Curfew, lock down, pandemic, quarantine and social distancing are a few of the words that we now hear on a daily basis. While the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the world over including our beautiful little island of Sri Lanka, we as UNDP staff are also doing our part by limiting social interactions and working from home to see how best we can support our communities through advocacy and programmatic efforts. However, finding the right balance has been tough for some of us. From attending to usual work, to balancing cooking, laundry and family needs, its natural for us to feel overwhelmed.

Few staff members share their experiences on how they are trying to find their balance in the time of Covid…

Sarika Warusavitarana, Colombo

If you had told at the beginning of this year that I would get to work from home for over two weeks, I would have most likely been over the moon. Reality is however very different to how any of us could have ever imagined things to be. Since the spread of Covid-19 in Sri Lanka we have all been working from home for over two weeks now, and our lives have changed drastically.

Staying home and social distancing yourself in a curfew setting, without the ability to even step out and take a walk is tough. This, combined with the barrage of information and sad stories coming from all corners of the world on how people are coping with the pandemic, is hardly uplifting. I found that I was soon spending more time worrying about someone I know being exposed to the disease or worrying about the impact this would have on friends and even the country at large (I have been told that I overthink and worry way too much!). It did not help that my mother had to undergo a minor surgery right in the middle of this, which meant that I was also stressed about her health and recovery. Being in and out of hospitals with prolonged contact with doctors and nurses working at the frontline resulted in me continuously and obsessively sanitizing everything around my mother. While she is now back home and recovering well, my anxiety around her health, compromised immunity and my family’s exposure has not lessened. While we are social distancing as much as is possible in an apartment, I have had to find ways of coping and not letting myself curl up and be miserable – I’ve also found that my mother feeds off of our anxiety which the doctors have said is not good for her. 

While work provides a good distraction, I have also found that taking a little time for myself to decompress and breathe is important. Spending 40 minutes each day to work out or do some yoga has been extremely helpful. Getting your heart pumping and stretching your muscles helps manage the restlessness I feel. Yoga especially has been helpful to me personally in helping to calm my mind.

Other things that have been helpful, not just for myself but also my mother is that we have taken the time to cultivate as many small green spaces as we can on each balcony and window ledge in our apartment in Colombo. I have taken immense pride and satisfaction in harvesting our own chilies, ginger and onions which we have now even started using to cook these days, at a time when fresh produce is hard to come by. Spending a half an hour tending to these plants, surrounding myself with as much greenery as I can in the middle of the commercial city of Colombo has been immensely helpful.

As we continue to self-isolate and work from home in the coming weeks I know that my new routine of morning coffee or green juice on the balcony next to my pot of spinach, my one hour of yoga each evening and the time taken to unwind with family whether this is to watch a funny movie, an episode of ‘Friends’ or even a heated game of 304 are the things that will see me through. 

Like Sarika, many other UNDP staff in Sri Lanka have green thumbs themselves. With a natural talent to grow plants, Ramitha shares how his home garden has come into use, especially to provide healthy and nutritious food for his kids. 

Ramitha Wijethunga, Kegalle

Last year, I participated in a few community meetings as a part of the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA) project and came to know that farmers were using excessive amounts of pesticides. This did not sit well with me knowing that the vegetables that I get from the shop or supermarkets contained all of these pesticides. Worried about my own kids, it encouraged me to start an organic cultivation of my own in my home garden in Mawanella, a town in the Kegalle district. My wife and I started off with 10 types of vegetables and 25 perennial fruit plants. However, due to the recent dry season, and not having too much time to spend in the garden, some of these plants died off.

Now, being forced to work from home, it was perfect time for me to restart my garden. This has also become a family activity every day, with my kids joining in to help us in the garden. From watering, weeding and harvesting organic vegetables such as brinjal, ladies fingers, thibbatu, capsicum and cabbage, this has proved to be helpful especially during times like this where households are finding it tough to purchase vegetables for their families. It is also a nice way to bring the whole family together to enjoy some fresh air in the comfort on my own home surroundings. 

Partheepan, a UNDP colleague serving in the East also shared a similar experience of how his home garden has proved to be useful. 

Kulasegaram Partheepan, Batticaloa 

Being an agriculture graduate myself, food security has always been an important subject for me. It was difficult for us to find fresh and nutritious fruit and vegetables which have not been genetically modified using pesticides and other harmful chemicals in the market. So, I thought of starting my very own organic cultivation in my backyard. What started in 2015 with my wife and kids, we managed to cultivate 3 types of vegetables and 6 perennial fruit plants within the 2 perch land and rooftop. 

The effective use of space and crop rotation was important to keep my little cultivation alive. Based on interest and availability I have been able to cultivate fruit crops like Banana and Papaya, and vegetables such as Chilies, Capsicum, Tomatoes and Brinjals, and leafy varieties including Vallarai, Amaranthus and Spinach. I’m pleased that my efforts towards the home garden did not go in vain, but has provided for my family’s day to day needs. It has also helped me to teach my kids the importance of such home gardens too and they love to help me with it as well. I now have 7 varieties of bananas, which I am very proud of. In addition to this, I also rear different types of backyard poultry sufficient for household purposes. 

Given my love for nature, I also take time to do some landscaping in my front garden. With bonsai plants, bamboo and grass, it has become a nice spot to have our evening tea or to quietly read the papers over the weekend. Since the work from home modality was declared, it has given me more time to spend in my home garden. I recently harvested my vegetables which was put to use during this time of physical distancing. Following this harvest of my chilies and vegetables, I will replant these crops next week, which will bear fruit in time for next season. 

While we may all feel surrounded with excessive amount of information on the virus, and being away from friends and loved ones is a tough task, it is our responsibility to do our part by staying indoors and helping to flatten the curve. Things like meditating or yoga, playing some good old card games or carom with your family indoors and tending to your plants and home garden become good distractions that will help keep you occupied. So, if you haven’t tried already, try and start a little home garden of your own, whether it be along the boundary wall or the balcony or terrace. Whatever little contribution it can make to your table would be valuable and nutritious, after all you grew it yourself!