The Green Ribbon Box Project
Quality Education
Children have a right to thrive, develop to their full potential, and live in a sustainable world.Sustainability in early childhood education, at home and in school, is an important part of a child’s upbringing. The older generation has the responsibility to make sustainable education a part of everyday practices, rather than a topic or theme to consider for a short time, it needs to be embedded within day-to-day learning. Sustainable education enables educators and children to promote a sense of responsibility, show respect for the natural environment, be active participants and bring about inquiry and social change. With this in mind, our group came up with an idea to help young children learn about sustainability while incorporating themes such as engineering, public speaking and teamwork. The Green Box Project is an initiative to distribute boxes containing clean and safe recycled materials and instructions for the children to make their own engineering themed experiments and inventions. The kits will have three types, the first being a Rube Goldberg Machine, second one will be a DIY Water Filter experiment, and last one is a Recycled Robot Coin Box. There will also be a book donation drive to offer the children more reading materials to help with their reading and writing skills. The chosen area for this project is at Etania School, Beaufort. The school aims to provide quality education for marginalized, undocumented, and stateless children in Sabah, Malaysia. There are many thousands of children without access to education and Etania is determined to provide access to beneficial and relevant learning programs for these children. Etania schools run a full learning program, 6 days a week with all the necessary curriculum subjects. The school is located along a river with a history of massive floods once every 10 years or so. The destruction of the original rainforest and their replacement by oil palm plantations has increased the flood risk even further. Therefore, the prototype school is, not unlike much of Borneo’s vernacular architecture, raised from the ground. However, the classrooms are here lifted off the ground in an unconventional way.Some of the problems that we are passionate to solve are poverty, and to create a more sustainable world. Formal education in public and private schools have programs and campaigns that educate young children about the importance of protecting the environment and leading a more sustainable life. However, many children of foreign workers are not as lucky to learn about the environment as they are more skill-based.. We are grateful to come across Etania schools, with 12 branches in Sabah, that aims to provide primary education to the underprivileged children, through activities and daily lessons.Hopefully the Green Ribbon Box Project would inspire the children to learn and care for the environment, at the same time teaching them how to reuse and recycle materials. We will also have a book donation, as we will be making a reading corner at the school or a mini library so the kids can bring the books home to read so they would not feel discouraged about school during these hard times. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, students all over the world had to resort to online learning due to the need for social distancing. These students have been impacted in the biggest way, especially since many of them do not have the facilities and gadgets necessary for a smooth transition from face to face learning to online learning at home. There is no fast route to solve this problem, but through the Green Ribbon Box Project (GRBP), we aim to help in small ways to encourage not only the children of Etania but also parents and teachers to motivate, and examine the readiness of the students to learn in fun ways that help strengthen relationships through blended learning. It is important to remember that since most students do not have access to online platforms, it is better to synchronise and blend appropriate approaches so every student can have access to learn. If by the implementation date, a gathering with appropriate Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) is not possible, the Green Ribbon Boxes can still be distributed to the students of Etania for their learning at home.
Overview of Issue / Background
Children have a right to thrive, develop to their full potential, and live in a sustainable world.
Sustainability in early childhood education, at home and in school, is an important part of a child’s upbringing. The older generation has the responsibility to make sustainable education a part of everyday practices, rather than a topic or theme to consider for a short time, it needs to be embedded within day-to-day learning. Sustainable education enables educators and children to promote a sense of responsibility, show respect for the natural environment, be active participants and bring about inquiry and social change. With this in mind, our group came up with an idea to help young children learn about sustainability while incorporating themes such as engineering, public speaking and teamwork. The Green Box Project is an initiative to distribute boxes containing clean and safe recycled materials and instructions for the children to make their own engineering themed experiments and inventions. The kits will have three types, the first being a Rube Goldberg Machine, second one will be a DIY Water Filter experiment, and last one is a Recycled Robot Coin Box. There will also be a book donation drive to offer the children more reading materials to help with their reading and writing skills.
