Learner Spotlight: Sajitha

We invite you to meet Sajitha, our featured student this month in our “Learner Spotlight”.  Featured adult learners represent the Literacy Council’s programs, including authors from Reflections: Voices of English Learners, the Literacy Council’s literary magazine, as well as adult learners in other programs. Sajitha contributed her story to the eighth edition.

My name is Sajitha J., and I am from Sri Lanka. I arrived in the United States about 11 years ago. I used to be a teacher for middle and high school students back in Sri Lanka. Currently, I am self-employed. I love baking, doing outdoor activities, reading books, and doing volunteer work. I heard about the Literacy Council from the Walkersville Library. I attended a high beginner English language class. Then I attended intermediate classes, including writing and conversation classes via Zoom and was able to improve my English knowledge.

We hope you enjoy Sajitha’s written works: “Buddhism For a Good Life” and “The Happiest Moment of My Life”. View all of our students’ stories on our Reflections: Voices of English Learners web page. Below is an excerpt from one of Sajitha’s articles.

“Buddhism For a Good Life”

Once Lord Buddha said, “Peace comes from within” and “The mind is everything.”
As a Buddhist, I always try to do good things. If my mind is not good, everything is not going to be good. So, I think most of my personality builds from my religion. When I was a little one, I started going to temple and to see the monks to get advice from them. Everything they said helped me to shape my life in a good way.
If you know a Buddhist person, you know they must follow precepts every day in their lives. There are five for lay people. In Buddhism, lay people are Buddhists who live a secular life while practicing their faith. They are also known as householder-practitioners.

Read the rest of Sajitha’s story and other work, “The Happiest Moment of My Life”, in our 8th edition of Reflections.