A day in Wildlife

The children started to arrive at Om Saraswati Vidya Mandir School at around 7.00am, excited about the change to the regular schedule and the new foreign visitor Ms. Laura Slade. Principle Jasma Singh accompanied the children as well as the founder trustee of the Nirbhaya Foundation, Dr Mahendra Singh. The children were also joined by Mr B. P Singh, President of the Pehal Society; local village leaders came to see what it was all about and show their support Jasma Singh as well as many curious local adults and children.
Posters had previously been displayed advertising TIGER awareness and WILDLIFE CONSERVATION and to start the day the children were handed butterfly masks to wear; they all were very happy with their new look and ran around very excited. The children were asked to draw a picture to do with any wildlife that they liked or knew about. A prize of colouring pens and sweets were given to the best drawings. Pictures varied from tigers and trees to birds and peacocks creatively drawn using the outline of the children’s hands as a template. Even the teachers joined in!
The children then performed a play that they had been practising about the circle of life and how all species; flora and fauna alike, including humans, all rely on each other in order to survive. Some very well disguised children dressed up as trees and others as tigers and monkeys. Then there was the evil man in the shape of a pirate who chopped down the trees and everyone suffered.
After the play a few children took it in turn to read out poetry on wildlife. Then followed a small discussion on wildlife in general where the children were given the opportunity to tell us what they knew and ask questions. The reward ceremony came afterwards, where the performing children as well as the competition winners received their prizes. Then all the children were told the importance of not using plastic bags and where possible, use a re-usable bag and were presented with sweets and drinks as well as an Eco-friendly bag to store them in.
Everyone looked very happy with their gifts but more importantly they looked interested. Principle Jasme Singh was very happy with the day and was heard to say to the creators, “When will you be returning?”
Laura Slade, the international volunteer, explained “working with these children has been an inspiration, their enthusiasm for life as well as learning new things is amazing; British children could learn a thing or two from them. I very much hope to continue to be a part of this project”.
The project believes that reaching children at a very early age is very important in getting them to understand the importance wildlife conservation and therefore intends to spread the word of wildlife conservation and highlight the impacts of wildlife crime to neighbouring villages and schools and with the continued help of donators and supporters this remains a very strong possibility.
The children were attentive and very well behaved all day and certainly seemed to enjoy learning about wildlife. All in all, a great success all round!
The event was conducted by Pehal Society in collaboration with Tiger Awareness, UK, Conservation Research Group, Kerala, Tiger Initiative India, Zoo Outreach Organization and Nirbhaya Foundation.