Back to Manjula’s story

Those who have been reading the blog for a while and others who have scrolled through the archives may remember Manjula, a rock-star 2012 graduate.  When we talked in the spring, Manjula agreed to my request to follow his story a little further, especially since he is continuing work started at Fletcher (as described in the spring’s blog post).  Recently, he sent me the first of what I hope will be a series of updates.  He wrote, “My post-Fletcher life as a social entrepreneur dedicated to Educate Lanka has been a challenging journey, but a very exciting one at the same time.”  And he listed some of the highlights of the four short months since he left campus:

• The “It Only Takes Ten” campaign to raise funds for Educate Lanka was successfully launched and has made significant progress.
• Our story was published on USAID/State Department’s Diaspora Forum.
• I presented a speech at the U.S. State Department’s South Asian American Employee Association Cultural Diversity Event.
• VEGA (Volunteers for Economic Growth) presented me a Diaspora Volunteer Award and partnered with Educate Lanka.
• Our project on Global Giving was a success and is ongoing.
• I was interviewed for a Sri Lankan television (Young Asia Television) program.

Manjula and Educate Lanka are still benefiting from the support of his former classmates. Last spring, Fletcher students, faculty, and staff recorded two videos to kick off the “It Only Takes Ten” campaign. The videos are similar, but I’m going to share both anyway.

Many languages, One Meaning

and Many Countries, One Meaning

Quite a few Fletcher students have a goal to establish a nonprofit, and it’s an inspiration to all of us to observe Manjula’s work.  He tells me that he has a few more projects lined up for the coming months.  I’ll be checking in with him so that I can provide an update toward the end of the year.