When it comes to plantation drive, most of the people think it is government job and leave it for the government agencies or departments. But, ladies in Ezdan Village -4 think differently. Taking time out of their busy schedule, ladies have started a self-funded plantation drive.
The idea of plantation drive was floated by Ezdan-4 resident Mousumi, who moved to Qatar two years back with her family. When she shared the idea, it was well received from other ladies.
When around 40 ladies turned up for the first meeting, it became clear that this will be the classic case of ‘well begun is half done’. The group which started with just few members grew rapidly in a short period of time and now has around 140 enthusiastic members who are committed to make this project a success.
The target was to plant few medicinal and useful plants like Neem, Tulsi, Alovera, Drumstick, Champa flowers etc along with few seasonal flowers in the Ezdan-4 compound so that instead of having just grasses, these areas will have some seasonal colourful flowers and trees.
The ladies wrote an application for Ezdan management seeking permission to start the plantation drive. After getting the permission, the next step was to first clean the gardens and get the flower saplings and plants. The staff of Ezdan 4 was very helpful in cleaning the gardens.
Once the gardens were clean and ready for plantation, the group members then started searching for saplings of flowers and plants.
Getting flower plants was not an easy task and involved huge sum of money. The ladies then started collecting money to purchase flowers from nursery. They first tried nursery but the plants were relatively costly from a private nursery.
At this juncture, Mahaseel Festival played a crucial role in getting flowers and plants. They got a wide variety of good quality flower plants from Mahaseel Festival that concluded on Friday.
“Despite being very busy with their daily work, it is commendable that each group member is putting her best efforts to make this plantation drive successful,” Mousumi, told The Peninsula.
The main idea behind this drive was to make our compound a beautiful place. Another driving force behind this idea was to get connected with each other.
“We realised that many families live in our compound but we did not know each other. These plantation drives has brought us closer to each other and strengthened the bond of our friendship,” said Krati, an active member of the group.
The group members timed the plantation drive keeping winter vacation in their mind. The schools were closed during the last two weeks of December which was good time to finish the plantation drive. The ladies could devote time for the plantation drive as they were relatively free because schools were close.
“This plantation drive has also played a crucial role in bring us and our children closer to nature. During the plantation drive we take our kids along with us. During plantation, they spend time knowing about gardening skills. It is a happy feeling for every parent to see their children doing gardening rather than looking at their mobile, tablet or any other electronic gadgets,” said Sony, another member of group.
The group has successfully finished the plantation drive by planting flowers and tree saplings in 13 garden areas. Each garden area has many useful medicinal trees, fruits and flowers. While seasonal flowers will require attention and care, the tree will be able to grow on their own after three months.
“Finishing plantation was just the first part of our job, now we need to look after our plants also. Now we are planning to form groups of our family members which will be entrusted with the responsibility taking care of their gardens,” said Usha, another member of the group. Most of expatriates change their houses often and many other move to other countries because of professional requirements.
“We want to plant trees and flowers for other residents and for future generations. I may or may not be here for very long, but our plants will be here for long,” said Mousumi.
The group has several active members including Ramya, Saranya, Shalini, Leena, Priya, Meena, Ananya, Sujatha, Teena, Ezhil, Gargi, Pooja, Rupali, Payal, Suma, Sumathy.
