Project O2

Go Green at City Square Eco-Mall

We had our Post-trip activity on the 6th of March together with students from the Little Green Champions Initiative from Lam Soon Community Centre. The Little Green Champions initiative is a programme established to increase environmental awareness in children and to empower them to champion environmental causes.

Together with these children, we had 2 main objectives to fulfill:

1. Raise awareness of environmental conservation
2. Encourage participants to take a more proactive stance towards their consumption habits by Reducing, Reusing and Recycling

Held in Singapore’s first Eco-Mall, the day’s activities were carried out in and around City Square Eco-Mall. There were many activities to bring home one message to the participants – even though they may be young, environmentally friendly habits can be easily incorporated into their daily lives.

Led around by IS mates as Group Leaders (GL), the students shopped at NTUC for environmentally friendly products, folded little boxes and paper frogs to see how old magazines can be re-used and challenged themselves on their drawing skills in Pictionary. They also fished for Coke cans as a team-building activity and fed cans into the can recycling machine, seeing first hand, their efforts in recycling. Being an Eco-Mall, quotes and facts were aplenty in the Mall, and the students noted them down as they filled up their crossword puzzles.

 
The enthusiasm the children had was definitely infectious. Seeing them scurrying around the Mall in earnest as they looked for their next station, talking loudly and happily to their new found friends, filling up their worksheets diligently as they noted down new and interesting facts, made us really pleased to bring some fun to them. Indeed, more often than not, it was our young friends that led their GL around the Mall :)

After a lunch at McDonalds, the afternoon activity ensued as a recap activity. The children were tasked to find their GL - clues were given when they could answer questions based on what they had learnt in the morning. Being really intelligent, they found their GLs in no time. The last activity for the day saw the children making a food chain with their given ‘identities’. In there, they learnt the interconnectedness of various elements of a Food Chain, and how environmental pollution threatens every living thing.

The Saturday was a day well spent for all of us - the children got to see how they are part of the new Green Revolution, while we got to share a little more of the message to be Green. Interacting with the young ones, uninhibited in their actions and always ready with a big smile, made us feel young :)
 
The success of today’s activity was a result of the team’s collective effort :) We crafted a detailed plan to ensure the relevance of each activity and accounted for the various logistical concerns. There was also a good mix of activities for the children – some required physical dexterity, others, mental acumen :D  Our IS mates certainly did an awesome job; each GL helped their little group mates around the Mall, making the effort to share the Green message, every Station Master conducted their station well, and logistics was well-coordinated. It is certainly a lovely afternoon out - Great job everyone!

Visits of Teachers’ Houses

The opportunity to visit the teachers’ houses gave us a rough idea of their living conditions as well as their life stories and how they started teaching in the village. Our team was split up into 2 groups, with 1 group visiting the teachers’ houses near where we stayed, and the other group visiting the houses behind the school compound. Both sides had different stories to tell, but the sentiments we felt when we entered their house were the same - the strong passion the teachers had for teaching, as well as their warm welcome to us for volunteering at their village.



When we reached the teacher’s house, they offered us a seat on the mat and brought out bananas and green tea to share.

It was interesting to have this opportunity to exchange questions we had about each other’s country. We found out a lot about Vietnam and Gia Bac Village that night. Many of the stories we heard were very motivational. One of the stories that struck us the most was the progress that the school and the village had made through the years. Just 4 years ago, there was no electricity in the village and schooling was not compulsory for the children. Then, the government stepped in to sponsor the school with books and infrastructure so as to provide the children with education to alleviate poverty. Now, nearly all the children in the village attend school, and a few of them have even managed to secure scholarships for further their education in the nearby town. What was most inspiring was that some of the students actually returned to the village as teachers to help provide the best education they can for the future generations.

It was really touching because in Singapore, many of us take our education for granted. We do not have to fight for our education because the government makes it compulsory for us to attend school. Progressing up the education level comes very easily to us. Therefore, we were very inspired by their passion for learning and giving back to the village.

