Youth is a blessing that never grow old

You start to feel the clement climate of the central province when you pass several kilometers in Kurunegala- Katugastota road. The road start to spiral around the upcountry highlands and the ride becomes demanding.

Weligalla is a small town near Poojapitiya. My friend and I went to meet a star government official of the reigion. Mr.Lal is the Grama Sewa officer of Weligalla and together with the people, he brought positive change to the village.

“There were other societies which operated in different capacities in our villages. But The Praja Mandala concept gave all of them a fresh inspiration and unites those societies together. And that gave us an edge to earn many achievements. In 2016 our youth club started a ‘youth entrepreneurship farm’ here in Weligalla. The farm won the second place and a cash prize of 1,000,000 LKR. And using that prize money, we started another project call “Gowibima Gemidulata” which roughly means ‘Bring agriculture to your home garden’. With that project we promote how to grow fruits, vegetables and herbs you need in your garden organically and effectively. Now the youths were the pioneers of this whole thing but it was in fact a team effort. Other societies also helped them to achieve the target.”

“Our women's village development society was selected as the best in central province recently. And for their efforts, other societies of the village including the youth club fully supported. That’s how this Praja Mandala concept works. It umbrella all the societies in a village and by doing that the whole village is united. The guidance is there. We have done a leadership training workshop for the youth and I can say that there’s a visible change of attitudes among village youths after that.”

The Grama Sewa office is located in a swift ascend towards Tipperariya village. While talking with Mr. Lal and looking around, we met one or two youths of the village as well. According to Mr. Lal, the youths of the village are hardworking, intelligent and stout-hearted bunch as they have proved over and over again. They tend to not to waste their time and they see the Praja Mandala as a place they could do something positive, together. Hence that notion they work with the village societies closely.

“The farm project generated profits at first. But the second harvesting season was a bust as the crop was wasted. They cultivated bitter gourd and they managed to secure the quality certification that would ensure the export quality of their crop. But unfortunately by the second harvest season, a virus destroyed the bitter gourd harvest in the region. After that we are keeping the farm as a model farm. But some youths stick with agriculture and in fact made a successful livelihood out of it. Talk to our youth club president Indika and he will tell you more about it.” Mr. Lal pointed us to the right direction.

Indika Bandara is a young entrepreneur in his mid-20s. He says that the workshops conducted for the Praja Mandala members was a tremendous help as he is a young farmer and an entrepreneur who export organic crop. According to him, the knowledge of book keeping, accounting and documentation could come in handy for any profession or administrative work and that knowledge helped him in business.

“I have obtained the GAP certification that gives us the access to the European markets. I have farms in Polonnaruwa and here. My Polonnaruwa farm is operational with hired help and that let me manage my time between the work and social services as well. We have many fertile lands waiting to be cultivated. We need more farmers here in Sri Lanka who is not afraid to take risks. You can be your own boss and you will be amazed to learn how successful you can become compared to a traditional monthly wage based employment.” This young man came a long way since the youth club days and plan to go a longer way ahead.

“Organic farming is not an easy task but the secret is balancing between the modern technology and the traditional techniques. I use both. Even those traditional secret treatments look silly at first but they are largely useful. For an example, if you grow ‘Daaspethiya’ flowers alongside your cultivation, certain types of insects will stay away. You have to train not just yourself but the environment as well.”

Indika took me to one of his cultivated lands. The isolated farm is beaming with bright green of lush plantain cultivation. He said that he still read for exams and he use to come here to study. I could see the appeal!

I see how these youngsters including Indika became the backbone of their community. These fine young gentlemen have a 10 year plan for the future of the village. They in fact thought about not them but their unborn children when they prepared this plan with future projects. I found that notion is what exactly we need today, not in just communal level but in national level. Instead of cursing the darkness, those youngsters have lighted up a lamp…