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Children’s Day 2022 @ Restful Waters, Singapore
October 7, 2022 @ 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Celebrating Children’s Day by Caring for Our Common Home, Earth
7th October 2022, we welcomed our young visitors from Montfort Junior School. Fifty-three children ages 4 to 12 and 7 parent volunteers. A day of new experiences for us all – our first time hosting a group of young boys and we did not know what to expect. They were a boisterous group, raising the noise level many decibels above our usual. As noisy as boys can be, they brought joy to everyone, so full of cheerfulness, positive energy, eager to learn, responsive and most polite.
Welcome, Welcome!!
Surprise, surprise – we had initially expected thirty children but ended up with fifty-three. A 40-seater bus was not enough. Adeline had to hire another smaller passenger van.
We started the morning with a lively song of praise and prayer, followed by an animated video about climate change and the importance of caring for our common home, Earth. The children were introduced to two additional Rs of Refuse and Repair (please refer to pyramid by Tzu Chi Foundation, Singapore) which reads as Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair and Recycle.
It is time for every single person to stand up, act and do their part to save Mother Earth and all of God’s creation.
Time to get out into the garden!
First, our chicken and chicks. How timely for the eggs to hatch in time for the children to see the chicks. Two roosters, two hens and five chicks. To see them up close was an exciting adventure for the children. We shared with them the developmental process from egg to chick. It was a topic they were most interested in.
Going round the garden, we identified the various flowering plants, vegetables, herbs, and fruit trees such as guava, papaya, lemon, lime, soursop, fig, avocado, jackfruit, belimbing etc. For Sr Francesca, in her enthusiasm to show the children as much as possible she even pointed out our neighbour’s durian tree.
Belimbing Buah Kelongdong Lettuce & Spinach
Tour of the garden: Learning through touch and smell
We explained about composting and how food wastes such as fruit peels, vegetable, stale bread could be returned to the earth as fertiliser in the form of compost.
Time to get to work boys
We had upcycled discarded plastic containers and milk cartons for use as planters and spades. The children were free to choose the type of cutting, planter and even how to arrange the plants. We were on hand to guide them in the process, but the children were the ones who decided what they wanted.
We were impressed with 8-year-old Kayden. At such a youthful age, he could identify the vegetables and even told us that he had planted those at home. He even made a request to plant lemongrass. Such a lovely young man, how could we refuse him.