On the morning of June 28, 2026, a group of university students knelt along the stone pathways of Pothgul Viharaya, clearing away debris and discarded wrappers from the temple grounds. The Poson Poya season was approaching its peak, and thousands of devotees would soon walk these same paths. The students wanted to make sure that

A group of young volunteers stood behind a modest stall lined with handmade bookmarks, jars of mango pickle, and cups of fresh drinks. Around them, the B-TEX Exhibition buzzed with visitors, but their eyes were fixed on the school students and teachers walking through the crowd. Every conversation was a chance to plant a seed

Where Faith Meets Environmental Responsibility A group of Dhamma school students sat cross-legged on the cool floor of Pothgul Viharaya, their small hands carefully shaping sustainable materials into a miniature replica of Mihinthalaya. Around them, university volunteers offered gentle instructions, and the children worked with a focus that belied their age. For these young students,

Where Sacred Ground Meets Student Action The morning air at Mihintale carried the scent of temple flowers and damp earth as the first groups of volunteers began arriving before dawn on 1 July 2026. Some had travelled through the night from distant parts of Sri Lanka, sleeping on bus seats with gloves and refuse sacks

Where Sacred Ground Meets Student Action The morning air at Mihintale carried the scent of temple flowers and damp earth as the first groups of volunteers began arriving before dawn on 1 July 2026. Some had travelled through the night from distant parts of Sri Lanka, sleeping on bus seats with gloves and refuse sacks

When Students Stand Up to Speak, a Nation Starts to Listen In a packed auditorium, a fifteen-year-old from a rural school in Sri Lanka gripped the edges of a podium and began arguing why her generation could no longer afford to ignore plastic pollution. Across from her, a team from another district prepared their rebuttal,

A Heart Made of Plastic Bottles, Filled with Something Unexpected On a university campus where students rush between lectures and deadlines, a heart shaped container made entirely from reused PET plastic bottles stands quietly in a common area. It does not collect trash in the usual sense. It collects feelings. Project Trash Talk 2.0, organized

When Students Took the Stage to Challenge a Plastic-Dependent World Inside a lecture hall at the University of Colombo, a teenager from a rural school stood at the podium, voice steady, arguing that Sri Lanka’s dependency on single-use plastic was not just an environmental crisis but a failure of imagination. Across from her, a student

Seven Hours, Three Thousand Cups, and a Sapling for the Journey Home By mid-morning on Poson Poya Day, the sun had already settled heavily over the Malambe Mahamewnawa Bhawana Asapuwa, and the line of devotees stretched well beyond the temple grounds. Among them, a group of young volunteers moved steadily between large steel pots and

After the Devotees Left, the Volunteers Arrived The morning of 30 June 2026 was still and warm at Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara, one of Sri Lanka’s most sacred Buddhist temples. Just days earlier, thousands of devotees had gathered to mark Poson Poya, a celebration deeply woven into the island’s spiritual identity. But as the crowds