Prashan De Visser spent the past 15 years of his life establishing Sri Lanka Unites and strengthening the role of youth in bringing about change. However, the Sri Lanka Unites Founder has now stepped down from his role as its president, but not before imparting valuable knowledge and insight on the central role youth can play in peacebuilding and national transformation through his debut book Phoenix Generation.

“It’s been a long journey. It’s been a memorable journey. But time has come for a new season,” De Visser shared. He launched the book and bid farewell to Sri Lanka Unites at an event held on 30 March, where he shared with those in the audience the motivation behind writing Phoenix Generation as well as if the analogy of a phoenix rising from the ashes can be applied to youth bringing about change.

Sri Lanka Unites Founder Prashan De Visser

What led to the writing of Phoenix Generation?

Phoenix Generation is dedicated to De Visser’s mother, the late Ophelia De Visser. “She went to be with her maker in heaven six months ago. Throughout my life, she always told me, “Prashan, do your very best in whatever you do, and leave the rest to God. And all my life, I tried to do what I could to make my parents proud. I worked hard, as a student, as an athlete, and as a student leader,” De Visser shared.

He added that his mother emphasised the need to do one’s best, regardless of how impressive their work was. He applied this to Sri Lanka Unites, which was founded in 2006 and today has close to 30,000 members, 40 staff members, and nine offices across the island. Sri Lanka Unites inspired the global movement Global Unites, which operates in 13 countries.

De Visser explained that he built Sri Lanka Unites over the past 15 years as a full-time volunteer, working four other jobs to pay the bills. “I told my mom every day that I’m giving it my best and not giving it a half effort. But there is one thing as I reflect that I hadn’t done my best at and that is to take the time to document the work that I had done over the years - The experiences, the failures, and also identify how young people can really bring about change. Is it really possible? Are we just romanticising youth?”

This realisation, coupled with his mother’s words, drove him to write Phoenix Generation.

The second reason, De Visser said, was a realisation he had while following a master’s degree in peace studies and conflict resolution at the University of Notre Dame. “During the first week of grad school, we were given all our textbooks for the whole year – all the authors, all the books we had – and I raised my hand and told the professor: ‘All these books are written by westerners. All these books are written by people in the global north. There’s nothing from our part of the world.’”

The professor responded that no one had raised that point before. De Visser went on to explain that most conflicts, violence, civil wars, high levels of corruption and poverty, were happening in the global south. “So how could we assume the solutions will come from a place where there hasn’t been a civil war in hundreds of years? It has to have more voices from the midst of the conflict,” he explained.

The professor looked at him and said, “Son, then you should start thinking of writing.”

De Visser explained that while there are many writers from this part of the world, many rely on oral traditions of sharing knowledge. However, if we are to preserve this knowledge for future generations, it is important to sit down, reflect and write about how we can bring about sustainable change.

‘Phoenix Generation’ by Prashan De Visser

Is change possible?

One could question De Visser on the possibility of change and if he really believes that change is possible. If, like the analogy of a phoenix rising from the ashes, a new generation can rise and transform nations? Is there hope?

De Visser is a strong believer that it can be done, because it has been done before. “Despite insurmountable odds, there have been generations mainly of young people who looked those odds right in the eye and said ‘we will transform’. One of these examples is William Wilberforce and the abolition movement in England. Slavery was the world’s most lucrative industry. It was impossible to imagine that they would abolish it.”

The author went on to say that Wilberforce was seen as a traitor for wanting to abolish slavery, but that his efforts paid off in the end, with the abolition of slavery.

Gandhi and the Independence Movement was another example cited by De Visser. “If you look at the suffragette movement, women were not allowed to vote or run for office because they were considered not capable to lead, not able to distinguish their leadership and their emotions,” he went on to say, adding that women in England and the United States of America started the suffragette movement, which led to the right to franchise.

“These were not people in places of power. They didn’t have wealth. They didn’t have any influence. They were ordinary people with the extraordinary conviction to change,” De Visser shared.

He went on to say that he was not talking about incidents from thousands of years ago, but a few decades or centuries ago. “It has been done and this book explores how each of these movements brought about change.”

De Visser added: “You can’t get lightning in a bottle. But you can reverse engineer certain things to figure out what the ingredients were that made this work.”

The second reason he believes change is possible is because he believes noble young leaders who were born into poverty, corruption, and violence are sick and tired of their existence. “And they want to bring about change. They are willing to stand up for change.”

What comes next?

Given De Visser’s faith in the role played by youth in change and transformation, one could wonder what comes next for this activist. As per the information provided at the event, his next venture will be known as The Bridge, and will create meaningful content to inspire, enhance and empower individuals, organisations and students. It will also enhance his financial capacity to invest in strategic initiatives in 15 villages and communities in the Gampaha District, where he plans on bringing about economic and social transformation from within these communities.