The chosen area for this project is at Etania School, Beaufort. The school aims to provide quality education for marginalized, undocumented, and stateless children in Sabah, Malaysia. There are many thousands of children without access to education and Etania is determined to provide access to beneficial and relevant learning programs for these children. Etania schools run a full learning program, 6 days a week with all the necessary curriculum subjects. The school is located along a river with a history of massive floods once every 10 years or so. The destruction of the original rainforest and their replacement by oil palm plantations has increased the flood risk even further. Therefore, the prototype school is, not unlike much of Borneo’s vernacular architecture, raised from the ground. However, the classrooms are here lifted off the ground in an unconventional way.
Some of the problems that we are passionate to solve are poverty, and to create a more sustainable world. Formal education in public and private schools have programs and campaigns that educate young children about the importance of protecting the environment and leading a more sustainable life. However, many children of foreign workers are not as lucky to learn about the environment as they are more skill-based.. We are grateful to come across Etania schools, with 12 branches in Sabah, that aims to provide primary education to the underprivileged children, through activities and daily lessons.
Hopefully the Green Ribbon Box Project would inspire the children to learn and care for the environment, at the same time teaching them how to reuse and recycle materials. We will also have a book donation, as we will be making a reading corner at the school or a mini library so the kids can bring the books home to read so they would not feel discouraged about school during these hard times.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, students all over the world had to resort to online learning due to the need for social distancing. These students have been impacted in the biggest way, especially since many of them do not have the facilities and gadgets necessary for a smooth transition from face to face learning to online learning at home. There is no fast route to solve this problem, but through the Green Ribbon Box Project (GRBP), we aim to help in small ways to encourage not only the children of Etania but also parents and teachers to motivate, and examine the readiness of the students to learn in fun ways that help strengthen relationships through blended learning. It is important to remember that since most students do not have access to online platforms, it is better to synchronise and blend appropriate approaches so every student can have access to learn.
If by the implementation date, a gathering with appropriate Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) is not possible, the Green Ribbon Boxes can still be distributed to the students of Etania for their learning at home.
Project Objectives (Vision & Mission)
- To create kits for children to make DIY eco-friendly experiments, toys or products using sustainable and recycled materials.
- Donate books that are suitable for their reading level.
- To educate the youth about sustainable living.
- Encourage reading to improve speaking and writing skills.
- Encourage the youth to get into Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers.
Project Details (Activities and Tasks)
Preparation of sample and site visit: (19 October 2020 - 2 November 2020))
- collected: plastic bottles, straw, newspaper, clear container
- purchase: glue, strings, cello tape, ice cream stick, satay stick
1st Stage (Production): (3 November 2020 - 16 November 2020)
- Arrival at Etania School
- Introduction, briefing and ice breaking session for the purpose of Green Box.
- Grouping and video presentation, book donation and distribution of the Green Box.
- Package the materials and books equally to each box (Green Box).
- The materials for the packaging are from sustainable and eco-friendly materials.
2nd Stage (Implementation): (23 November 2020 - 25 November 2020)
- Treasure hunt for teamwork assessment
- Activities involving students’ Green Box
- Giving out the Box to the students.
- Conduct activities with students.
- Exposing the student on how to lead a more sustainable, encouraging reading and pursuing careers in science (STEM).
Expected Project Result & Outcomes
Able to expose the community in the Etania School especially the students on how to lead and create a more sustainable life by organizing some activities to enhance their awareness on the Sustainable environment. We encourage them to expand the knowledge to pursue their study and careers. We also encourage them on how to use recycle materials instead of wasting and harming the environment. It is very important for us to apply the value of this 3R (REDUCE, REUSE AND RECYCLE) practice. Children participate in sustainable solid waste management so that our environment is cleaner and we are aiming 3R practice becomes the culture of generations to generation. This school is for the less fortunate, donate book will make it easier for them to gain knowledge and hone their reading culture. Besides that, we also get advantages from this program where we can enhance communication skills and leadership skills.
0% of RM1.00 Goal
Project Information
| University name | : | UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SABAH (UMS) |
| Project leader name | : | Danelle Leezong Jinivon |
Section I
a. A two-sentence summary of the project goals.
Etania is a group of schools set up for marginalized and stateless children in the state of Sabah, Malaysia. Etania takes any child who has no access to the national education system and provides a comprehensive learning program designed to meet the needs of these children. Children have a right to thrive, develop to their full potential, and live in a sustainable world. Sustainability in early childhood education, at home and in school, is an important part of a child’s upbringing. As other schools in Sabah receive sustainable education, students in Etania school are no exception. They deserve to be given more exposure on sustainable education.
