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“When did bamboo become so green?…” If city children only know about bamboo through poems and books, the Green Classroom summer camp has brought them back to nature, allowing them to touch bamboo stalks and explore different emotions in the pure natural environment of Vietnam's largest bamboo conservation area - Phu An Bamboo Village.
Cherish nature.
The children were divided into age groups and given whimsical names based on types of bamboo: Southern Bamboo, Mai Ong, Yellow Stripe, Loc Ngoc, May Muoi… The youngest group, Southern Bamboo (3-5 years old), independently strolled through the bamboo forest. They eagerly touched the bamboo stalks, attentively listening to the guide, Dr. Diep Thi My Hanh, an environmental scientist, explain the characteristics and benefits of different bamboo species, and then drawing illustrations to show the differences between them.
“These houses won’t need air conditioning because they’ll be shaded by bamboo all day long. The houses also won’t be afraid of storms because of the bamboo,” Quang Huy (7 years old) explained about his painting.Houses under the shade of bambooby the Lộc Ngộc group.
Somewhere in the garden, there were joyful shouts of delight as the children were shown by Gurgand, the French professor, the carcass of a cicada or a millipede curled up inside.
In a spacious, cool courtyard shaded by bamboo, the little farmers learned about the planting process, how to loosen the soil, retain water for the plants, and sow their own sprouted mung bean seeds. After their hands-on experience in the garden, the children understood how hard farmers work to produce the food they eat every day. “You have to dig the soil, sow the seeds, cover them with topsoil, water them, and then wait a long time for the mung bean plants to grow and produce beans for making mung bean sweet soup. That means to have a bowl of mung bean sweet soup, the farmers have to work very hard, so you need to appreciate food and not waste it!” Ten-year-old Hong Anh advised her friends during their afternoon snack of mung bean sweet soup prepared by the women in the bamboo village.
Useful lessons
“Who among you has ever cut their hand?”, “Have you ever been burned?”, “Have you ever had a nosebleed?” Each question from the instructor elicited a flurry of tiny hands raised to “show off” their first accidents. This demonstrates that preschool and elementary school children are two age groups with a high rate of accidents and injuries. Preschool is the age when children begin going to school, leaving the protective embrace of their parents. Elementary school, on the other hand, is an age of curiosity, exploration, and susceptibility to being easily influenced. But parents cannot constantly protect their children or eliminate every potential danger. Therefore, the SASCO Green Classroom provides practical knowledge to help children develop safety awareness, proactively prevent and protect themselves, and also teaches basic first aid in necessary situations such as cuts, burns, and nosebleeds.
After class, the children came to conclusions that reassured their parents: We can play in shallow puddles, but we must stay away from large ponds, lakes, or rivers because they are dangerous; fire is dangerous but extremely important for roasting a potato or cooking a pot of rice; if you burn your hand, you should dip it in cold but clean water…
The most lively games were the water-passing game and the trash-sorting game. While the water-passing game required coordinated teamwork to avoid wasting clean water, the trash-sorting game demanded specific tasks from each member to select the correct types of waste. Ms. Thu Thuy, the game leader, said the games aimed to teach children how to collect and sort trash, and to live more harmoniously and environmentally friendly lives.
Without setting too many criteria for its children's summer camps, each summer SASCO strives to bring children closer to nature. Under the shade of trees and fresh leaves, children are free to explore subtle sensations, feel the beauty of nature, and grow to love their homeland even more. A love for nature, cultivated from a young age, will enrich childhood memories and help children become more aware of protecting our green planet.
Additional information:
Green classroomThis was the theme of SASCO's 2019 children's summer camp, held at the end of June at the Phu An Bamboo Ecological Museum and Plant Conservation Area (Binh Duong). This is an annual activity organized by SASCO for the children of its employees to enjoy outdoor activities in an open space with fresh air, aiming to stimulate children to improve various skills for holistic development and strengthen the bond between employees and the company.
