We conducted the
Shramadana campaign “Senasunata Sawiyak ” on 28th July 2013 at
Doadanduwa Polgasduuwaaranya Senasanaya. This was conducted from 8.30 a.m. to
6.30 p.m. This was the first project of the Leoistic year 2013/2014 as well as
the first project of the new Board of Office Bearers. This has been the biggest
and the most important Leo project of the month.
Leo Shehan Madusanka brought up the initial idea for the project
and he himself chaired the event. More than 40 Leos and prospects participated
at this event.
The Dodanduwa Polgasduuwa Aaranyaya
Senasanaya is situated at Dodanduuwa in Galle. It is located in an island, in
the Rathgama Bay, about 1km away from land and it is in a beautiful location. This
aaranyaya is more than a century old and has a huge historical value. Both
local as well as foreign monks meditate at this peaceful aaranyaya. The
aaranyaya is surrounded by a forest with lots of herbs.
The idea of Leo Shehan
was to conduct a shramadana campaign at this religious place. First he informed
about the project proposal to the president of the Leo club of University of
Moratuwa, Leo Ajith. Leo Ajith appreciated the idea and told to organize the
event. Then our Club had general meeting to inform all the Leos about the
upcoming events and this project too was mentioned there. At this meeting we
discussed with the Leos and prospects about the date, schedule and the tasks we
have to complete prior to the project date. The president of the Leo club of Moratuwa,
Leo Ajith contributed a lot to schedule, arrange and delegate the workload.
Then the work was divided among our members.
Our first task was to carry some
small rocks from the edge of the island or the shore to the shrine room in the
aaranyaya, which was under constructions. We used sacks to carry the stones and
we had to walk about 1km to reach the temple from the shore. It was a very
difficult and tiring work as we had to climb a small hillock on our way. After
about 2 hours of hard work we could finish our first task.
Next the hardest and the
most important task of our project was reached. That was to transport sand from
the shore of the land to the island. For that purpose our team was divided into
three groups. First two groups went to the land by the boat with sacks to carry
sand. Six members peddled the boat. After reaching the land we loaded about 40
sacks of sand to the boat and peddled back to the island. The trips in the boat
were very enjoyable but very tiresome at the same time. It was very difficult
to peddle with the load of sand in the boat. But we sang songs to overcome our
tiredness and those trips gave us a new experience and unforgettable memories.
After we finished our
work, the chief priest preached us dhamma and appreciated our effort and
invited us to do some more. We left the aaranyaya at about 6.30 p.m. and came
to land at about 6.45 p.m.
Although it was very
tiresome it was a novel and wonderful experience for all of us.
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