September 2019

How we met

The journey towards one of the most impactful projects The Pearl Protectors has conducted started off through a random meeting of an organizer of the ‘Let’s Build Great Things’ project; Ranitri Weerasuriya at the World Clean-up day beach cleanup organized by The Pearl Protectors at the Wellawatta beach in September 2019. Ranitri, along with her parents joined in to volunteer and contributed to building Eco Bricks from waste collected from the beach. This inspired her to reach further towards taking the initiative to the children at ‘Building Hope’ Children’s center, in partnership with The Pearl Protectors.

Who are The Pearl Protectors?

The Pearl Protectors is a volunteer platform where the initiative behind this project is to create awareness of the imminent threat posed to the marine life, sea area and the beaches of Sri Lanka. The project also advocates individuals who are like minded in safeguarding the marine habitat of Sri Lanka while promoting sustainable, eco-friendly behaviors and initiatives to reduce the human impact on the marine habitat.

During the previous few years, The Pearl Protectors have conducted various projects which included erecting a 14 ft Christmas tree made entirely out of plastic bottles collected from the beaches, educational and awareness sessions at universities, schools, public events, etc., conducting beach cleaning projects, research and advocacy on marine environment protection, inspiring youth and volunteerism on reducing single use plastic while protecting the marine environment. 

October 13, 2019

The Workshop begins

The date was arranged to be on 13th October 2019. The Pearl Protectors were to conduct a half a day session to 30 children at ‘Building Hope’ children’s center in Kirulapone. 

32 children had lined up to welcome The Pearl Protector volunteers on Sunday, October 13th. The volunteers equipped with tools for the awareness session soon set up to start. We were quick to notice how attentive and helpful the teachers (Miss Neranjala, Sahani, Suren and Aadhi) of the Hope children center were. The teachers made sure to help us set things up in preparation for the awareness session and workshop. The volunteer teachers also joined in and the final preparations were made to start the awareness session.

We started the awareness session by introducing the volunteers and the organization. After the volunteers presented and infographic presentation on Sri Lanka’s marine environment and the threats it has been posed with. The presentation was structured in a way to increase student interaction and to increase interest. The presentation on how single use plastic is affecting the marine environment was elaborated to the children after, the session was constructed in a manner where the information was related in forms of questions where the children were tasked in guessing or presenting the knowledge and answers. To gap the language barrier, The Pearl Protectors presented the content in Sinhala, English and Tamil.

Filtering Micro-Plastics from Beach Sand

The second phrase of the workshop included how single use plastic has affected the marine environment. Using images and stories, The Pearl Protectors were able to convince the children on the negative repercussions of using and disposing of single use plastic. The children were guided as to how to identify single use plastic, refusing and reducing the use, opting for alternatives and on how to spread the message to others. Through highlighting the impact single use plastic has had on our marine environment,

The Pearl Protectors conducted several practical sessions involving children to understand how single use plastic has affected the marine life. Sand buckets collected from the beaches (which contained micro plastic) was handed over to two teams of children. The task was to filter the micro plastic from the sand.

Both teams showed increased enthusiasm in conducting the practical exercise. While the children were filtering the sand, the volunteers from the Pearl Protectors explained as to how the individual micro plastics originated. These included PET bottles, shopping bags, lunch sheets, plastic toys, styrofoam, food packaging, plastic straws, plastic cutlery, etc.

After the practical exercise was over, a waste audit was conducted to make the children understand most items, brands and types of plastic that pollutes the ocean.

Building an Eco-Brick

Once back in the classroom, The Pearl Protectors demonstrated as to how the children can build an eco-brick. For this purpose, the volunteers and the children had brought plastic waste that can be included to build the bricks.

After showing how a brick was made, we handed over the task to the children to be done individually. The children were excited and showed great enthusiasm in building the bricks.

Since the allocated time for the workshop was limited, we tasked the children with building eco bricks at home in the promise that The Pearl Protectors will return to build items using Eco Bricks. 

‘SAY NO TO PLASTIC!’

The Pearl Protectors invited the children for a photo and video opportunity where the children provided a small message in refusing and reducing single use plastic. All the children collectively posed for a group picture by holding message boards with the hashtag #Saynotoplastic. All children were thrilled to have contributed towards a worthy awareness message.

The end of the program brought much joy to both the volunteers and the children since The Pearl Protectors were invited for an evening tea. The children showed their gratitude and thanked all the volunteers who contributed in the awareness session.

*All photographic content courtesy of The Pearl Protectors