Volunteer Service Programme at Meegalewa Forest Monastery

Date: 7 July 2018
Location: Meegalewa Forest Monastery, Anuradhapura

On 7 July 2018, our group took part in a volunteer service programme at the Meegalewa Forest Monastery in Anuradhapura. The purpose of the programme was to contribute our time and physical effort towards cleaning and improving several areas of the monastery.

Our work can be divided into three main parts: cleaning and repainting the Buddha shrine, cleaning and repainting the meditation seats, and cleaning the monastery premises and its surrounding environment. Members of the group worked together on these different tasks, each contributing wherever possible.

This was more than simply a cleaning programme. Spending our time and energy working together in the peaceful surroundings of a forest monastery made it a meaningful day of voluntary and religious service. Seeing the visible results of our collective effort at the end of the work added to the significance of the experience.

As the photographs document the different activities separately, I plan to preserve this programme in my personal archive under three individual sections, each recording one of the main areas of work carried out that day.