After that night, our passion for learning and teaching grew. I believe all of us want to return to Gia Bac School to continue giving them what we have learnt in Singapore, and at the same time continue learning from them.

Written by: Jesslyn and Zi Rong

Visits of Villagers’ Houses

On the evening of our 6th day at the village, our team visited the houses of the four poorest households in Gia Bac. As the houses were quite a distance from the school, we chit-chatted and took many photos along the way. On our way to the houses, we also met a group of children playing and, they even stood in a line and smiled for the camera.

For the average household, their main source of income is from the sale of coffee and corn crops. Most of the children attend lessons at Gia Bac School, which provides education from Kindergarten all the way up to the Singapore-equivalent of Secondary-school level.

We visited a total of 4 houses. At every house, we presented the family with a bag of clothes and a small sum of money. Although the gifts would not change their lives dramatically, the clothes will keep them warm during the cold nights and the money will allow them to purchase crops and food.

We gathered inside one of the houses and talked to the people living there. The lady in yellow is the eldest of the family. She is only 17 years old and has to take care of the entire household, comprising of her and her three younger siblings (two brothers and a sister). Her father passed away when she was still very young, and her mother abandoned them later on.

During the dialogue session, the Teacher (top right corner, in white shirt) mentioned an interesting fact about Gia Bac village: for marriage, it is the female who has to propose to the male. The female has to present the male’s family with either a large sum of money or a buffalo during proposal.

During the house visit, we found out that that the average household in Gia Bac village has about 7 to 8 children. The teacher explained that parents want many children as they are regarded as extra manpower for the planting of cash crops. However, they fail to understand that having more children means that they require more resources (food and money) to raise and take care of them.

The people of Gia Bac lead very simple and carefree lifestyles. There is almost no variation to their daily routines. Despite the very basic living conditions, they are still able to find joy and happiness in their lives.

Members of the IS team all lead comfortable and fast-paced city lifestyles, which is unlike that of the households we visited. The house visits have, therefore, given us the opportunity to see for ourselves how people survive in different conditions than us. As the sun set, we walked back to the house with a new experience.

Written by: Jesslyn and Zi Rong

Coffee Harvesting

The day after the wonderful cultural night, the headmaster of Gia Bac school invited us to help him harvest his plot of coffee plants. Now, this is something outside of our usual activities of tree-planting and teaching, and everyone was excited to learn something new as we headed to the school to meet up with the headmaster. We were then led to the plantation site by a teacher. The familiar route to the coffee plantation made me wonder if we are going for another forest adventure.

Turning off at one of the corner of the road, we saw a steep slope, where the coffee plantation was situated at, and IS mates started helping each other down to the plantation. Once everyone was down at the coffee plantation, we were amazed at the sight of it. For me, it was my first time seeing a coffee plantation and it was neatly planted, with all the plants looking green and healthy. The local farmer and the teacher gave us a brief introduction about the plantation and instructions on how to pluck out all the coffee berries (those red/green beans on the picture) from the tree.

Before everyone began plucking the coffee beans, the local farmer helped us lay a large sheet of canvas on the ground. The canvas can help speed up the process of plucking the coffee berries, allowing the berries to fall onto the canvas. From the photo below, we can see everyone trying their hands at plucking the coffee berries, and all of us tried our best to help out the task given.

Since we were a big group, we were divided into smaller groups and started working with around four people to one tree and we tried to harvest as many coffee beans as we can. When one tree was completely empty of coffee beans, the group would move on to the next tree, but they would have to drag the whole canvas along. With more beans harvested, the canvas becomes heavier and makes it more difficult to move around. Here’s me, in the photo below, helping the farmer move the canvas. It takes a lot of strength just to drag the whole canvas along, and needless to say, to move it around the uneven terrain while making sure that the beans are not spilled.

This is one of the canvasses that our group filled up (see photo below). To complete harvesting, there will be people carrying a bamboo woven basket to fill up with the coffee beans. The person will then carry it over to the storage area and then this cycle will continue until all the coffee beans are emptied from the canvas.

The weather was really hot! Everyone felt drained after working for 2 hours, but thankfully, the coffee trees provide a good shade to rest and to have our water break.

