Making a difference in the society for some of us is an important aspect of our lives.  

“The Big Picture” is a project carried out by Revive to Survive, which is a non-profit organization, which aims at identifying patients in need at the National Cancer Institute in Sri Lanka.

Revive to Survive was formed by two high school seniors based in the US, Radhini Abeysekera and Ruvinda Gunawardena who both pursue the same career, which is medicine.

The organisation was first started up when they both realised that the hospital lacked a vital drug and that most patients who were seeking medical attention from the cancer institute were unable to purchase this drug due to high pricing and non-availability and because of this, these patients either faced death or were led to poor outcomes. Not only one, but also they support many other essential drugs, which are vital for the patients.

As a non-profit organisation, they raise awareness of the difficulties, which the patients face such as financial hardships and also to raise awareness of how their lives are at stake due to the inability to obtain these vital drugs. With their main priority on paediatric patients, Revive to Survive, raises funds to provide the necessary medication to those who are unable to buy it on their own.

“The Big Picture” is a project directed by young Shanika Silva, a senior student of Friendswood High School in Texas. Born to Sri Lankan parents in the US, she has been an artist since she was 7 years old studying at Betsy Miller’s “Colours of The Heart” art studio.

Almost a decade after, she is now an experienced artist who uses pastels and acrylic paints for her work. Having being apart of a similar project which was carried out by her teacher in elementary school, Shanika plans on replicating the idea back in her home country with the intention of helping the patients at the National Cancer Institute.

The main idea behind the project is to complete the already sketched paintings by Shanika. She will have 5 paintings sketched and get the patients to get involved and complete the paintings at their will where anything is possible, like green skies and pink grass.

Around 50 patients will take part and after they are done with the paintings, Shanika and a bunch of volunteers who have dedicated their time to help her with the project, will fine-tune the paintings and fit in a frame and then dedicate it to the clinic or the hospital so the patients will get to see their work daily, giving them a sense of ownership.

Interacting with patients and working together to complete a task will not only put a smile on their faces but it could also be used as a tool to promote the mental wellbeing of the patients.

This project also helps people of all ages to come and help regardless of their skills to make a difference in the society, so as to promote volunteerism. Selling digitalised reprints of the paintings will raise funds for The Big Picture as well as other ongoing RtoS projects.

Shanika says, "Every little act contributes to the Big Picture, no matter what obstacles you have to face."

More information about The Big Picture and Revive to Survive can be obtained from http://www.revivetosurvive.org/our-projects/the-big-picture and http://www.revivetosurvive.org respectively.


Text by Migara Wijesinghe