Text and Photos by BSBCC
On the 3rd March, our CEO and Founder, Mr. Wong Siew Te got an interesting call. Paul Kemmett, a teacher from Overseas Family School, Singapore wanted to ‘skype’ Wong with his Fourth grade students (age 9-10 years old). The students wanted to learn about sun bears as their unit of inquiry that focuses on the sustainability of natural environments. Mr. Wong gladly took the call. He showed them the sun bears on the viewing platform and taught them about their plight. Thanks Paul and students for the effort to learn about our endangered sun bears!
Mr. Wong explaining about the vulnerable status and distribution of sun bears to the students.
Mr. Wong showing the students our bears at the forest enclosure by having a live session through Skype.
Mr. Wong showing the students our bears at the forest enclosure by having a live session through Skype.
On the other hand, the education team armed with our new BSBCC vests, educational displays like camera traps, paw prints and new banners, went on a long journey to the Kinabatangan district for an outreach programme. The first two schools visited were far inside palm oil estates, and the other two were in Kinabatangan town. This one week programme is organised by HUTAN-Kinabatangan Orang Utan Conservation Programme (KOCP) and accompanied by Sabah Wildlife Department – Kinabatangan district, Sabah Forestry Department – Kinabatangan district, and Sabah Environmental Protection Department (JPAS). It was a big success and the teachers and students were all enjoyed their time with us.
SK Ladang Sg. Bendera, Kinabatangan (24th March 2015)
Risnayati, BSBCC Environmental Education Officer interacting to the students at the BSBCC booth.
Tan Wei Cheng, BSBCC Centre Coordinator gave a talk about the bears.
The students enjoying wild animal soft toys.
SK Ladang Tomanggong, Kinabatangan (25th March 2015)
Keen students enjoying their time at our educational booth.
Students trying out bear enrichment!
Program was ended up with a group photo.
SK Kota Kinabatangan, Kinabatangan (26th March 2015)
Primary school kids swarming over the education booths.
Intern student under the Sabah Wildlife Department – Kinabatangan district helping us to explain about the background history of one of our bears named Kuamut.
Dressing up as a clouded leopard!
SK Paris 3, Kinabatangan (27th March 2015)
Animal mask making activity for the kindergarten kids.
Teachers with their kids wearing animal masks.
Mr. Markiss from HUTAN-KOCP explaining about the orangutan’s diet and eating habits.
In addition, on 11th April, BSBCC sent three staff members to SMK Muhibbah for an awareness program in conjunction to Jerayawara, Hari Q and student exhibition. Mr. Lam Tee Jye, who was the teacher in-charge for the Eco-school club welcomed us with open arms. We must admit, the Eco-school club has done a great job on the school environment. Many interested teachers and students came to our booths to ask about the sun bears or our Centre. We were also honored to be invited to give a talk (by Gloria Ganang, BSBCC Environmental Education Executive) to the science-stream students and also introduce our local volunteer programme (by Tan Wei Cheng) to the students. From the presentation, many of the students were interested in helping out in our Centre. Thank you again and hope to see some of you volunteering in our centre soon!
SMK Muhibbah, Sandakan (11th April 2015)
SMK Muhibbah Principal, Mdm Lim Li Li (second from left) and the teachers visiting our booth.
Curious students looking at the pictures taken from the camera trap.
Gloria gave a talk about the sun bears and our Centre.
Besides that, BSBCC also invited several NGOs and government agencies to join our outreach programme for Sandakan district. But, only HUTAN-KOCP that managed to join our programme due to the tight schedule by several agencies. Starting on 25th April, BSBCC team together with HUTAN-KOCP set up a booth at each school in the programme to raise awareness among students about our rich environmental heritage and wildlife. Throughout the programme, many teachers and students were involved in exhibitions, talks, environmental games and wildlife documentary video shows.
SMK Gum-Gum, Sandakan (25th April 2015)
HUTAN-KOCP booth.
Collage competition—to create and design orangutan, proboscis monkey or sun bear figure by using natural materials such as coconut husk, branches, dried leaves and soil.
First winner for the collage competition!
SMK Libaran, Sandakan (28th April 2015)
Let’s play a game!
This is a camera trap!
Second winner for the collage competition!
SK Sungai Manila students loved pretending to be wild animals for the day.
Lester explaining the strength of a bear claw.
Cute little boy wearing a clouded leopard costume.
From this awareness programme, we are thrilled to see that the students, who will be future leaders of our society, were keen to learn about the wildlife in Borneo.
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