Last Saturday, I volunteered to be a facilitator for MNS-CIMB Camp in Lambir. It was a nature camp, targeted for kids, to nurture their love and increase their knowledge of the environment and stuffs.
I represented MNS. Together with me, there are Sha, Nazeri - the leader of the pack, Bor-Seng, Kok Foo, Wan Chee, Guna, Amer, Grace, Mr. Tan and others. Most of them are MNS members except for Sha and I. MNS stands for Malaysian Nature Society. Get to know the society –> here.
We were only involved in two of the modules. In the morning, we facilitate in role-playing module where the students should stand on some points based on roles given to them.
Our group, group 5, were assigned to be the industrialies, and our job was to persuade the government and villagers to accept our proposal of developing Lambir to industrial area. In the same time, there were rejection from the NGO and local environment department. It was amazing to see how creative the kids were in contributing points to make sure the government and villagers would agree with us. It was also amazing to see how passionate the kids were (they were initially shy), in standing up and persuading though thevillagers were not agreeable with the proposal. The government was supposely to decide on to proceed with the development or not, but since there was not enough time, we had to cut it short.
Our next module started at 4, and while waiting, Sha, Kok Foo and I went into the woods, just to look around. Kok Foo, did some practicing on his DSLR, and I just watched, since I brought my camera but, with dead battery! I forgot to charge it up the night before! We went only until the Latak Waterfall. Deep deep inside the woods, there is a hill called Lambir Hills, and it is the world’s most ecologically diverse area. While tree diversity in Yasuni (in Amazon) has 1104 species of trees and shrubs in 50 hectare plot, Lambir, has 1182 species of 52 hectare plot! Interesting, ain’t it?
Some of the interesting animals that can be found here include, tarsiers, flying squirrels, Bornean Bristlheads, tarantulas, lanternbugs, scorpions, geckos, and a small frog - smaller than the size of a 20 cent coin. But I didn’t find all that, of course. Maybe I should join MNS in one of their nightwalks.
Our second module was basic research. Each groups were assigned different subjects. Sha and I worked together in a group, and we did the leaf litter subject. Basically, we need to gather leaves from the forest floor into a container and see what critters live inside it. Some of the insects that we saw was sowbugs, ants, cockroaches, crickets, termites, earthworm, centipedes and spider. Then, we learned about the function of each insects. Later, the kids present on what they discovered during the module.
All in all, I enjoyed to be in the programme. The kids - Kazah, Suad, Izal, Nasri, Amirul, Hamizul, Ikmal, Liha and Siti, and their teacher - Cikgu Mai and Cikgu Ida, is a bunch of exciting people!
The MNS people is not bad either, they are laid back, enjoy nature (of coz!) and most of them are interested in photography.. wowee!! Nazeri, for example, owned a manual SLR, and he knew on the exposure, shutter speed, and some old-school term which I’ve never heard before. He said two of the most important things in photography are light and composition. He is also a member of Photo Malaysia. Check out their website –> here.
Too bad that I don’t have any picture to show! Have to wait for Sha’s and Kok Foo’s pictures then. Next time, have to remember to recharge the battery!!
Ah.. I have one. Enjoy!!~~
Haha!!
Am still thinking to join or not to join this camp again (esp nightwalk) in September (puasa tuuu..)… Hmmm…
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