Siruthuli conducted a week long “Nurture Nature Camp 2019” from April 15-20 to create a bond between children and nature during the summer.

The camp included a field trip to water bodies of River Noyyal, home composting programmes with special focus on kitchen and terrace gardens, special hands-on experience in up cycling to recycle and reuse waste.

The inauguration on April 15 was at 8 am near Pachai Nayagi, the peepal tree planted by former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam inside VOC Park with 100 student participants representing 23 schools of the city. The traditional treat ‘Oyyil Aattam’ was performed to convey a touching message to conserve the environment.

Mrs Vanitha Mohan, the Managing Trustee of Siruthuli addressed the children and the students came forward to share their experience in attending the first day’s sessions as well. Post breakfast the gathering went to Noyyal Life Centre at Siruthuli to start with the day’s sessions.

The agenda for the day was ‘Health out of Waste’ and the children were introduced to a green cover atmosphere and briefed about the merits of growing our own vegetables.

Ms.Chitra Krishnaswamy facilitated a session on “Home Composting practices through Kambhas” and explained in detail about the usage of these compost pots to the children. It was a pleasant experience with the children.

Later, Ms.Shanthni Balu introduced her tiny planters to the kids, with interesting activities. It was a refreshing and amazing experience for the children as they walked through the greenery of the terrace garden and herbal/ vegetable garden. The students could understand how to handle plants as their eyes brightened to see the lush green vegetables and fruits hanging from the trees that induced them to make yummy fresh salads of their own.

Post lunch was an introduction about afforestation and the unique varieties of native species. It was a lively forest atmosphere for the children, and created collage on the theme ‘Tree for Life’ using leaves and parts of trees. The students and teachers sat together and came up with very interesting and colourful designs as imagination ran wild to showcase their creativity.

As the day was coming to a close, they were trained to plant a seedlings in a pot, by Ms.Chitra Krishnaswamy.