Here is Jing Jing, our team leader, with the local farmer. From what the farmer told us, the coffee plants need to grow for at least 3 to 5 years before they are ripe for harvesting. And to produce the coffee that we drink, coffee berries are first picked, generally by hand, which was what we were helping them with. Then, the coffee berries will be sorted by ripeness and color and the flesh of the berry is removed, usually by machine, before the seeds are fermented. When the fermentation is completed, the beans are washed with large quantities of fresh water to remove the fermentation residue, which generates massive amounts of coffee wastewater. Finally, the seeds are dried. A way to let the coffee beans dry is to let them sit on a cement patio and rake over them in the sunlight. Next, the coffee is sorted, and labeled as green coffee before being roasted.

Enough of details, 11 a.m. arrived very quickly and we had to return for lunch and to prepare for our lesson with the students later in the afternoon. BUT, before we headed back, we took a lot of group photos! I felt that it was our privilege to be able to harvest coffee beans and know how their specialty (coffee) is being produced. This traditional method of farming is not something that is being done in Singapore. Now we know how the coffee is produced, maybe it will help us appreciate coffee better!

Written by: Lizhi

Updates!

We’ve just started updating our blog with entries on different activities that we did in Vietnam, do check them out below! More entries will be posted over the next few days as well, so stay tuned!

Tree-Planting

Tree planting is one of the main objectives of our trip to Vietnam and has been the main motivation throughout this whole project since its conception in June. Our initial idea was for conservation of the environment, which we did fulfill as we cleared the weeds that overcrowded the state land, and replaced them with saplings. Later on we learnt that to meet the needs of the environment and also that of the local economy, the mature trees will be felled for commercial use. Then the cycle of planting repeats itself. Nevertheless, the 30 years of their existence would beneficially help to produce much more oxygen for the atmosphere and prevent soil erosion.

Tree planting at the state land was no easy task, and we had to get a lot of guidance from the park rangers. We learnt that the state land was previously a forest. After villagers moved there, the trees were cut down to make way for coffee plantations. However, the coffee plants were later abandoned, and weeds soon took over. Our task then was to first clear the weeds and the neglected coffee trees and then plant saplings to regenerate the forest.

The first step was to clear some part of the state land first to make space for trees we were going plant. We had to cut away weeds and unwanted plants of our height, and some of us even tried our hands at chopping down coffee trees! It was real hard work, and that alone took us more than a morning.

The next day saw us digging holes for the trees in the hard, dry ground, covering them back with soil, before watering them. We then had to remove the tree saplings from their soil wraps and plant them into the holes, after which we completed the planting by watering. All these took place under the hot sun on mornings during the first week - some of us even got a tan from tree planting!

During the second week, we had to plant saplings over at the school and along the road right outside the school. A group of us started work by digging holes along the fence at one side of the school. Thankfully, the soil at the school was relatively softer and looser, making our job much easier and we completed the process of digging in a couple of hours’ time.

And so, we followed through the next day with the planting of the saplings. However, this time round, it was important for us to build a bamboo fence around each sapling to protect the small saplings from being eaten by goats. The building of the fences was not as straightforward as it sounds, as we’d to walk quite a distance (around 3km) to an area with fresh bamboo, cut them, transport the bamboo back to the school on foot, chop them into smaller sections, and then build the fences for each and every sapling. Though it may sound easy now, but it was definitely not. In fact, it was the most tedious process of all!

We spent our last two mornings at the village repeating the same steps along the road outside of the school. Additionally, some of us will have to water the saplings at the forest area, at the school and along the road, nearly every day after the saplings are planted. Watering of the saplings at the forest area is more complicated, as water needs to be transported from the school to the area. Fortunately, two of the Vietnamese volunteers with us were able to ride motorbikes borrowed from the teachers to transport the water, thereby easing the process of watering for us.  Some of us even got the chance to sit on these motorbikes when transporting the water, enjoying the evening breeze while seeing the village scenes whizz by.

