Inspired Individuals

Prabu is Tamil. He grew up in the north east of Sri Lanka where his father was a senior police officer. In 1982 his father was arrested on suspicion of terrorism but never formally charged. After 29 months in prison he was released, but remained on suspension until a successful appeal some 4 years later. However he was later dismissed from his position due to ongoing suspicion.

In 1990 the LTTE abducted Prabu’s father because of his connection with the government. Thankfully he was able to escape, however, Prabu’s brother was abducted and murdered by the LTTE the following year prompting the family to relocate away from LTTE controlled territory.

Life became increasingly difficult for the family and they had to rely on the kindness of friends and family for support. During this time Prabu experienced abuse from one of his relatives. They finally moved to Colombo in 1992.

Despite living in poverty, Prabu managed to get an education and training in trauma counselling and child abuse, and became an active volunteer in his community. During his late teens and early 20’s Prabu volunteered for a number of organisations working with child abuse and exploitation and went on to lead the Tearfund-funded CCS HIV project before moving to World Vision where he was trained in the Channels of Hope methodology.

Prabu has been involved leading and establishing a number of youth volunteer initiatives including; organising the national REACH conference that aimed at mobilising the youth and young people of Sri Lanka for social action, from this conference the National Youth Coalition (NYC) was birthed. Prabu plays a pivotal role in the NYC and helped establish the Alliance of Youth Movements that is funded by Facebook, MTV and Google.

Sri Lanka is a country that has suffered from decades of civil war arising from the Tamil - Senegalese socio-political ethnic conflict. As a result the country has suffered from disinvestment, political nepotism, violation of civil rights and increasing levels of poverty. The Tamil population has suffered disproportionately as a result.

In addition to this Sri Lanka also suffered extensively due to the tsunami in 2004 which further exasperated the socio-economic status of the most vulnerable. There is a need to mobilise the church and wider population to address both the causes and effects of the growing levels of poverty and vulnerability of the most disenfranchised.

Prabu has had extensive experience in both mobilising the youth and young people to campaign about and respond to the issues effecting the most vulnerable: be it those who have suffered sexual abuse, people living with HIV, or those suffering the impacts of the civil conflict between the LTTE and the government.

Prabu is currently in the process of establishing a movement of youth and young people across Sri Lanka to “inspire, sensitize, empower & mobilize youth to be agents of social transformation in their respective communities through activism and volunteerism.” This movement aims to:

• Promote Volunteerism among youth and young people with the objective of establishing a network of passionate, just, skilled volunteers committed to social justice and change.
• Initiate and implement youth led projects in communities.
• Empower youth to advocate and act on social issues, such as human rights, corruption, pollution, SRH, environment, orphans and vulnerable children & politics.