Natural skin care products workshop, Jaffna, Sri Lanka, June 2019

This year, Nutrition To Heal and CORD (Chinmaya Organization for Rural Development) organized a 7 days workshop in Killinochchi, Jaffna, on how to make natural skin care products using only natural ingredients available locally.

CORD is a non-profit organization which focuses on education and sustainable development through self-empowerment processes in the north and east of Sri Lanka.

In a community torn apart by 30 years of war and still living in fear, the charity’s aim is to give children the possibility to study, and to help women widows of war to create self-sustaining businesses using locally available resources.

With the invaluable help of our Italian friend Ivana (www.isaponidellaluna.it), we showed the young girls of the Tamil community how to use locally grown plants and herbs to make chemicals-free soaps, mosquito repellent, deodorants and body creams.

This hopefully will give these girls the opportunity to provide a livelihood for their families and children.

We used only the freshest ingredients, like these plump aloe vera leaves picked in the morning in a village nearby

Almost all the ingredients were organic, and we also found a fantastic locally produced organic cold pressed coconut oil for our soaps

It was hot, and the water from the mighty green coconut quenched our thirst, nourishing our brains at the same time

And the food is amazing!

We were having the most gorgeous meals, full of flavour and very nutritious, like this vegetarian lunch on banana leaf

All the food was prepared with love and cooked on a fire in the little kitchen outside in the garden

The whole experience was very humbling and warming, with lots of joy, laughter and light.

Thank you CORD for this amazing opportunity and a big thank you to the girls! You are so beautiful and strong!

CORD is always looking for volunteers who wish to share their knowledge to empower these wonderful women with new skills. If you are interested, please contact CORD  [email protected]