Our S.A.P. students from Technical Thalang College are busy planning, designing team logo's and promotional materials, contacting local authorities and schools to inform them about their projects, while also budgeting their finances and assigning individual and group tasks. They will now be on their own for 6 weeks to finalize and prepare for their events; mangrove restoration project and beach cleanup and environmental workshop. We have opened up a bank account under two of the students names, requiring their teachers signature, for the students to manage their project money donated by Indigo Pearl and Seedlings of Change.
T.E.A.C.H. The Hope for Children Development Group's Farming Initiative: The school garden project is on the St Regina primary school land in Kayunga Uganda. This project is necessary to introduce farming education to children in the vocational primary school and meet the following needs:
· Supplement food for the children in terms of cassava, potatoes, eggs, milk and meat.
· Supplement school revenue from the earnings of the surplus products.
· Center for farm training to the local peasant community.
· Become a component of diversification of normal school operation.
These last two weeks our two groups of SAP students from Technical Thalang College have been brainstorming and analyzing their data from their community questionnaires to determine what type of environmental community project they want to implement with the US $500 donated to each group by Seedlings of Change and Indigo Pearl Resort.Mangrove reforestation and a community beach cleanup including environmental activities promoting reducing litter will be the two projects our SAP students will be taking on. Both groups of students decided they really want to engage younger students in their programs so they will be inviting other schools to participate in their program as well as local community members and businesses. Next week our students will start writing their project plan and proposals to contact the local authorities and send letters to the local schools, hotels, and other stakeholders to invite them to participate in their program.
 Visit Seedlings of Change Booth!
Saturday October 16, 2010
From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Western Montana Fair Grounds
Home Arts Building
1101 South Avenue West
Missoula, Montana
Girl Scouts of Montana and Wyoming
Walking Rosie this morning with my granddaughter, Caitlyn we happened upon five turtles sun bathing on a fallen log in the lake. "Here comes the sun! And I say it's alright" so sing the Beatles. Delightful! Feeling change is in the air as we enter into the twilight of summer when a new season and school year is about to begin! Observing Caitlyn's expectation at being in 2nd grade I am reminded of the joy I had felt when a new school year was about to begin. There definitely is something adventurous and invigorating about the newness of entering a classroom all set to learn.
For Seedlings of Change our Earth is the ultimate classroom. There is awareness in gratitude knowing we each get opportunities along the path to be student and teacher. Our life experiences provide the curriculum for learning and growing. We are blessed for each new day gifts us a new opportunity for growth, to create a new experience or realize a new perspective. A healthy mind is active; always growing, learning and creating so live the change you wish to experience, beginning now. My father Daniel J. Harty (1929 - 2007) always said, "If you don't use it you'll lose it!"
I want to share with you this profound message from Chief Arvol Looking Horse of the Lakota Nation requesting everyone to join in prayer. In reference to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico he expresses, "The dangers we are faced with at this time are not of Spirit. The catastrophe which looks like the bleeding of grandmother Earth is made by human mistakes that we cannot afford to continue to make. We ask for prayers that this bleeding will stop. That the winds stay calm to assist in the work that people are guided in repairing this mistake, and that we seek to live in harmony as we make the choice to change the destructive path we are on. As we pray, we will finally understand that we are all connected. And that what we create can have lasting effects on all life."
I envision a well balanced world with each individual being responsible for their active participation; to achieve good health, a happy family, be of service in community. A people genuinely awakened to love and care for ourselves, each other and our beautiful Earth where we can co-create sustainable peace and good will; Seedlings of Change addresses all this and more.
Blessings with Love & Gratitude,
Eveline Maria Smith
http://seedlingsofchange.ning.com/
Award-winning Phuket resort Indigo Pearl has extended its ‘green’ commitment, teaming up with the international Sustainable Smiles movement promoting environmental, social and economic sustainability among local communities.
The initiative is being launched with environmental education for over 150 students at two local schools near the 5-star resort, Wat Mongkol and Technical Thalang College.
It will also be implementing programmes with the students, resort staff and the local community to help improve the environment at nearby Nai Yang Beach and the surrounding area.
Already six members of Indigo Pearl staff clean the beach and beach road daily, along with at least two volunteers from Dewa Phuket and Nai Yang Beach Resort.
In addition, monthly beach cleaning is being organised, starting from July 23 at 4pm, with the local community, guests, schools and local businesses encouraged to become involved in these activities.
A Student Action Program (S.A.P.) will guide, train and supervise two small groups of students to design and implement their own community-based environmental project in Nai Yang.
They will receive funding from Indigo Pearl and Seedlings of Change “Bread for the Soul” Mini-Grant Program to implement a project of their choice.
The students will have to survey the surrounding community, interview locals and develop a project plan based on time, budget and need – encouraging local community members, businesses, the local government and other stakeholders to be involved.
