2026 Valedictorian Winners

In the fall of 2025, the Foundation learned about hardships of the children of a poor village named Ambakotte in Sri Lanka, and decided to re-direct the Valedictorian Scholarship to support 5 of these children to stay in school. Every month, each student will receive a 10-kilogram bag of rice and a stipend of about 5,000-7,000 Sri Lanka rupees (about $15-$20) depending on their grades (i.e., elementary, high school, or college). While public schools are largely free, the money help pay for books, school supplies, uniforms, and other fees, that otherwise the villagers cannot afford. The scholarship is administered by Truc-Lam Monastery (https://truclamsrilanka.com/) who started the scholarship program a few years ago and the 5 students sponsored by An-Duyen Charity are among 30 students currently in the program.

Representatives from An-Duyen Charity were able to meet 4 of the 5 students, and their family, in person in December 2025. Below is brief introduction of the students. We hope to track their progress in school and continue to support every year until they complete university.

Camsi (Trúc-cam)

She's 19 years old and the second child, and only girl, among the 3 children. She's currently in grade 13 at Rajawella Hindu College and will be taking the G.C.E. Advanced Level Examination in early 2026. Sri Lanka's General Certificate of Education (GCE) is a qualification system modeled after the British education system; admission to state universities is highly competitive and based on the results of these exams. She's also been studying Vietnamese in the last few years and hopes to receive a full-ride university scholarship to study finance in Vietnam.

praveen (LÂM-phong)

Praveen is 15 years old and in grade 11 at Kengalla Maha Vidyalaya (a higher secondary school). His father is a photographer and his mother is a housewife (which is typical for most women in Sri Lanka). Praveen has an older sister who is studying computer science in college and a younger brother. He's a very smart boy and always ranked among the tops in his class. We were very impressed by his friendly, outgoing personality and his English; he probably speaks the best English among all the students that we met in the village. During his free time, Praveen volunteers and takes Vietnamese lessons at the local temple. His dream is to become a medical doctor.

kaviya (trúc-thanh)

Kaviya is 10 years old and in grade 5 at Ambal Tamil Vidyalaya (a local primary school, similar to an elementary school). She has younger twin brothers. We looked at some of her notebooks and immediately recognized her love to draw. Incidentally we gifted her a set of color pens which she will definitely take advantage of.

mirunika (trúc-đồng)

Mirunika is 7 years old and currently in grade 3 at Ambal Tamil Vidyalaya. She has an older brother and older sister. The brother and father work odd jobs and barely keep the family afloat. At the time of our visit, the sister had an infection on her left foot and Mirunika had skin blisters on her arms, neck, and back, but the parents didn't have money for a doctor visit. We offered to pay for the doctor visit, and are happy to report that the sister received antibiotic prescription and is recovering nicely. The doctor required Mirunika to shave her beautiful, lush hair for the skin treatment. That was a huge ask of her as long hair is every girl's pride in the village, but she complied. Her hair starts to grow back nicely.

Skin blisters on Mirunika's arm

Her beautiful, thick hair in Dec 2025

Her new look in early Jan 2026

Umedha (trúc-Đoan)

Umedha is 8 years old and currently in grade 3 at Auxilia International School.

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