Rajeeve Sathianathan describes life growing up in Sri Lanka and how God led him to begin a ministry in his home country.  

Vanakkam (Tamil language) and Ayubowan (Sinhala language), means greetings. My name is Rajeeve Sathianathan. I was born in the Northern Part of Sri Lanka called Urumpirai. Life was so simple, and people were so friendly and always outside talking to the neighbors and playing. Almost all of my friends were part of the Hindu religion. Two big sports that I played growing up were Cricket & Soccer. Not all the houses had a car or telephone. At any time, anyone can come and visit our home. My family had great hospitality.

We ate rice, Pittu, String-Hoppers, Hoppers, & Dosa, with Curry. Since Sri-Lanka is an island, it is big for seafood (curry). Food is spicy. Red rice is common.

There was only a church in the village of Urumpirai and my grandmother was my Sunday school teacher. Due to ethnic conflict that started as a protest in the late 1950s, it turned into a war that didn’t end until May of 2009. So many lives in Sri Lanka were lost and properties were destroyed. During that time in early 1994 my parents decided to send me off to America to keep me safe.

The common transportation during my childhood was public buses & bicycles.

In 1994, as a college sophomore, my life began in Stillwater, Oklahoma at OSU where God brought a guy name James McGee (The Navigator Staff) into my life. He started to teach me and train me about being a disciple for Christ and God used him in my life to grow in the grace and knowledge of HIM.

I met my beautiful wife Jennifer at OSU. We got married in February 16, 2002. We are blessed with 8 children and currently live in Castle Rock, Colorado. My heart is to share the Gospel and teach Christians to be a disciple for Christ. The interesting part is that I tried and came up with so many plans on how I should do this, but my SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST had a different plan. Basically, he taught me and reminded me that I am just a vessel and HE is the Architect and the Planner. Amazingly, God led me to meet Greg Yoder (president of CWO) and here we are almost a year later, launching the Bridge of Hope Lanka ministry as a part CWO in Sri Lanka!

Praise & Glory to HIM alone… THANK YOU LORD JESUS!

To find out more about ministry in Sri Lanka and how you can support our work in-country, click on Sri Lanka at the top of the page.