Feeling the hot wind on your skin surrounded by unusual yet fascinating Sri Lankan architecture you start to walk towards the Psychiatric Unit where your help is needed. Working with mental health patients may be stressful but knowing you are making their day better just by spending time with them, not to mention the benefits for their health while implementing suitable treatments-happiness just fills the air. Other days you do Special Needs Work in which you dedicate all your time and energy to your special princes and princesses due to being different and often misunderstood. Seeing their struggle breaks your heart but they put it back together with just one smile. Last but not least is when teaching locals English and Western culture and customs which could involve sometimes lots of imagination due to the language barrier.

Immersing yourself in a totally different culture and life settings to help those less fortunate is possible thanks to NGO called SLV.global led by psychology graduates who wish to make a change in a place with scarce resources.

As Mother Theresa once said: “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”

Do you think you can help me be the person in the story above!

Who am I?

My name is Patricia and I am a first year BSc Psychology with Cognitive Neuroscience student from Croatia. I have been volunteering most of my life and this projects would allow me to volunteer as well as gather priceless experience and knowledge of psychology and different culture.

My story

Sometimes people get immersed in their lives so much that they forget that not all people have the privilege of having a house or loving and supportive family. While mental health disorders are well-known thing in the West, the situation is different in the East. There most of the people still believe that someone with any type of disorder has been possessed by devil or evil spirits therefore taking the one to priests but never seeking for help from professionals. Moreover, some do not reach out for any kind of help due to the fear of being rejected or embarrassed.

Going to Sri Lanka would mean trying to change the current view of mental disorders and giving a hand to under-resourced facilities and staff. Making even the smallest change would mean a world to me and would be beneficial in my future work within this field.

In elementary school we had to learn a poem from Dobrisa Cesaric, a Croatian poet, called Waterfall and it goes like this:

A waterfall flows, and flows, and flows; What does my little drop mean to it? Look, a rainbow appears in the water, And it shines, and tremble in thousand colours. My little drop helps to create That dream in the waterfall and makes it shine

Every donation is like a drop in the waterfall, together we can make it shine!

Where will the money go?

The funding I receive will go to:

- Programme fee: £1,300

- Admission fee:  £250

Reaching the minimum would mean being able to cover the costs of admission fee as well as part of the programme fee. Raising all the money would mean being able to cover all my costs.

If I exceed my stretch goal, I would use that money to pay for the weekend trip costs while we are there, as every weekend is a new adventure and would allow me to help even more people.

Find me here

Facebook: Patricia Rubinić

Email: patricia.rubinic@gmail.com

I’ll be giving regular updates during my fundraising campaign. Subscribe to be a supporter on the page here to follow me on my trip to Sri Lanka.

Rewards

Help me make my dream come true!

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Thank you very much for helping me out!

Every donation is step towards the goal.

One of my core beliefs is that the whole world is a big community. As a member of your community I am asking, let's walk together!