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Home gardens can transform ‘hungry’ homes

http://www.yourcommonwealth.org/social-development/health-safety-wellbeing/home-gardens-can-transform-hungry-homes/ Growing food at home has benefits beyond providing nutritious food, writes Bhagya Wijayawardane, 28, a Correspondent from Colombo, Sri Lanka. She’s working to bring home gardens to marginalised urban residents. As part of the local effort to fight food insecurity, eliminate vitamin A deficiency and nutritional blindness, and to improve physical growth among school children and infants in Sri Lanka, I founded a community organization named ESHKOL. Today, ESHKOL implements a home gardening and nutrition education project in Sri Lanka. The initial test was carried out at my home roof top to fight boredom and continue to enjoy my food cravings after a long career break. Gradually, it turned out to be a pilot project that was intended to see whether promotion of low-cost vegetable gardens combined with nutrition education might be a viable strategy for improving the n
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What's In It For Me?

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What’s in it for me (WIIFM)? happens to be a question that drives almost every decision we make as young people in our lives from the moment we wake up to our bedtime. It guides our every action today. Besides, all the competing priorities of modern life, we often ask ourselves when someone talks about change or giving back to the community, "What's In It For You?"  This has always been the question I come across when people see the work I do in my community. Then you happen to ask yourself the same question and wish you had not asked it from you because you'll end up with the most beautiful reasons once can ever think of.  Since, humans are not as generous as the God or the Earth, I'd like to use them for an example to illustrate the meaning of the question. So, let's try to change our roles , where the environment we live in, the planet Earth we are a part of asks the question themselves, when we approach them for rain after three months of heat on our b
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Queen to honour Sri Lankan dedicated to changing lives

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http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2017/12/05/queen-to-honour-sri-lankan-dedicated-to-changing-lives/ The Queen’s Young Leaders programme revealed that Bhagya Wijayawardane from Sri Lanka has been chosen as one of the final ever Queen’s Young Leaders Award winners in recognition of the lead she is taking in her community to change lives. The prestigious Awards programme, now in its fourth and final year, celebrates exceptional young people aged 18 to 29 from across the Commonwealth and the work they are undertaking to improve lives across a diverse range of issues, from supporting people living with mental health problems, helping children to receive a quality education, to promoting gender equality. Bhagya will now join the Queen’s Young Leaders network of 240 Award winners, a unique community of influential change-makers, who represent all 52 Commonwealth countries. The winners announced today will receive their Award from Her Majesty The Queen at a special ceremony at Buckingham P
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Bhagya Wijayawardane to receive Queen’s Young Leaders Award, Prince Harry congratulates winners

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https://lankareporter.com/blog/bhagya-wijayawardane-receive-queens-young-leaders-award-prince-harry-congratulates-winners/ The Queen’s Young Leaders programme announced that Bhagya Wijayawardane from Sri Lanka has been chosen as one of the final ever Queen’s Young Leaders Award winners in recognition of the lead she is taking in her community to change lives. The prestigious Awards programme, now in its fourth and final year, celebrates exceptional young people aged 18 to 29 from across the Commonwealth and the work they are undertaking to improve lives across a diverse range of issues, from supporting people living with mental health problems, helping children to receive a quality education, to promoting gender equality. Bhagya will now join the Queen’s Young Leaders network of 240 Award winners, a unique community of influential change-makers, who represent all 52 Commonwealth countries. The winners announced today will receive their Award from Her Majesty The Queen at a
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ESHKOL receives the prestigious Queens Young Leaders

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http://colombogazette.com/2017/12/05/queen-to-honour-sri-lankan-dedicated-to-changing-lives/ Queen to honour Sri Lankan dedicated to changing lives The Queen’s Young Leaders programme revealed that Bhagya Wijayawardane from Sri Lanka has been chosen as one of the final ever Queen’s Young Leaders Award winners in recognition of the lead she is taking in her community to change lives. The prestigious Awards programme, now in its fourth and final year, celebrates exceptional young people aged 18 to 29 from across the Commonwealth and the work they are undertaking to improve lives across a diverse range of issues, from supporting people living with mental health problems, helping children to receive a quality education, to promoting gender equality. Bhagya will now join the Queen’s Young Leaders network of 240 Award winners, a unique community of influential change-makers, who represent all 52 Commonwealth countries. The winners announced today will receive their Award from Her
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Why are you you? Identities we are, Identities we live with

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When I came across this tag-line in a beach I visited  some time ago (Abu Dhabi) , I was attracted towards it, so I decided to to use it an interesting way to organize ourselves when we engage in our community work. And here is why?  I am me and you are you, but what makes me, me and you, you? The question still remains unanswered, what makes you, you? Just by uttering these words doesn’t give a proper answer. It’s just stating a fact without giving any reason. Although, it looks more of a philosophical question, it is very interesting to ponder upon. So, what do you think of this? Let’s see.  It is a though provoking way to revisit our identities and of others that has a great impact on us. We all have an awareness of who we are and no matter what language we speak, where we come from, the color of our skin, what we eat, how we dress, we still have different words that help us differentiate ourselves from one another. The concept of ‘individuality’ is well en-grained in all of
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The Story of an Elephant and the Blind Man

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A simple exercise to practice the importance of appreciating diversity. Suitable for a low-resource classroom.  This is a folk tale from India. You can rehearse the story several times and tell it or have students act it out rather than reading it aloud or having students read it alone. Before you present the story to the class, ask students to give their interpretations of the word "see." You may randomly pick or get students to volunteer to answer this question.  Objectives Students will describe different perspectives and how those perspectives impact an individual's point of view. Students will articulate their own perspectives and how those perspectives may impact their perceptions of others and situations. Activity  Before reading, reinforce the idea that "seeing" can mean perceiving something visually   or   understanding an idea after listening to the answers given by student. Ask students to listen  to the story for examples of both
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