On Thursday, the 29th of August, the first meeting regarding the planting of greenery and maintenance of the plots of land around the faculty took place at 12pm. Dr. Kanchana, a conservation specialist, two members representing the Colombo Municipal Council, Professor. Tharanga Thoradeniya, advisor to the UCFM Planetary Health Network, past chairs of Project Soba 2.0 andcurrent chairs of Project Soba 3.0 were present at the meeting. Dr. Kanchana led the discussion on the possible course of action that could be taken to reduce the stagnation of water: constructing ‘rain gardens’: a design that would help water to flow freely and feed the plants in that area at the same time. It was decided that the CMC would take over the planting with the help of the faculty. A list of possible plants was discussed along with the need to attract donors to procure them. An idea was put forward to install a name board for the project as well.
On the 10th of September, Tuesday, at 10.30am, the planting session began, with the presence of the Dean of the faculty, Vidya Jyothi Senior Professor Vajira H.W. Dissanayake, chief donor of the plants, Nulara Ekanayake and her family, Dr. Kanchana, Professor. Tharanga Thoradeniya, several other members of the faculty, CMC representatives, students involved in the project and the project chairs. After several days of work on the plots, the planting was carried out successfully. Dr. Kanchana stressed the importance of maintenance of the space and added that these plants would attract species of butterflies and bees that would be rewarding to look out for and added that they would even act as repellents for mosquitoes. It was decided that monitoring the progress of the plants could be useful for, even, academic purposes. A way of watering the plants regularly, in the absence of rain, must be decided upon. Several students actively took part in the discussion and the planting ceremony, rendering the event extremely fruitful.
