Starting the new school year, fourth-graders
from the Ha Noi Academy primary school had a chance to join in some very
interesting and meaningful activities: making handbags from old newspapers and
growing black-bean plants in pretty colourful pots made from plastic bottles. Before
that, a short video clip had been shown to demonstrate the current state of the
environment worldwide and what humans have been doing to the environment. “Lasting
just two short lessons, the activities have offered the little students an
exciting experience, useful knowledge in life as well as raise their love for
the environment through happy and fun activities,” says teacher Nguyen Thanh
Hoa. All the students demonstrated their keenness, enthusiasm and concentration
on what they were being taught. Their instructors, instead of the teachers, are
high school students who share a common love of nature. “I’m very surprised I
can make a handbag with just simple things like discarded papers, rope and
adhesive tape,” says student Tran Minh Anh. “I hope to have more lessons like
this.” Such activities are part of a project called Lo Mo, implemented by a
group of high-school students in Ha Noi. Launched in early July under the sponsorship
of the voluntary organisation Water Wise Viet Nam, the project aims to raise
children’s awareness of the environment in general and recycling in particular.
“We are all members of the Youth Leadership Camp of Water Wise Viet Nam. After
this summer camp, we have been trained to create projects that contribute to
the community,” say Pham Thanh Thao, an 11th grader from the Foreign Language
Specialised School and one of the initiators of Lo Mo. “As the environment and
recycling is not a new issue, we were very confused about finding more
innovative and effective approaches for our project. “We finally came up with
instructing small children, who are very eager to learn new things and are also
future citizens of the country, to recycle discarded materials. We expect that
this approach will more effectively raise their interest in environmental
protection rather than dry knowledge from books. We want to spread love for the
environment widely,” she adds. Besides Thao, there are three other members in
charge of managing the project, and about 60 volunteers, all of whom are high
school or universities students in Ha Noi. “As soon as Lo Mo was launched, we
started to collect discarded materials like used paper or empty bottles from
volunteers to create souvenirs, which we have sold at charity fairs on 6 Pham
Ngu Lao to raise funds for the implementation of the project.” In addition,
members of Lo Mo also go to the Sword Lake to propagate about environmental
protection and sell their recycled products to both Vietnamese and foreigners.
Workshops have also been regularly held with renowned speakers invited to
deliver talks, which aim to offer interesting playgrounds and inspire the
children to join in protecting nature. “The project is not expensive because of
its recycling theme. The cost for non-recyclable materials likes adhesive tape
or brushes have been covered by our funds raised through fairs and
sponsorships,” Thao says.
In the two months since it was launched, Lo
Mo has been introduced to three international primary schools in Ha Noi:
Vinschool, Ha Noi Academy and Ha Noi Star. According to Thao, the greatest
difficulty they have had is persuading schools to adopt Lo Mo into their
syllabuses. “At first, schools hesitated to coordinate with our project, because
all of us are still students with limited experience in teaching. But after one
to three lessons, on seeing their students get very excited over our projects,
they’ve gradually had more confidence in letting us approach their students,”
she recalls. Members of Lo Mo also cooperate with the schools to introduce the
activities of the project to a wider number of students. Those who don’t get a
chance to attend the project classes can attend one of their workshops to
listen to talks and get trained on how to recycle things. The positive
responses from schools, students and their parents became the motivation for
members of Lo Mo to launch a workshop, called Nu Cuoi Dem Trang (Smiles on a
Moonlit Night) that was held on Saturday. The event drew the participation of
many children and parents within the city, and all the money raised through
selling recycled objects will contribute to Operation Smile Viet Nam, an
organisation dedicated to repairing childhood facial deformities. “We have been
pretty pleased with the result of the project on seeing all the students
happily listening to our messages, making paper bags, growing plants in empty
bottles and seeing them grow. I think Lo Mo has been partially successful, at
least in meeting our expectations,” Thảo says. A new school year has come, and
all the members of Lo Mo have to finish up their project to go back to school.
“Lo Mo will end in one week, and we are very happy that we have somehow
inspired children to be more concerned about the environment. If possible, we
will plan another project for next year’s summer vacation,” she adds.
Viet
Nam Plus – September 17 – http://en.vietnamplus.vn/childrens-love-of-the-environment-nurtured/99157.vnp
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