An educational programme for local villagers and shopkeepers on Nai Yang Beach Road is also being established.
Indigo Pearl Resort has established a ‘Green Pearl’ environmental committee to execute the green mission.
“Nai Yang is one of the most beautiful beaches in Phuket. It brings a lot of revenue to local businesses so it is important to protect the environment and life there,” said General Manager of Indigo Pearl, Arnaud Girodon.
“We share many of the same goals as Sustainable Smiles with strong team of passionate and dedicated employees who really care about the environment and want to make a difference in the local community.”
Creating good environmental awareness among local children at a young age is the key, he added.
“They are the future generation. If we can teach them to pay attention to how their actions impact the environment and provide them with the tools and knowledge they need to solve environmental problems then they can lead the way to a greener environment and more sustainable future.”
Sustainable Smiles launched the partnership with an environmental workshop for 50 Indigo Pearl staff, engaging in group exercises, presentations and discussions about environmental issues and solutions on how they can improve the environment in their community and at the resort.
Kelly Franklin, who founded the movement, said: “We will be continuing these workshops weekly to build environmental awareness and a strong team to help our efforts to bring environmentally sustainable change to the local community.”
She founded Sustainable Smiles (www.sustainablesmiles.org) as a nonprofit organisation based out of the United States in 2009 to promote environmental, social, and economic sustainability and appreciation for nature in communities around the world.
The movement has initiated environmental education and beach cleanups elsewhere in Thailand at Thai Muang Beach in Phang-Nga Province.
Indigo Pearl has a unique environmental heritage complementing its luxurious style. The resort evokes Phuket’s tin mining industry, incorporating unique furnishings and art pieces from recycled industrial relics.
The concept of ‘’found industrial art” was implemented by renowned international architect and interior designer Bill Bensley, in collaboration with Australian John Underwood, a resident Phuket artist.
Students at Technical Thalang College are now about to finish our two month environmental education course which in addition to improving their knowledge about a wide variety of environmental topics, has also improved their teamwork, presentation, and communication skills. We feel these students are now ready to take on their own Student Action Program to promote environmental awareness and bring their community together to help solve an environmental issue.
This week our first year students at Technique Talang College have voted and selected 2 team leaders from their class to lead them in researching, designing, and implementing two different Student Action Programs in their local community. Beginning of August the two groups of students will come up with a research goal and then design questionnaires and survey sheets accordingly for when they conduct their interviews and surveys in their local community. We are also greatful to have specialized staff from Indigo Pearl join us in the classroom next month to help train the students about the duties and responsibilities of the different management positions our students will be assigned, such as public relations and media, secretary, purchasing and finance, and safety and risk analysis team. [ Technical Thalang students listing the negative and positive effects of different environmental topics, such as tourism, driving vehicles, technological advances, National Parks, cutting trees, agriculture, and marine fishing. Then discussing and determining if the effects are related to the environment, social well-being, or economic prosperity. ]
S.A.P. Program Ready to Begin
We have selected 2 groups of students from Technical Thalang College to participate in our S.A.P program. These students are 15 and 16 years in the field of Hotel Management. We will start the program beginning of August. For the first month students will have to design questionaires to interview local community members and survey the environmental problems in their community. After students return from their break in October they will have to finalize their environmental community-based project and implement it in November.
Below are pictures of the students that will participate in S.A.P. Here they are presenting their groups poster explaining why biodiversity is important to them in their lives.
S.A.P Students
This week our students discovered how life, work, business, and learning is all connected to the environment.
Sustainable Smiles would like to thank Seedlings of Change for selecting us as their next "Bread for the Soul" Mini Grant recepient. This grant will go towards our Student Action Program (S.A.P.) which empowers students to design and implement their own environmental project within their local community. Right now we are working with students at two different schools in Thailand, once a week (an 8 week program), teaching them about local and global environmental issues, biodiversity, and solutions on how to solve environmental problems. After our 8 week course is over, we will select two groups of students to engage in our S.A.P. program, funded by Seedlings of Change. Here students will have to go out and interview local community members, businesses, and experts in their local area to find out what the environmental needs and concerns are. Then they will have to come up with their own action plan on how to solve an environmental issue based on the pressing needs and concerns in the community based on time, feasibility, and budget. Students are encouraged to involve community members, parents, and teachers in helping them implement their project. We will be starting this program in August 2010, and we are very grateful for Seedling of Change hard work in helping fund this program and we hope that with the success of this program we will be able to implement further S.A.P programs in the future. Below are some pictures of our students this week in the classroom presenting 5 ways they can prevent the amount of trash being left on their local beach in Nai Yang, Phuket, Thailand
For more information about our program please visit our website at www.sustainablesmiles.org or blog at http://sustainablesmiles.blogspot.com/
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