30th July 2015
25 Standard 5 students from SJK(C) Brinchang were the first in Cameron Highlands this year to join in REACH’s reforestation at our Bio-Diversity Centre program. Accompanied by two teachers and three REACH volunteers: Elucia, Geogina and myself, we squashed ourselves into three 4WD vehicles and hit the road at approximately 9.15am.
Our first stop was the famous Mossy Forest at G. Brinchang. En route even though it was a very bumpy ride, we managed to catch a glimpse of a large niltava and its mate as well as a Fire tufted barbet. The rolling green hills of tea were also a fine sight to behold as we made our way up the mountain.
After an educational briefing session by our guide, Satya, who shared a little of his store of knowledge of the thousands of species of herbs and fungi in Cameron Highlands, we entered the mossy forest to take a look for ourselves the fabled beauty of the forests of our own hometown.
True to behold, the forest was magnificent, but our joy was short lived. The children spotted plenty of rubbish left behind by previous visitors. We found ratty old shoes, socks, water bottles and various other pieces of rubbish. It was a dismal sight. We picked up as many as we could and left for our next destination: REACH’s Bio-D Centre.
Before we began the climb, all of us had sandwiches prepared by Dr Cheam and her maid. With renewed energy in our bodies, we made the steep ascent to the Bio-D Centre. As soon as everybody caught their breath we continued to our reforestation site to plant 6 Bilberry saplings. We also strew natural fertilizer for the mature shoots so that they could all grow big and strong.
After we had returned to the Bio-D Centre to complete the feedback forms and finished up the last of the sandwiches, a few fat raindrops fell on our heads, signaling the time for us to go home. We made our way carefully down the slope, bundled ourselves into the vehicles and enjoyed the bumpy ride back to the school.
The rain only unleashed its full downpour once we all had safely reached the school and we whiled the time away to 1pm by distributing souvenirs for all the kids and making a short video clip. It had been an exciting trip with this group of youngsters and we all had a good time. The children all said they looked forward to visiting the Bio-D Centre again in the future to camp there someday.
written by Melody Woon