Month: August 2016

Earthlink Environmental Camp is an annual event organised by Earthlink NTU, which aims to invite freshmen and new Earthlink members to learn about environmental issues and the little things we can do in our daily lives that contributes towards the conservation of the environment. To enhance the learning experience, we bring members to explore various location in Singapore, where they can be exposed to Mother Nature. This year, Earthlink Environmental Camp was held on the 13th and 14th of August. The destinations visited were Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, Night Safari, and Singapore Botanical Gardens.

Participants were gathered at Canopy K at 8.30 am. The camp was kick-started with ice-breaking sessions whereby participants were divided into 6 groups and self-introduced among themselves. Mini games were conducted between groups by their respective group’s leader to let the participants be familiarised with each other. After getting to know everyone in the group, a series of mass ice-breaking game was conducted among all the participants to bond. Everyone had fun and enjoyed the ice-breaking games. The nature trip was officially started by an opening ceremony with a speech from the Earthlink President, Steven Cheng Le Hung. Steven hoped that through the camp, the participants would be able to connect with nature and recognise some environmental issues that we would encounter during the trip, and most importantly to enjoy the camp.

The first destination of the day was Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. Each group then proceeded to explore the Wetlands. At least one nature guide was assigned into every group to explain and educate the members about the animals and plants they came across. The highlight of the Wetlands is, of course, the mudskippers. Many participants were surprised to find out that mudskippers actually belong to fish family. Mudskippers can swim in the water and also move on the land. They use their strong fins to “skip” on the land. More interestingly, some of them even eat each other when there is a great difference in size. Upon reaching the visitor center, the participants were given a rest and had an enjoyable dinner before entering the next exciting part of the camp.

Our sense of adventure was heightened when we reached Night Safari. The Night Safari in Singapore is the world’s first official night safari, which means offers nocturnal sightseeing of safari animals. Night Safari was so crowded on that day! We quickly hopped onto the tram service once we reached to tour around the park. We saw wolves, bears, lions, and also, the mascot and king of elephants in Night Safari, Chawang. Of course, we were not satisfied with just riding on trams. We continued the exploration by walking on several trails which enabled us to observe the animals one step closer. We even went through the giant flying fruit bats area where the bats would just fly towards us. All the girls were scared! After a long and fun day out, finally it was time to rest. We lodged at the Boy’s Brigade / Girl’s Brigade Camp Site in Sembawang.

The next morning, the participants were all rested up and ready to explore our last destination, Singapore Botanical Gardens! The garden hosts a rainforest area, which our nature guides and us ourselves did not want to miss. Our exploration here was livened up by fun and exciting games organized by the committee for us to bond even stronger. Around 12pm, we were ferried by bus back to NTU to have lunch and continue with the last activities of the camp.

The camp was not over yet. After the lunch, we were given several riddle games. We were provided with a background story and were expected to guess an animal’s name from the story. The group that guessed the riddle correctly will have a clue to the animal’s name. The animal is a critically endangered great ape living in Africa. Furthermore, it can withstand below freezing temperature because of its fur. After several severe headaches from each group, everyone finally guessed the animal correctly: it is the mountain gorilla, the mascot for Earthlink Environmental Camp 2016.

Here comes the finale of the camp: the closing ceremony. Each group enthusiastically performed their respective group’s cheer and the atmosphere was hyped up to the peak. After the cheer, all groups were presented with an award and the camp was officially ended.

At the end of the day, we hope that the campers benefited from joining Earthlink Environmental Camp 2016. Our aim was to create a memorable and meaningful weekend for the campers, whilst exposing the campers to recognise the various present environmental issues that are just a footprint away from us. Through the camp, we hope that there are more newborn Earthlinkers that would take a stand, and begin to make a change to create a better environment for all.

On the 12^th of June, 22 intrepid undergraduates from Earthlink NTU’s Ecoventure team embarked on a 15-day expedition to the Laotian village of Ban Hua Hin.  It is one of the 8 rural villages along the Nam Khan River in Oudomxay province, Nga district, where access to electricity is not easily available. One of the aims of this expedition was to install a solar panel system along with electrical lights and fans in the village’s primary school to improve the quality of education for the village children.

The solar panel system will provide sufficient electricity to power the lights and fans in the 3 classrooms of the village school, which can hold a total of 72 students. Electric fans will make for better learning conditions for the local children as the classrooms can become unbearably hot during dry seasons, while electrical lighting will provide the school more opportunities to prepare the students for secondary school, in the form of evening classes that could be held for students who require more help academically. That aside, the school also serves as a community centre, where the villagers host numerous gatherings, cultural ceremonies and social events.

This expedition is a part of Earthlink’s sustained effort to introduce renewable energy to rural communities in Laos. Since 2014, several Ecoventure teams had been installing solar panel systems in the villages located in the same cluster along the Nam Khan River; Ecoventure 2014 installed a solar panel system in Ban Lad Khammune, and Ecoventure 2015 did the same for the Ban Phongsavanh. However, in addition to the installation of solar panel and electrical systems in Ban Hua Hin, the Ecoventure 2016 team also visited the previous villages in order to perform maintenance on their solar panel systems and to maintain close ties with the villagers.

Apart from the installation of the solar panel and electrical systems, members of the Ecoventure team also conducted classes in English, Science and Environmental Awareness for the local children. They were surprised by the enthusiasm of the children, who would quickly fill up the classrooms whenever the team conducted lessons. Despite the language barrier, the kids listened intently to the team during lessons, and completed their handouts eagerly. Of course, learning isn’t a one-way process, and the children managed to teach the team a few things of their own: members of the team were able to pick up a few words and phrases in Khmu (a local dialect) from the children as some of the kids could speak it.

Through this expedition, the team experienced many aspects of living in a village –Ban Hua Hin had no electricity before the solar panels were installed, so the nights were almost pitch black. In addition, they also had to cope with the lack of running tap water, and had to make do with limited amounts of water every day. However, team members learnt to appreciate simpler things: when asked about the most memorable experience during the event, Andrian found the experience of bathing in the Nam Khan River more interesting than the installation work of the electrical systems. On the other hand, Kang Pyo fondly recalled the kindness and innocence of the village children. When he had first arrived in the village, he couldn’t communicate with the locals at all; but whenever he smiled and waved at the children, they would smile back despite the fact that he was a total stranger.

As their time at Ban Hua Hin came to an end, the team found themselves strangely unwilling to leave. Returning to Singapore, members of the team didn’t just bring home a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, but also precious memories of their time in the village, and a newfound appreciation for the urban comforts that we usually take for granted. To everyone in the Ecoventure team, the whole experience was surely, as Andrian so aptly summarized in a single word, “unforgettable”.

We would like to thank Maybank, City Developments Limited, PacificLight, and Lao Asia-Pacific Brewery for their sponsorship, as well as our other partners for their assistance – this trip would not have been successful without their help.