In retrospect, tree-planting is a rather interesting process, for digging the holes were backbreaking; on the other hand, planting the tree itself was quite delicate work comparatively. There was a lot to learn from this experience, such as the right ways of handling the tools, the entire process of tree-planting, and the fact that it was important to build fences around the saplings to protect them. All these would have been difficult for us, coming from the urbanised environment of Singapore, to learn from anywhere else.  If not for the trip, i believe most of us would not have the chance to use these tools, would not have such a chance to learn such skills.

When all the trees were planted, everyone heaved an expected sigh of relief that our tree planting was completed. Whether it’s for conserving the environment or helping the community, this is by no means of any significant scale. Nevertheless, we believe this activity has helped us get closer to mother nature and appreciate the flora and fauna of the forest more than before.  Also, after two weeks of hard work, we’ve certainly grown closer to one another and formed a tight bond within the team.

Written by: You Quan, Adeline and Si Jie

Cultural Night

The unforgettable cultural night cum campfire was the result of cohesive efforts put together by the school, the Vietnamese volunteers, and us. In order to prepare for the big day, the staff actually requested each student attending the cultural night cum campfire to bring in a couple of firewood to start the magnificent fire that we witnessed and keep it burning through the chilly night.

When the blazing sun was beginning to set and the all-too-familiar sound of the school gong greeted our ears, we could observe the staff moving swiftly to set up the stage and audio equipment, and the students carrying in the firewood with much gusto. The kind gesture of the staff and help extended by the students were testament of the Vietnamese culture - anything that a Vietnamese does, he does it out of consideration for the welfare of others, rather than for himself alone. We could sense their enthusiasm and excitement towards the display of our various cultures, customs and religions through the gargantuan efforts injected by them in the preparatory stage and in the many informal conversations we held with them prior to the campfire. On our part, we could not aid much in the setting up of the place and ensuring that the audio equipment were in working condition, but hopefully we did help in the final decoration with our creativity fuelled balloon sculptures. 

The preparatory stage soon took a backseat as dusk settled and the much- awaited campfire was officially declared to have started by the amicable Principal. Excitement and tension rang high in our camp as we changed into our respective traditional costumes and conducted our final group rehearsals to ensure smooth sailing of the event. Hopefully, the performances, which portrayed the legend of Chang E, the Chinese wedding, the rituals during Hari Raya Puasa and the memorable Bollywood Shava Shava dance, did match their anticipations and delight them. Our final item was the dedication of three songs- “ Singapore Town”, “Chan Mali Chan” and the Chinese version of “Home”. Though they may not fathom the lyrics of the latter two, hopefully our sincerity and emotions did strike a chord in their hearts. En route to the last stanza of “Home” was the most heartfelt moment for me as we were presented with flowers from the students and the teachers.

The performances put up by the Vietnamese students and volunteers were unprecedented for me. I was exposed to the Vietnamese dances and costumes. The slideshow put up by the volunteers was undoubtedly laudable and educational as we were given the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the numerous facets of Vietnam, ranging from her history to culture to people and to the places of interest.

The grand finale was the campfire marked by the towering inferno, the cackling of the flames and the searing heat emitted. Though the fire sounded intimidating, it did nothing to stop us from encouraging one another, be it strangers or friends, to join hands and waltz around it, to the tunes of a couple of Vietnamese songs. It was clearly a celebration of the human spirit and served as a reminder of the importance of unity for the human race. Though the joyful laughter and heartwarming songs came to an abrupt end, I am sure they, together with the other pieces of incidents that occurred that night and the other thirteen days, will always occupy an immovable and special place in our hearts and minds.

Written by: Mae Chyi

Forest Adventure

We woke up early at 4.30 a.m. and everyone was really looking forward to the forest adventure (without knowing what was expecting us). Along the long route there, everyone was happily walking, talking, enjoying the scenery (see photo below) and taking photos.

At the foot of a hill, the ranger suggested for us to take a “short”-cut, which was a walk up the steep hill (see above photo), and after that short climb, we took a break on the side of the road to rest and have some snacks. The local ranger found some “HU-LOO”s along the way and hid them in the bushes by the road for us to collect them when we make our way back. After a couple of hours of walking along comfortable roads, we were finally about to begin our forest adventure!

