Dr. Willie Smits, Adrienne Watson and Royce To visited the Victoria Shanghai Academy (VSA) on 14 Nov 2012. Dr Smits was able to share his decades of efforts in forest conservations and community empowerment.
He talked to a groups of 120 high school students, and shared the stage with six VSA students, who talked about their recent visit to the Tasikoki Wildlife Education and Rescue Centre in Sulawesi. During their 8-day visit to the Cico Centre and Tasikoki, students explained that they had had worked hard, but thoroughly enjoyed their experience, in addition to learning a lot about wildlife rescue and conservation. Mr Adam Copus, a staff member and the teacher who had coordinated the CAS trip, stated that he was impressed by their proactive learning attitude.
During the VSA school visit, Dr. Smits also took the chance to visit a 4/5-acre area slope in the school grounds with potential to be transformed into a functional area of relevant planting, such as food crops and ‘forest’ for education, whilst enabling students to have a hands-on approach in understanding more about community forestry and agro-forestry. Both the primary and secondary principals believe that the transformation of this shared land would enhance their curriculum and raise awareness about sustainability.
VSA is a strong supporter of Masarang Hong Kong and during the visit, the VSA also collected a number of the hand-made Pongos, which will be sold to provide support for a women’s collective in Indonesia and also support more animal rescues in Indonesia.
Article written by Royce To (http://royceto.com/blog/?p=17) and reproduced here with his permission.
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