Wow....this is May...5 months were gone from year 2016. I just realized it was too bad as I could not write a single blog for this year. In fact there are about 4 blogs waiting in my email inbox written by various volunteers. Some are Chinese and some are locals. I never had a time to post them. So I must find some time to post them eventually. Anyway I decided to post Chamali's blog that she wrote very recently. She is very new to ECO-V and the coordinator of our new project "Conscious Consumerism towards sustainable life style and combating climate change" She joined with ECO-V from March 2016 - Kanchana

Chamali writes....

I am Chamali recently joined with ECO-V team as the coordinator to a new project named conscious consumerism towards sustainable life style. When I first came for the interview,  I thought this is the right place for me, because I am a nature lover and I want to work with Mother Nature since I passed out from the University.  So I am grateful to Ms. Kanchana for giving me this opportunity. The project that I have to coordinate is funded by Diakonia, a Swedish organization working in Sri Lanka. The awareness on consumer issues among Sri Lankan consumers is very limited. So this project mainly focused on sensitizing 5 main stakeholder groups (Youth, children, Women, Teachers and Farmers) at Kandy, Jaffna, Colombo and Galle districts on food safety and sustainable life style to combat Climate Change. 

As a part of this new project, I was lucky enough to get an International Training on Consumer issues from Consumer Association of Penang (CAP), Malaysia. So I joined with 25 other Sri Lankans and had my first ever foreign trip to Malaysia in April 2016.

Unforgettable trip to Malaysia

I am grateful to ECO-V for nominating me for this trip soon after I started working there. It was very nice to be a member of such a knowledgeable team. Hasini, Tharindu and Ajith who represented ECO-V, along with some farmers, media personal, and people from health back ground etc. I gained so much of experience through this training. Creating awareness using effective educational materials, how to address consumer issues, promoting organic agriculture and Sustainable life style are some main topics we studied. We are the 3rd batch from Sri Lanka who got this training opportunity.  

Sri Lankans who participated at CAP training

CAP office in Penang

During the Organic Farm visit, Tharindu and Chamali

ECO-V representatives in Penang, Malaysia (Ajith, Chamali, Hasini, Tharindu)

When I came back to Sri Lanka I realized that I am ready to implement the new project that ECO-V designed. Conscious Consumerism to combat climate change! I can’t wait to get involved in it.

Life with Good Market on every Saturday!

Front view of  ECO-V Stall at Good Market

Since I joined with ECO-V I have been participating in Saturday Good Market.  Very first day Tharindu helped me to get organised and I think he is a very good trainer. The Good Market is one of the best places to aware people about conscious consumerism and environmental conservation. We are talking about different consumer issues at the stall, and give sustainable life style options. We promote plants which as friends to people; we introduce Kolapath plates, Bamboo cups, 100% naturally Colored handmade cotton dresses to ensure the local producers in Sri Lanka. ECO-V organic garden - Eco Garden products ar ealso available for sale. People come every Saturday and get advice from us, buy organic product and share their knowledge with us. Kids come in the evening to participate at “Nature kids” programme. We talk with them about Mother Nature and engage in lot of environmental activities and have super – duper fun while giving knowledge.  

Chamali at ECO-V stall