Parathan

Hello Everyone,

I’m thrilled to share my third weekly update with you all.

If you’ve read my previous updates, you’ll know that this week has been fairly routine. However, I did have a few noteworthy experiences.

Uki

This week, I visited the Uki Kilinochchi center to check on the office setup and make any necessary arrangements. Afterward, we headed to a recently opened restaurant in Kilinochchi for lunch. I can’t recall the name, but I was amazed by the transformation of the area. Kilinochchi has changed drastically over the past 15 years. The A9 road is now vibrant, lined with shops, banks, and various facilities. Uki Kilinochchi is centrally located, within walking distance from the A9 road and the railway station, making future travel between Kilinochchi and Jaffna convenient. I am considering renting a place to stay and work there.

After Kilinochchi, I visited the Vavuniya Uki center, where the current cohort had their final presentations. The students were full of energy, and their presentations were impressive. I had the chance to speak with them individually, and they shared how Uki has positively impacted their lives, much like it did for me six years ago. Their enthusiasm was infectious. I stayed in Vavuniya at my sister-in-law’s brother’s home. Their hospitality was heartwarming—they provided me with food and a bicycle to explore the town. I am truly grateful for their generosity.

During my evening rides around Vavuniya, I captured some moments of my nocturnal adventures, which I’d like to share with you.

Over the weekend, I began teaching TypeScript to the Uki online cohort. Receiving positive feedback from the students who understand the material is incredibly fulfilling for me as a budding teacher. I hope to maintain this momentum throughout my tenure at Uki.

Volunteer Activities

Due to a packed travel schedule and preparation for the weekend sessions, I haven’t had the chance to work on tasks related to Noolaham or the Taj journal submission portal. However, I have started working on the portal to enable PDF previews for submitted journals. I aim to complete this task by the middle of next week.

Freelance/Side Projects

I made a new connection from the US, who reached out to learn about my experience. He mentioned he’ll be in touch when he has projects that fit my profile. In the meantime, I’m excited to dive into more hands-on projects across different technologies to expand my skills and keep things fresh.

On the mobile app startup I’ve been working on, I managed to squash a few bugs and am on track to wrap everything up by mid-week, ideally before Wednesday. This timing is perfect since I’ll be traveling to Colombo for the AWS Community meetup on June 27th. Can’t wait for the meetup—it’s always a blast connecting with like-minded tech enthusiasts!

Exercise & Mind Health

During my visit to Vavuniya, I managed to get in some cycling, covering around 2.5 miles a day. I know it’s not a marathon, but hey, it’s better than nothing! Gotta start somewhere, right? I’ll definitely aim to step it up in the coming weeks.

Learning & Updates

My blog app is still a work in progress. I hit a snag with a library for the Rich Text editor, but I’m confident I’ll figure it out soon. 

On the bright side, I just started a boot camp with DataTalks Club to learn about LLM stuff. Super excited to dive into some creative Generative AI projects!

Stay tuned for more updates next week. Catch you in 7 days!