“One Website for Every Temple” – Launch of the First Website

Date: 5 June 2018
Location: Jalthara Dhammika Yogashramaya
Project: “One Website for Every Temple”
Special Occasion: Presentation of the first website created under the initiative

On 5 June 2018, I was able to take the first practical step in an initiative I had conceived to use my experience in web development for religious and community service: “One Website for Every Temple.” The first website developed under this concept was created for Jalthara Dhammika Yogashramaya.

The idea was to provide temples with a digital presence through which their history, religious and community activities, programmes and other important information could be made accessible through the internet. I wanted to use the knowledge and experience I had gained through years of website design and development not only for commercial projects, but also for projects with a wider social and cultural purpose.

The first website created under the initiative was formally presented to Jalthara Dhammika Yogashramaya by former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The photographs from the occasion also record the moment when I presented and demonstrated the website using a laptop and projection screen in the presence of members of the Buddhist clergy and other attendees.

The programme also included religious and cultural activities, but its greatest personal significance for me was seeing an idea I had developed become a practical project and presenting its first completed website to a Buddhist temple.

For this reason, 5 June 2018 remains an important milestone in my web-development and community-service journey—the beginning of my “One Website for Every Temple” initiative and an example of how I sought to combine technology with voluntary social and religious service.