By Senaka Samarasinghe
After a discussion of the Board Directors of Sri Lankan Seniors Manitoba (SLSM) held on May 19, 2023 it was decided to initiate a community garden project. The project started in June 2023 an a selected location on Cadboro Road, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Upali Nilmalgoda, one of the senior members of the SLSM and an experienced agriculture scientist, carried this project. Upali’s focus was to cultivate Sri Lankan leafy plants such as gotu kola (a broad-leafed member of the parsley family used medicinally) and vegetables such as bitter gourd (karavila) in our backyards. Upali did land preparation, designing of plots, and vegetables. He also watered and fertilized the crops with superb weed management. Upali did not forget to cultivate local varieties. Corn, five types of capsicum, three kinds of tomatoes, two types of cucurbits and beets were successfully growing due to his skilful knowledge.
Crops were harvested on the August 27 and the members of the SLSM and the community members bought the harvested vegetable at a fair price.
Sri Lankan Seniors: Achieved another objective
Sri Lankan Seniors Manitoba (SLSM) happy to declare that they achieved another objective to blossom up talents among their membership. Indra Ariyaratne, President, SLSM is capable of writing lyrics for Sinhala songs.
The Board of Directors of the SLSM allowed Immediate Past President, SLSM Senaka Samarasinghe to discuss with Sunil Edirisinghe, Sri Lankan classical musician, playback singer and Presidential award winner (1983) to sing a theme song for seniors. Senaka conducted extensive discussions with Sunil. He subsequently agreed to sing a song and its lyrics will be written by Indra.
Further, part of the negotiation was to sing the song by Sunil in Sri Lankan and to do a song-video by the SLSM from Winnipeg. For video-shooting we handed it to Udesh Gamage, and he selected The Leaf of the Assiniboine Park as the location. Based on thinking about the lyrics, Indra selected the dress code for participants. SLSM members participated for the rare occasion on Sept 10, 2023 at 11.00 am. After finalizing the above process, SLSM will plan with Sunil for the date to publish the song.
