Plant A Hope 6.0 - Phase III

Trees are the essence of Mother Nature. They play a vital role in our environment. Trees help to purify the air we breathe; filter the water we drink and provide habitats for plenty of species of plants and animals. In ancient times, humans used to treat trees as gods, but today the same humans are destroying them as well as Mother Nature. But still, there are nature lovers who know the importance of trees to mother nature as well as to humans.

As members of the Leo Club of the University of Colombo, being such nature lovers, launched the project "Plant a Hope 6.0" aiming the ecological renewal. Our project consisted of three phases, where we conducted awareness programs and plantation programs. As the third phase of our project, we organized a plant donation program at Sri Poorwarama Maha Viharaya in Horana on 19th March 2024.

The project team was warmly welcomed by the Venerable Udugalmote Siriwimala Thero along with the other four resource persons. At the very beginning, Thero clearly explained the importance of trees to us and appreciated our plantation project. After a few speeches from the resource persons followed by the speech from our chairperson Leo Nethmi Amaya, we moved on to our main task, the plant donation. We donated mango plants with 1kg of fertilizer to each person. The fertilizer was donated to us by the Ankara Plant Nursery in Horana. 

After the plant donation, we planted two mango plants, two Pomegranate plants and a Rose apple plant in the temple premises. The Assistant Agricultural research officer, Mr. Neel described how to plant and maintain a tree properly while planting the first mango plant. The villages seemed to be very happy about our donation and some of them thanked and wished us. As the project team, we are truly grateful to the Venerable thero, all officers and the villagers for their support.

As the Leo club of the University of Colombo, we were able to successfully finish our third phase accordingly. 

On the same day at 8.00 pm, we launched our e-magazine marking the end of our project Plant a Hope 6.0 via Zoom platform with over 30 participants including the executive board of the Leo club and our project members. The magazine was encapsulated with different articles, poems, drawings and photographs on the theme of "nature". The event was moderated by the secretory of the project Leo Binomi Nipunika and Vice Treasurer Leo Kaushalya Senerath. The magazine launching event started with a welcome speech from the chairperson Leo Nethmi Amaya. After a video clip which covered the whole project, our e-magazine, “PLANT A HOPE” was officially launched. Leo Tharushika Devindi; the treasurer of the project, delivered the vote of thanks marking the end of the magazine launching event. 

We named our project ‘Plant a Hope’ because the trees are the hope for our future. We are gradually developing day by day in many ways, but at the same time, we are gradually detaching from nature. But we can never forget nature since we are a part of nature. So, we need to protect it. We hope that we can “plant hope" for the future through this phase and the whole project. As project members, we are truly happy to be a part of this project.

Trees are very important for all of us. We all have a duty and a responsibility to protect trees and to plant more and more trees. So as the Leos we started our duty and we invite all of you to start your duties as well, to protect our mother nature.

By,

Leo Rashmi Senavirathna.