Jason Leahey
It is a Wednesday morning, and 39 kids from the villages surrounding the
Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity are tied together, the
strings wrapped around their waists joined at a central knot, below
which hangs a nail. Ali Imron, ACCB's environmental program coordinator,
is leading a team-building exercise, and the students are competing to
see which team can lower its nail into a glass bottle, set upright on
the grass, first. There is much giggling involved; every kid is
grinning. General manager Isadora Angarita watches from the porch of
ACCB's school house. "These are the kids we hope are going to teach the
other students," she says.
This is the inaugural session of ACCB's new Eco Club. These are the
kids, all between eight and 16-years-old, that Angarita, Imron, and
Environmental Education Teacher Phok Samphos have earmarked as the
future stewards of Siem Reap Province's biodiversity.
Education has been at the forefront of ACCB's mission since 2006.
Located at the base of Kbal Spean, the centre works to protect
Cambodia's endangered wildlife and habitats. Educating local villages
about the importance of biodiversity is integral to those efforts, and
outreach ranges from ACCB lessons taught to a few dozen students to
community shows that have attracted as many as 600 people and combine
prizes and popular films with environmental lectures. At first, ACCB
tried to train area teachers, but few stayed longer than a single year
because salaries are so low.
So ACCB decided to provide special education to the most promising young
people they work with. Imron and Phok selected from each school the 30
students who showed the most interest in environmental issues. They then
taught a lesson on conservation, administered tests, and winnowed the
students down to the Eco Club. ACCB consulted with the parents of each
child and agreements were signed that commit the students to participating.
Ultimately, ACCB wants to instil in Eco Club students the understanding
that their activities have larger implications, in terms of local
wildlife, economics, and health. The club will meet weekly during the
school year and combine activity learning with practical conservation
education. This year's club will design and build bird decoys used to
lure endangered waterfowl into nets, where they can be tagged for
tracking then released.
Students will also learn why certain local birds are important to
Cambodia's eco system, plus ways they can promote eco-tourism, and thus
local economies.
"The students are very excited to be here," Angarita says when the
exercises are over. "The parents will say 'Yeah' and not really care,
but when they realise the kids are actually learning, they are very
supportive."
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment