers and volunteers and visited the homes of teachers to see how they live their lives, only being welcomed with the warmest hospitality. I think even a volunteer like me, who doesn’t have expertise in education/teaching, can have an important impact by making the students and teachers in this community feel seen and cared for by someone from outside of their world, I could really see how much it meant for them that I wanted to help them improve their English, understand their lives and be their friend.

In comparison to my experience volunteering elsewhere I think the experience of volunteering at TLT maintains a good balance between being eye opening and rewarding whilst not being something that’s too outside of your comfort zone.

With Agility With No Borders, we have created a tiny NGO aiming at narrowing life divides of unpriviledged people. In Sept 2023, we spent 1 intense and great week within the MASKELYA Tea Lea Center, to share with managers, teachers and students various practices and tools directly linked to the 21st century skills (World Economic Forum), like creativity / innovation, critical thinking / problem solving, teamwork / collaboration, dialogic vs instructional teaching, agile leadership, etc.... The welcome, the energy and the willingness to learn were unforgettable. We applied the same in Nepal, and we are preparing our next and much longer stay within Tea Leaf Vision in summer 2024.

After spending a year working with different non-profits around the globe, my time as a photographer with Tea Leaf Trust in Sri Lanka was an absolute highlight!

I spent 3 weeks living in Nuwara Eliya (documenting a newly opened Tea Leaf school) and 1 week in Maskeliya (documenting a more established Tea Leaf school). It was an incredible experience learning about life in the upcountry tea estates, while simultaneously supporting groundbreaking work in education, health, and social development.

This would be an especially valuable experience for those with or looking to gain teaching experience, or with a passion for improving grassroots education. Most needed are volunteers to assist in the schools, which support some of the most under-resourced - and high potential - young adults in the country.