Friday, July 10, 2009

Kanchana is back with Pelicans and Langurs!








I came back from Netherlands after a very successful 3 weeks training course at Wageningen International. It was very difficult to say good bye to training mates as all of them were so friendly and interactive. I think I learnt a lot from them and the course helped me to develop my teaching skills as a trainer and a facilitator. Two Dutch course coordinators; Esther and Ingrid were very helpful and have done a great job in sharpening my skills. I am sure every one who participated in the course was able to get the maximum use of the training. Sri Lankan way of Greeting “Ayubowan” (May all living beings live long) was accepted by everybody as the best way of greeting and all the time we were using that. David my friend from Ghana (see the photo, me and David saying Ayubowan together) particularly wanted to use it for his teaching.

The most interesting thing was meeting one of my good friends after 10 years . Tahir Shawl whom I met at the International training Centre in Jersey Zoo, UK (Durrell) in 1999 was also there in this training and it was a nice surprise (See the photo, me and Tahir). We could not stop talking about our training at Durrell 10 years ago and all our training mates were surprised to hear that we have met long time ago. Tahir is working as a wildlife park warden in Jammu & Kashmir area. I can remember my good friend Robyn Dalzen from CLP programme has mentioned in one of her emails that she was told “The world is very big, but all the nice and interesting people know each other.” So I also agree with that. All good and enthusiastic people in the conservation world seem to be end up meeting again and again and the bond among them is so strong. There are lot to share with each other and I am sure we can make a difference if we keep working as a real nice big family. So my dear 42 training mates, Esther and Ingrid you are so important to me and I miss you all! (See the photo me with Lakshmi the training assistant, Esther and Ingrid). Thanks to Netherlands fellowship Programme for sponsoring me to attend the training.

Soon after I came back I had to start working with the “Kalu Wandura” (Leaf langur) Project. Dr. Rudran who was in Sri Lanka just before I went to Netherlands has given many instructions to the team. We were waiting for him to come to Sri Lanka as the team had never met him before. So it was good to have him here and get his advice to improve the quality of the study. Harsha my colleague has done a great job as an overall coordinator to ECO-V in absence of me.