When the children temporarily parted dust and smoke the city, backed to nature

Our children had a day out of the cramped city to soak up nature

Nearly an hour away by car from Hanoi, the Me Linh Biodiversity Station seems to be a totally different place for the kids. Plant species with strange names, animals seen with their own eyes for the first time and stories, lessons to ponder.

They were impressed by Vietnam's biodiversity. For the first time they learned that Vietnam has so many endangered animals, they first distinguished the difference between apes and monkeys, they first used binoculars to see the trees from afar and the first time they were heard so many sad stories about the extinct animals in the wild, about the animal hunting action of humans and about the pitiful animals saved at the station. The kids are curious about everything, they heard and felt the stories told by uncomplicated but sincere emotions. For them, the animals are friends and their responsibility is to protect their friends.

Not only taking lessons in nature, biodiversity, children also experience a fresh atmosphere that they have not felt in Hanoi for a long time. Under the guidance of GreenID staff, the children were directly measured air quality at the station and compared to the air in Hanoi. The air did not show signs of pollution as in Hanoi, which was something that kids could directly see through the numbers. They enjoyed the difference and also asked themselves questions about the causes.

Using solar lights is also a challenge for the kids. Seeing how fun they are together "catching" the sunlight to light a lamp made us delighted.

The journey to discover nature would be flawed without a jungle trek. The children followed in line "across the forest", listened to the breath of the forest and the murmuring of underground water flowing into the stream. This time, the kids learned a lesson about water quality. The juices were best used by the kids to try with litmus paper and pen: from spring water, filtered water, mineral water to pepsi, fruit juice. After the practice, some even brought the spring water to boil and drink because it was the best water they could measure. From that we can see how fast the exercises are able to lead children to actual action.

Before came to the end of the journey, the kids had gone through a series of group games. They were excited to participate in showing their abilities, as well as the knowledge they have learned about air quality, the understanding of their friends. Looking at the aggressiveness and innocence of the children, we all recalled our childhood.

At the end of the journey to Me Linh Biodiversity Station, we believe that the children have experienced a lot of interesting things to help them love animals, the natural environment more, to learn more about the atmosphere, clean water, energy and increase the solidarity between the members of Green Star Club.

See you again in the next activities of Green Star Club!

This activity is part of the project "Civil society meets RE&EE: training, seminar and communication skills to boost RE&EE as a key tool for sustainable development and green growth strategy in Vietnam (E-Enhance)", funded by the EU.