|
|
GUI featured in Lianhe Zaobao (Singapore's Chinese Daily)
22 April 2009
(Translated by Koo Wai Jein)
While many people who care about personal health and environment are embracing organic food as a way of showing their support, GUI has been doing more. This group believes in connecting people to mother earth to raise awareness on environmental protection. Today, GUI is celebrating its one year's anniversary which happens to be Earthday.
The journalist joined the group of eleven for its Balik Kampung activity at a farm located in Lim Choa Kang last Sundary morning. The group spent the morning busy weeding a small parcel of land and collecting the weeds to be used as fertilizers. Apart from weeding, other weekends' activities also include planting different types of crops, watering, fertizing the soil, harvesting the produces. The founder, Tay Lai Hock, also teaches the group to use leftover fruits (garbage) to make into enzyme to be used as fertilizer and cleaning agent to reduce emission of greenhouse gas.
According to Lai Hock, the group initiated Balik Kampung to get city folks to connect back to earth, thereby raising environmental awareness and experiencing the community spirit while working at the farm. Nowadays, most people are taking our resources for granted and have forgotten the importance of the source of our food supplies, thinking that the resouces are abundant and unlimited. We know food is important for our health but have never thought that healthy land comes before healthy food.
"We need healthy land before we can produce healthy food and then healthy people. Men must first heal the land before they can heal the human spirit."
With this belief in mind, the group gathered around to form a circle before it begins its activity to thank mother earth by keeping silent for one minute. "This act has nothing to do with any religious ceremony. It is a way to show the connection between men and the connection between men and earth." said Lai Hock.
A participant who is a mother of two believes in instiling a sense of gratitude in her kids at an early age. She wants her kids to be in touch with the land and finds every opportunity to bring them close to nature. The kids enjoy weeding and are not afraid of worms or any insects. She is also happy for the kids to take the raw vegetables that are harvested at the farm as the group uses non-chemical fertilizer for its food crops.
Another member of GUI commented that the peanuts are sweet-tasting without any articificial fertilizer. When she first joined Balik Kampung, she could not tell the difference between weeds and seedlings but she can now distinguish one from another. She now realizes how much hard work and time are put in before the food is harvested. She is now appreciative of the food and has learned not to waste any food.
Another participant who is a teacher joined Balik Kampung the first time on Sunday, admitted that she did not feel comfortable touching the soil initially but got used to it gradually. She felt this is a rare opportunity to get in touch with nature in this manner and will be sharing her experience with her students.
Andy Tay wraps up his idea of environmental awareness perfectly by commenting that the definition of home should not be confined within four walls. The earth is also our home and we have the obligation to take care of it, just like how we take care of our home.
Being one of the core members of GUI, Andy is taking more organic food now and tries his best to support local organic farming by buying the produces from the organic farm in Lim Choa kang for home consumption. He even brings greeneery back to his home by planting some spices creating a mini-food garden at his balcony.
(End)
|
