North Shore Theravada Buddhist Temple—1 March 2020

Today we were blessed to have a big group of volunteers from the North Shore Theravada Buddhist Temple join us for a day of summer maintenance work.  The organisation is made up primarily of Sri Lankan immigrants and they participate in a wide variety of community volunteer projects.

The group arrived first thing in the morning and included Arthur, Champika, Chandra, Chinthaka, Dahamdee, Devika, Dilina, Dulan, Esuru,  Hashini, Hasitha, Indika, Janandi, Kumari, Laksiri, Leela, Lishmi, Methsi, Mihiri, Nimmi, Piyal, Praseeth, Prathap, Prem, Sanuka, Shereen, Srimathi, Sudath, Thalindra, Thanulya, Thenuka, Thenumi, Thisul B. R., Thisul R., Viranji, Wasantha, Wonara, Yukkreka and Yushani.  Also joining us for the day was Reverend Saddatissa Thero.

We spent some time getting acquainted over morning tea and then Mahrukh thanked the group for coming and gave an orientation to CUE Haven, a description of the project history and plans for the future.

Thomas then gave a safety briefing and a description of the work planned for the day.

The plan for the day was to do some trimming of vegetation that had grown over the roads and walking tracks and to do some cleanup and organising of some of the timber we have been using for various projects.  Because of the size of the group, we broke into five teams.  Four would be trimming and one would work with Thomas on the cleanup work.  We sorted into the teams and each trimming team assigned a leader who was given a map of the area to cover.

The groups headed out to the field and went to work.

It was a hot, sunny day but the teams kept smiling.

While most of the group were busy trimming, a small team helped Thomas sort and organise some of the timber we have been using for various projects.

It was a huge help because the timber offcuts have accumulated over time and getting everything organised will make things neater and more manageable.

The teams accomplished a lot in just a few hour and got things spruced up.  We then had a nice relaxing lunch that gave us more time to get acquainted.

Many thanks Yusahani for organizing the visit today.

And a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone for your enthusiasm and hard work. It was great meeting you all and we look forward to seeing you again at CUE Haven.  You all have made a major contribution to CUE Haven and your efforts will be greatly appreciated by visitors as they comfortably walk the tracks to explore the growing native forest.

We thoroughly enjoyed working with you all and we hope that you will come back to CUE Haven soon to explore more of your community native forest reserve with your family and friends.

Thank You!! Thank You!!