Razni Razick wins Junior Chamber International’s coveted Ten Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) award

Razni Razick was recently recognised for her exceptional social service by the Junior Chamber International, which awarded her the coveted Ten Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) of Sri Lanka award recently in recognition of her contribution towards children, world peace and human rights. 

A child guidance counsellor, early childhood educator, social worker and social activist, the 27-year-old was also the youngest among the rest of the winners this year. Razni received her award from Prof. Sujeewa Amarasena at a ceremony held in Colombo last week.  

Over the years Razni has made a name for herself as a young woman known for her dedication and passion to selflessly help others. After acquiring the relevant education qualifications in early childhood education and child psychology, she further enhanced her career by joining the Doctor’s Welfare Society at the Kandy Teaching Hospital and taught primary grade and special needs children for many years. Her vision never failed her as her priority was to help people in need. 

A turning point which made her concentrate on street children and make their life better was when she visited the Center for Street Children and witnessed the pain and agony these children were going through.

This visit started her on her journey to give these street children an opportunity to prosper in life. Realising the urgency of their need for food and social security, she worked hard hand-in-hand with child probation officers to give these children an opportunity and places for rehabilitation. 

Furthermore, with the experience she gained, she offered comfort, solace and advice to desperate women and provided them with efficient counselling services which gave them emotional strength through motivation.

Razni faced many struggles to achieve her success. The hardships of travelling to Colombo from Kandy constantly to get approval for many of her social service projects and completing her education has not been easy but with every aspect of hardship she had to face, she came out stronger and more resilient.

Razni says her biggest achievement among many others was when she took the initiative to collaborate with a group of philanthropists to open a safe haven for orphaned and abandoned children called ‘Pearls of Paradise’. This is a growing home and currently houses 65 female children from across Sri Lanka. 

To alleviate poverty by providing a platform, she initiated the Care Station (www.carestation.lk). 

She is the founder of this organisation which focuses on empowerment and education and housing for the homeless and street families. This is a network that provides financial aid, necessary resources and assistance to people across the country. 

Another project that she successfully runs is being a part of leading the Deinstitutionalisation and Alternative Care Network (DIAC) initiative in the Central Province. DIAC is a semi-formal network started by the Government as a progression to help deinstitutionalised children, an alternative care in Sri Lanka. Moreover, she is currently employed as a counsellor for refugees in Sri Lanka for the UNHCR program partnered by Muslim aid.

Throughout her years struggling to achieve her goals, her family has been her support system. The immense faith she had and the trust and confidence bestowed in her by her parents, her husband, sibling and her sister-in-law are the fundamentals of making her the strong willed person she is today. 

She is grateful to them that they stood by her when she made the decisions that benefitted a vast part of our society today. Her father is a civil engineer and her mother is a lawyer and an acting advocate. Her brother, who resides in the UK, is also a lawyer and her sister-in-law is a doctor. A part of a family who are professionals in different fields, her confidence comes from their immense support for her career path which is vastly different from their own.

Today, her source of power and motivation is her husband, an Investment Advisor by profession who is involved in all her endeavours and helps to reach out to a wide spectrum of societies. With his dedicated support and encouragement she walks through walls of adversity and overcomes numerous barriers on her way to success.

Respecting culture and diversity, Razni’s work takes her to places where she makes an effort to build bridges across differences in ethnicity, culture, religion and race. With monumental strength and a positive attitude, she is winning hearts and spreading smiles in every place she reaches out to.