When Nature wanted to keep us inside our homes…..need to find a way connect with Nature and continue the business as usual...

It’s been almost a year since I did my last training session inside a room with an audience which had a physical presence. It was February 2020 and I was running really great training sessions in Myanmar and in Sri Lanka. Since then, I could not run such programmes till today. I really miss such and I know all my colleagues must be feeling the same way.

Now it’s 2021 and I don't know what will happen next month as such uncertainty is in front of us. People say once you have the vaccine you will be free to move like before but who knows what kind of virus will meet us next??? Anyway...other than the whole virus-related negative experiences such as people getting sick and listening to the increasing number of death toll there were so many positive things happening during the past 11 months. I am sure you were aware of many such positive moments.

Among many positive moments and happenings in my life, one good thing is that I started teaching online!!! I was a person who did not like or enjoy much online work. I always had issues with technology and was preaching to use it consciously. Don’t worry, I still say that.  Somehow, I changed a little bit and started enjoying the technology for some useful work. So I started connecting with Nature while connecting with technology…..

Well....I had to think how to do such because I was conducting “connecting with Nature” sessions while taking a bunch of kids or adults to a park or a wetland or to a forest and letting them touch, hug or smell the trees, flowers or plants and watch animals very patiently. So how could I do such via technology was a bit challenging. When I did some kids workshops last year...I brought “Nature” into my home. Had to do this in many ways without damaging Nature. So, I made videos in the park (soon after the initial lockdown was eased out in June).

Buhusuru helping me on technical stuff 

Brought fallen leaves and flowers, plants in the pots into my living room which became the training venue for “connecting with Nature”. Did some art and craft sessions for kids. Collected soil, twigs, plastic wrappers, polythene...all sort of so-called waste to run sessions on sustainable waste management. Even dug my own garden where I grow Earthworms and carefully collected some of them and brought them to my living room to talk about composting. My sons helped me in operating my mobile camera when I wanted to run some practical demonstration other than the slide shows. Wow….it was such a mission...but we loved it and most importantly the participants loved it. So, we used the technology and tried our best to stay connected with Nature!!

10R in Resource Management to avoid waste  

Buhusuru using the mobile camera

Now it’s January 2021, A New year!! Not a new beginning yet as still I am trapped in New Delhi as Sri Lanka is not open for visitors to travel yet. Until they open and let us travel freely, I will continue my mission using the technology!

P.S As a tradition I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year!! I truly mean it this year!

Also, I wanted to mention that I could not meet you all via our blog and that did not mean that we at ECO-V or me personally as a conservationist did not work for 2020. It's just we were very active on face book and after making posts for face book I felt not to repeat on the blog.