Blessings of peace and equality in the foothills of the sacred Adam’s Peak

Wow!!! Never in our wildest dreams could we have hoped for such an incredible start to our Journey!! Our day begun at dawn at Maussa Kele Saman Devalaya, a beautiful nearby temple, where we were put under the watchful eyes of local buddhist gods. It was uplifting to see the Buddhist principles of equality and peace in action!

The Yathrees were then led in an inspiring training course by Kanchana (founder of ECO-V) whose wise words enlightened them on subjects such as sustainability, energy and water conservation, climate change and green living. Kanchana uses a holistic approach to her training sessions, inspiring her students to be aware of the interdependence of Humans and Nature, and the footprint that we have on our environment. This sparked a passion in the Yathrees to appreciate, respect, protect and care for Mother Earth.

After a delicious vegetarian lunch (we are adhering to vegetarianism for the journey) of dhal, curry and rice, we ventured further into the wondrous high country, through tea fields, jungle and waterfalls, to our destination at Nallathanni. From here we begun our trek to the holy Japanese Peace Temple, accompanied by the local police force who wished to show us their support for our journey. We stopped along the way to engage with locals about green living, and conducted water quality tests of the pristine Kelani River at its source. This will provide us with baseline data to quantify contamination of the river downstream, to allow us to develop solutions for preserving this majestic river.

We arrived at our hilltop destination at dusk, where we were invited into a traditional chanting ceremony for Peace, led by the Venerable Japanese buddhist monk Thakashima, who blessed the Yathrees and wished us well on our ‘Journey for Change'.

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Climbing into the foothills of the gods!

The Kelani Nadee Yathra (Kelani River Journey) has begun!

Today we welcomed our 'Yathrees' (youth leaders) over lunch at the headquarters of Sarvodaya, Sri Lanka's leading social not-for-profit organisation. With the well wishes of Major General Raja Guru we departed on our Journey for Climate Justice, with a long trip through the jungle into the foothills of Sri Pada (Adam's Peak).

This trip saw us following the mighty Kelani river from its feet in Colombo, into the foothills of the mountains.

The Yathrees made no hesitation in jumping into the eco-friendly theme of the expedition, firing off questions about green living and sustainability, and thoroughly impressed us with their enthusiasm and positive approach. We weren't bored for a second on the trip, with the Yathrees breaking straight into song, dance and storytelling!

I am blown away at the sheer beauty of the Sri Lankan jungle, abound with spectacular colours, forms, life and great biodiversity. Considering we have only touched the surface of the wilderness sanctuary, there will undoubtedly been many more marvels to behold!

- Pat (Journeys for Climate Justice/ECO-V)

Ready...Set.....!!!

The ECO-V team have spent the day running around like headless chickens getting everything ready for the Kelani River Journey…which starts tommorow!!! We just wanted to share some of our excitement with you!

We are pleased to announce that all of our ‘Yathrees’ (youth ambassadors) and supporters have confirmed that they will be coming, and we look forward to welcoming them along over lunch tommorow!

Kelani River Journey about to begin! Thank you very much to all our sponsors and supporters!

I can't hold back my excitement for the Kelani River Journey, which begins in just 2 days! You can follow ECO-V's Kelani Nadee Yathra blog at:  http://kelaninadeeyathra.wordpress.com/

Many years ago I came up with the concept for a journey to transition Sri Lanka to a clean, green and eco-friendly society, and finally it has been made a reality. Thank you so much to all the wonderful people and organisations that have supported and nurtured this project - without your help and dedication this journey would not be possible. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce all of our fantastic sponsors, and thank them from the bottom of my heart for their generous support.

Journey's for Climate Justice (JCJ) - an Australian charity that aims to tackle climate change by supporting projects in developing countries. Thank you very much for your generous funding and logistical support, as well as providing us with two fabulous volunteers to come along and help with the journey.

Envigence - an 'Environmental Intelligence' provider that develops new technologies and offers solutions to infrastructure to become more energy efficient, sustainable and profitable. Thank you very much for your generous financial support, advice, and recognition of our mission.

Sri Lanka Tourist Board - the leading information provider for Sri Lankan Tourism. Thank you very much for your financial support.

Touchwood - a socially responsible company that grows trees for timber that is both commercially valuable and environmentally sensitive. Thank you very much for providing us with financial support within very short notice.

Sri Lanka Scout Association - the Colombo District Scout group will be joining us for a day on the journey, and are providing us with camping facilities at the Salawa campsite. Thank you very much for your ongoing support.

Corangamite CMA -an Australian Catchment Management Authority that is committed to maintaining healthy catchments and waterways. Thank you very much for providing us with a water quality monitoring kit and training.

Waterwatch Victoria - an Australian community engagement program that connects local communities with river health and sustainable water issues and management. Thank you very much for providing the "Yathrees" (Sri Lankan youth) with T-shirts and hats for the journey.

Yatra - a leading travel company in Sri Lanka and India. Thank you very much for providing caps for the Yathrees.

LSR - A leading Sri Lankan sport, adventure and leisure travel company. Thank you very much for providing us with an adventure bike experience for the Journey for a nominal fee.

SEALS - A leading Sri Lankan Eco-adventure company. Thank you very much for providing us with a 2-day adventure training programme at Kithulgala for a nominal fee.

United Nations Volunteers (UNV) Sri Lanka - thank you to the Sri Lankan division of the International Year of Volunteers (IYV+10) programme for helping ECO-V to prepare a successful presentation for the Journey.

Wanawadula Resort - thank you very much for providing us with accommodation for one night during the Journey, and organising a public gathering at Kithugala. 

