“Melentur Aur Biar Dari Rebung”– Bend a bamboo while it is still a shoot
21st August 2015-In our environmental work in Cameron Highlands, we hold dear to this Malay proverb, Melentur Aur Biar Dari Rebung, which means to teach a child, one should do it while he is young. He is more ‘pliant’ then and can absorb what you teach better.
It is thus that many of our environmental conservation programmes are geared for our school children. When sometimes things look bleak in spite of all our efforts, when trees continue to fall and rivers are running mud, we seek solace in the fact that our programmes continue to reach out to the younger generation.
And we are not alone. Many corporations and institutions continue to offer us assistance especially in programmes for youths. The assistance we have received from them these past few years include:
Grants from The Embassy of Finland. For 3 consecutive years the Embassy of Finland funded the setting of the biodiversity centre for research and education at Gunung Brinchang, mossy forest education tours and biodiversity activities, reforestation for our local students and publication of a book on montane birds.
( above picture- The Ambassador of Finland signing the agreement with REACH president)
-Grants from the Shell Conservation Fund and Maybank too sponsored similar activities.
-CIMB Bank too has been a regular donor. In 2009 they gave us a grant for the CSI ( Community Stream Investigation ) programme. This was followed by a grant for Re-Act- a recycling programme in schools in 2011. This year we were again delightfully surprised by another grant from CIMB, on this occasion for biodiversity conservation activities.
(above picture- Mock cheque presentation By CIMB Bank. Cimb bank represented by Encik Fajruddin and Mr Lawrence Quah. Reach represented by Dr Liau Tai Leong)
-We have received grants from Starbucks for a programme on composting, again in schools.
-Other sponsors over the years include APM, Public Bank, Datacraft, Digi group, Ricoh.
-We are also beginning to receive large donations from private individuals who believe that doing something positive for the environment is better than doing nothing at all. In February this year we received funds from Prince Tunku Imran from the Negeri Sembilan Royal family and Mr Paul Chuah, a chartered accountant, for environmental education.
(above picture-Committee members with Tunku Imran and Mr Paul Chuah)
We thank them all.
With these fresh injection of funds we are able to continue our existing programmes and start new ones too. One of the new programmes is using English as a medium of instruction for environmental education in the schools , with the aim of improving both.
Below are pictures of some of our activities for our school children.
Community Stream Investigation Activities
Mossy Forest education and reforestation Activtities
English based environmental education activities
We have also been doing simple assessments to gauge the eficacy of these programmes and some of the students feedback are interesting indeed
Another response that was refreshingly original.
To the question ..What are the importance of the Mossy Forests? this Form Four student wrote very neatly- Untuk membekal oxygen kepada orang-orang yang merokok ie To supply oxygen to smokers..
We were all tickled pink.
So smokers out there, whether you intend to quit or otherwise, learn from the kids. ..you got to protect the forests!
The forests are one of the world’s largest supplier of oxygen.
written by Cheam May Choo