Led by the local ranger, we entered into the mysterious forest. Still unsure of where we were heading, we could hear the sounds of bugs, water running along a stream and our laughter! A lot of us were anticipating what was ahead even though we were quite tired and only half way there. =p

If you thought that the quest is to locate stream, OH NO NO THEN YOU ARE WRONG! When we finally reached and found the stream, everyone thought that it was the end of our forest adventure. But we realised that there’s more to conquer ahead of us. After resting for a while again at the stream, we challenged ourselves to a higher ground. It was definitely not easy as the rocks were slippery, plus the way was steep and full of thorny plants around.

We were actually lost on the way back but surprisingly we were not really frantic. Definitely exhausted and with some even injured, the team work and love shown during this adventure made each of us become even closer. The support from one another especially simple gestures like offering up a hand to help and a word of encouragement really do make this forest adventure more than just an adventure.
As we were walking back to our “home”, which was 7km away and our lethargy made the distance seem even longer, we were greeted by familiar faces on motorcycles and it was the teachers! Rides were offered to bring us back and the love from the local villagers warmed our hearts that sunny afternoon. Now, not only can we proudly say that we survived the forest adventure, but we can also stand at the peak and shout -AIN’T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH! (:

- Written by: Esther

Dinner with the VIPs

On the second Tuesday of our stay in Gia Bac, three of us represented IS to a dinner with the local officials from Di Linh town.

The dinner was nothing short of extravagant – it was a spread, and Vietnamese wine was in abundance.

After setting the table together with the hosts (the Headmaster and teachers), we sat down for dinner and exchange of sentiments about the Project thus far. I shared how welcomed we felt in the village, and that we’re very grateful to their support. I was very touched when the Head of Di Linh town expressed his thoughts about the initial stages of the project – that he was worried about our welfare since in his opinion, the village had very little to offer us.

Though we each spoke different tongues, the feelings conveyed through their speech and exchange over dinner could be felt easily – these things transcends language barriers. Throughout dinner, they showed their genuine concern for us, and constantly expressed a desire for us to return and continue the project with them.

After dinner we went over to the headmaster’s house and were treated to the next round of entertainment. He sang traditional songs to us as the big group sat in a circle, and we returned their kind gesture with National Day Parade songs :D Tea was served to rid the alcohol, I guess, and it was again, in good company.

It was a treat to be accorded with such a warm welcome. It was an amazing dinner not only in terms of the food and wine, but also the hosts and guests at the table. There was much toasting to our team and to Singapore, and it felt surreal to suddenly become an ambassador for Singapore, in the shoes of an undergrad, just at the legal adult age, in a remote village in Vietnam.

- Written by Jing Jing

We’re back!

To borrow words from some of our team members, this was a memorable, fulfilling, unforgettable, and AWESOME trip. It was 14 well-spent days with one amazing team. And I’m proud to say that we’ve achieved our 3 team goals and so much more.

This trip wouldn’t have been such a success without each and every one of our team member’s input, and it was heartening to see everyone trying their very best to dig holes, plant the saplings, cut bamboo, build the fences, water the plants, interact with the students, and, not forgetting, prepare lunches and wash the dishes!

Here, we also dedicate our most heartfelt gratitude to the Vietnamese volunteers who were with us over the entire trip and were absolutely pivotal in contributing to the success of our trip. Without their help, we would have been less effective and there is no saying how many more problems we could’ve faced. The friendships and bonds that we forged will be held dear to our hearts.

Also, the warmth and enthusiasm of the principal, teachers and students of Gia Bac school in so many aspects made us feel very welcomed in the village. Despite the language barrier and the inconveniences our team brought for them (like hogging the teachers’ bathrooms), they were always greeting us with smiles and trying their very best to provide support for us.

This trip may have lasted just 14 days, but the memories will be with us for many years to come!

A more detailed update about our trip will be done shortly. Here’s wishing everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS!