In the run up to International Tea Day on December 15th, we are once again asking for your support to help the communities that put in all the extra hard work to make your lovely cuppa!

Many of us reach for a cuppa when we need to talk through problems or whilst processing bad news... the same is true on the other side of the world in the lean-to kitchens of those who pick the tea to make your brew, yet their issues are created rather than eased by tea.

The Sri Lankan communities that pick some of the best tea in the world struggle with significant social issues that result tea estates being a hotspot for suicide in a country already ranked 4th highest in the world!

Out of our now 1,000 alumni, statistics suggest that upward of 40 should have committed suicide. This is why our campaign this year is dedicated to providing emotional health and counselling support for our students. Around 16 out of 20 students in every class have been brought up with alcoholism and domestic violence as part and parcel of their childhood.

Tea Leaf Trust helps over 250 young people, 4,000 children and over 15,000 community members each and every year. We help them develop the skills to get jobs that pay well off the tea estates - 80% of our alumni are in work, further training or education within a year of graduating and those in work earn more than 50% than their counterparts who don't study with us... but that's the easy bit...

We also help to develop their self-belief, their coping strategies and enable them to lead the change in the communities where they live.

The work we do has meant that only two out of our 1,000 graduates have committed suicide, but that is two too many. Please help support out emotional health work to make sure that that, when they leave us, our students are resilient, robust and role models for the children of their tea estates... because, well, you know... children are the future.