In line with Khind Starfish Foundation Project for Happiness objective in helping to uplift the lives of those who are socioeconomically challenged through sustainable community initiative, the goals for the project were to educate the youth about sustainable living achieved by through a group environmental talk that conducted with a small separate group of students. The environmental talk increases awareness on sustainability at their early age. Apart from exposing youth to sustainable education, the Green Box project also managed to collect and donate books according to their level of learning by providing additional reference sources to increase their knowledge and interest in the world of science, engineering, and mathematics. Indirectly, the project can also improve their English language and writing skills. The sustainability practise was developed by educating youth to be more innovative and creative using the waste materials. This goal was successfully achieved by decorating the green box using the waste material. Indirectly, the activity educates youth on reducing the waste material and introduces better waste management techniques at an early age.
b. Did other fund-raising efforts contribute to your projects? What were they?
Yes, mostly we did presentations, writing emails and calling companies to explain about our project and if they’d like to be a part of it. We managed to secure a partnership with Pacos Trust and Second Chance Bookstore for the book donations. Other than that we managed to collect RM1000 from doing social media marketing, and through advertising our project goals and project proposal.
c. Provide details about how your project actually worked.
- Were there unanticipated difficulties? Budget constraints?
Fortunately, we are not experiencing budget constraints for this project. However, pandemic COVID19 that strike globally apparently has affected The Green Ribbon Box Project as Malaysian are having Movement Restriction Order (MCO) so schools are closed, including Etania Schools. Furthermore, not all of the project members in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah so it is quite handy to handle the book donations, boxes packaging and other preparation for the project with less than 5 members participating physically. After proper discussion and consideration with Etania School, the project is executed finally but only in one day period differs from initial plan which is three days. Therefore, the activities conducted are limited but still fulfilled the objectives of the project even in a short period.
- Language or cultural barriers?
The language used for the Project was the main universal language which is English and Malay Language (Bahasa Malaysia). The communication was done directly and using appropriate English for better understanding according to each grade of lower grade and higher grade of students. Basically, the Etania Schools are using the Indonesian Syllabus for their educational system. Our communicating teaching style was based on our creativity to deliver which some terms might need to be explained back in Indonesian terms or Malay for their better point of view in the Project held. For most of the time we encourage students at the Etania School to get used to speaking in English although it's broken sometimes, but it might get better sooner or later. Thus, the most common language that we used was English Language for most of the time during the project.
On the other hand, inside an organization or education, cultural barriers are obstacles to cross-cultural contact. When persons from various cultures who speak different languages, have different cultural beliefs, or use different signs and symbols to connect, their cultural differences can become obstacles to the success of the workplace. To overcome this problem, we manage to cope with it by ensuring clear and polite communication with the students and teacher. The chances of shocks, emergencies, and conflict are minimized by direct and friendly contact. For instance, usage of simple words and using visual methods to communicate the result and avoiding slang is one of our initiatives. This shows students that different cultural barriers do not divide us from communicating with each other but the diversity of language and efforts can make communication happen. Thus, the cultural barriers do not stop us from communicating efficiently towards each other between students and our project team.
- What worked well? What didn’t work well?
Overall, everything worked well except not all members got to experience conducting the project physically.
- How many people benefited or will benefit from your project? Who are these people?
There were many people who benefited through this project under different categories of authorities. For instance, the people benefited the most are the Students from Etania School since we contributed to their society through education enhancement and learning materials. The students are mainly given beneficial lessons on how sustainability works from either home or school since we made some activities that can improve nature. Other than that, Universiti Malaysia Sabah students' that were involved to organise and propose this project are also beneficiaries as they enhanced their communication and negotiation skills on how to cope with the upper authorities such as leading sponsors and reaching out for the Headmistress of the Etania School despite the lockdown regulations and the fact that the school was slightly far from the University. The teamwork experienced between the members involved in the Green Ribbon Box Project Team will surely boost their soft skills on managing a program for better society improvements which can be added to their coming career life. The next benefits fall under the society as they are affected indirectly such as students' parents and friends and also the other citizens after they came across the articles or news related to the program held at Etania School. Even more, the increased upcoming support in the future for the school will surely be provided by the government agencies as they need to be heard as education is for all races and people which is generally important for building up their lives for a better life and careers.
