What about rain
What about all the things
That you said we were to gain….
Nothing better than the Earth song by MJ. For a Green Crusader, this day is no less than a festival World Environment Day it is. We at Street Cause Eforce celebrated the day at Manchikalalu(an orphanage) at Secunderabad. We pledged to end food waste and also to spread the word of protecting environment amongst the youth of the city.
We reached the orphanage mid afternoon, twenty happy faces waiting for us at the gate. Twenty two actually, they had two cute Pomeranians too :)
We introduced ourselves and the cause we work for and kicked off the event with a drawing competition with the theme- “Your perception of the environment around you”. There were kids ranging from class 1 to students pursuing under graduation at the orphanage. The excitement in their eyes when paper, color pencils and crayons were handed over to them was something I can never forget. All of them started drawing with ease; five year old Chandrashekar was giving a hard competition to his elder brother. The room was buzzing with enthusiasm and creativity was oozing out. Each of the drawings were unique, depicting their insight of the environment around them.
Meanwhile there was a lot of interaction between the crusaders and the tiny toddlers, they shared an amazing rapport.
Eight year old Rahul comes up to me and says ” Akka, I water the plants every day. I like gardening.”
Me : “You are a green crusader too Hi5!”
With the aim to always go green, we conducted a workshop on how to make paper bags using newspapers. We had collected the newspapers from various households during a Newspaper Collection Drive conducted on Opportunity Day of Street Cause Eforce. The students diligently followed the procedure to make the bags, shown by our most enthusiastic crusader Surya Teja. Looking at their happy faces, it made us feel proud of our efforts. Towards the end we handed over notebooks, crayons, color pencils and other stationary as a token of gratitude. And the most awaiting part of the afternoon, results of the essay and drawing competitions were announced and all the students who participated in the event were certified by our NGO.
Rajendra Prasad, a twelve year old at the orphanage when asked how would he save the environment said, “I will plant a sapling from now for my every birthday”. It indeed was a fruitful day for all of us. We were overwhelmed as we were successful in spreading the word of saving the environment.
It was 4:30 already; none of us knew how time flew by. We had to wind up the event as it was time for their playtime. We wrapped up the event by clicking pictures with the kids and the dogs as well.:).
A day to be remembered!
Green Today, Greener Tomorrow
Written by Khavya Sree.
Joint Secretary
Street Cause Eforce