Sri Lanka Telecom -thank you very much for providing us with notebooks for the Yathrees.

Kelani Nadee Yathra - What Yathrees will see.....

Meeting at Yatiyantota

ECO-V members had a another visit on the 25th of June to Sri pada mountain ( Adam's Peak) to check the route  of Kelani Nadee Yatra. This is also a Thiresi charika where ECO-V members get to gether to watch nature. With the preparation for Kelani Nadee Yathra, our members have become more active and most of them want to contribute to it. We had few planning meetings with officials at Yatiyantota Pradeshiya Sabawa the local government at Yatiyantota. The chairman of Pradeshiya Sabhawa, MOH, A police officer, two Principals, members of local security council, youth council representatives, business men and some media representatives were there for the meeting.  They all were very happy and pledged the support for the journey in August. Thanks to the chairman we had our lunch free of charge from a well known hotel in sitting next to Kelani river. 

Beginning of kelani River

team coming down from peak

Same day evening we met Neal who was our guide to show us the beginning of kelani river. We all went to Wathsala Inn in Nallathanniya and met Nimal, who was very supportive from the day he heard about Yatra. He prepared our dinner (Rotti) and we started climbing at 8.30 in the night. Wow!! what an experience..climbing Sri Pada at night during off season (I have done this during day time when we conducted research at off season in 2002-2004). When we were reaching the peak it was around 1a.m. We all had to face heavy clouds and wind. We all got wet by the time we reach the peak (7360 ft) and it was very cold. Thanks to Sunil Aiya care taker at the peak a friend of Neal we had warm coffee and mats to sleep. It was not very comfortable as the wind was so powerful and floor was damp and cold. However after 3 hrs of rest we got up from our (non) sleeping areas and got ready to come down. No sun rise was seen as it was too cloudy that day and came down through the heavy fog from Ratnapura route. After coming down Neal took us on another foot path which joined with Nallathanniya route again. Its a known thing that most of the people who climb up will be accompanied by one or two dogs. We got 4 of them during our trip. 

It was a small water fall we saw as "the start" of the kelani river. According to Neal its one of the starting places but there are few more and its normally a creek but due to heavy rain it has more water at the moment. So we decided not to climb up again following the water fall to see the actual beginning.  By that time we all were so tired and wet. After that we all came down slowly along Nallathanniya route and came to Colombo on 26th evening. We all were tired and legs were aching but feeling happy about wonderful "Thiresi Charika"

"Thiresi kids" were waiting for me for their lessons but I was too tired to speak again.

Westgarth Mothers in Melbourne helps a teenage mothers home in Sri Lanka






Mrs. Neetha Ariyaratne, head of Sarvodaya Suwasetha handing over items



I am very happy to say that our fund raising effort with Westgarth Mothers had a great positive impact. We were able to help 20 distitute teenage mothers at a residential facility in Sri Lanka. “Ma Sevana” (A home for pregnant teenage mothers) is a home run by Sarvodaya a well known charity in Sri Lanka. Both me and Thushara are volunteers to this charity  http://www.sarvodayasuwasetha.org/frn_helpinghand.php. Thushara had been looking after these young mothers as the doctor before we went to Melbourne in 2010. We always celebrated our sons  Birthdays with them by giving essential to these needy young girls and their new born babies.

Out of money we collected by organizing a  Sri Lankan meal at Libby’s place in last February (http://ecofriendlyvolunteers.blogspot.com/2011/02/westgarth-mothers-join-with-eco.html) we were able to donate Rs. 30,000 worth of essentials for these mothers and thier newly born babies. I thank again all the Westgarth Mothers and fathers who attended the fund raising lunch we organized and the real commitment of Libby and her family.  

As another mission with the money we collected, we started a scholarship for an Advanced level needy student who performed well at her school. She is having a great difficulty in continuing her studies as both parents do not have proper jobs. This girl was very clever at her studies and extra curricular activities. She is doing mathamatics subjects for her advanced level exam in year 2014. With a recommendation of a local municipal council member and ECO-V volunteer Sajith Peiris, me and Thushara visited her home and met her parents before the scholarship was given.  We both felt she is well deserved and agreed to support her for 6 moths with 15 dollars per month. If we were able to raise more funds in future we can continue scholarship and support many students like her as we got many requests so far.

World Environmental day, Scouts and “kids and Nature” Programme

The world’s Environmental Day in 2011 for ECO-V was very special in a different way. Some founder and active members of ECO-V came to our office (Thanks to uncle Sugathadasa who brought a plant as a gift) for a meeting to discuss about our future plans. It was a very nice meeting and we all felt happy to meet on this very special day. In the afternoon I had some visitors. 

Thanks to scouts at Royal College who helped us to keep our surrounding clean

Three scouts from Royal College (42^nd Colombo - my eldest son is also a Cub Scout in the same school) came for asking some work for their community service week. It was the same day that I conducted ECO-V kids and Nature programme. One neighbor has dumped some polythene into our surroundings and I was thinking of cleaning it through our kids and Nature programme. So these three scouts were happy to help us to clean our street. I gave them a brief introduction to World environment day and how they should feel about doing some good work to Mother Earth on that very special day but I reminded them that each day should be a world environment day in our lives to protect Mother Earth. After that ECO-V kids learnt about caterpillars and butterflies and saw some eggs laid in our garden. They were surprised to see how small the butterfly eggs are…

looking for butterfly eggs

what a long day I had on the 5^th of June 2011…but it’s worth my time I spent on all these activities……Thanks for everybody who were with me.