- What is the long-term impact and sustainability of this project? Is there a future for your project?
One of the long term impacts we were hoping to create is enriching education for the community that goes to Etania Schools. After we executed the project, we asked the children what they loved most about the activity and most of them loved decorating the box so they could reuse it. They also loved learning about how to care for the environment and how to respect planet Earth by reducing pollution, recycling, reusing and reducing. We also had our dean of the Engineering Faculty of UMS to give an inspiring speech about the importance of education and STEM fields. Moreover, the laboratory works that has been worked out from the water sample from Etania Schools shows that the water quality is in good condition and safe to use daily, this will ensure that the kids are free from polluted water that can cause diseases.
As for the future of our project, we hope to carry on the Green Ribbon Box Projects at more schools, and our goal is to inspire young children to care for the environment and pursue STEM fields by planning activities, competitions, environmental talks and campaigns. Through this project we were lucky to work directly with Dr Kathryn Rivai, the founder of all 12 Etania Schools across Sabah and she extends her warm welcome to those who are looking to help and inspire her students. So we will be collaborating again with her in the near future to carry out some fun activities at her other schools.
Section II
- How does or will your project contribute to happiness? Short-term? Long-term?
Young children are naturally inquisitive, full of questions about the world around them and the drive to investigate how things work. Therefore, it follows that we should take advantage of this innate curiosity and start channelling their enthusiasm for scientific discovery as early as possible. The Green Ribbon Box Project is a genius idea in serving long-term happiness to the children and increasing their inquisitiveness in science and the environment. Bear in mind, all the children at Etania Green School are coming from unprivileged families, therefore a visit from an outsider is not an ordinary thing for them. Some people might think, books or school stationery are just cheap stuff that you can easily get from a shop but for them it is such a valuable gift because not everyone can afford to buy it. Main intent of this project is giving central attention to spreading awareness among stateless children who are currently studying at Etania Green School in terms of education in sustainability. Prior to making sure the main objective can be well delivered to the children, Third Year students of the Civil Engineering Department proposed an activity whereas, the aim is to create kits for children to make DIY eco-friendly experiments, toys or products using sustainable and recycled materials. Growing up, children will always be thrilled when it comes to experimenting with something new, and this is due to their nature of wanting to explore something unique, creative, and innovative.
Research has been made entitled “Impact of a Group of Children’s Connectedness to Nature on Their Sustainable Behaviour and Happiness”. The researchers conducted a closed-ended questionnaire on nearly 300 children with the range of age 9 to 12 has proved that children who felt connected to nature, feeling pleasure when seeing wildflowers and animals, hearing sounds of nature also engaged in altruism, or actions that helped other people. These children actively cared for the environment by recycling, reusing objects and saving water. They were also more likely to say they believed in equality among sexes, races and socioeconomic conditions. Finally, these children scored high on a happiness scale, too. There is no need of an expert in environmental science or nature studies for us to be eligible to hold this activity because the most vital part is that the visit at Etania Green School provided us with the opportunity to spend time together with the children by exploring curiosity in a fun and safe environment.
Such activity somehow helps children have a better attitude towards nature and develops their interpersonal skills. This project labelled as Science Education in early childhood offers active, fun, and hands-on experiences because most young children indeed love physical exploration. Therefore, this project surely has a significant impact on children as their childhood memories. The experience is always valuable and will always be remembered when it was a joyful and pleasing moment.
- Has your project changed the way you think about the world? How has it changed you?
This project has opened our minds and raised our awareness of the importance of delivering education to all students fairly and equitably regardless of their status. All students should be exposed to sustainable education. Unsustainable development occurs when current progress is at the expense of future generations. For instance, irresponsible planning and environmental degradation through resource exploitation generates pollution and waste that damages ecosystems. Such practices are not sustainable in the longer term. As we set goal for our project to spread the education of sustainability for youth, this should be taken seriously to all generations to ensure everyone practises sustainability at their early age.
Other than that, while achieving the objectives of our project, we learn that sustainability practices at the early age are crucial. Sustainability encourages children to build knowledge, explore values and develop an appreciation of the environment and its relationship to their worlds. This lays the foundation for an environmentally responsible adulthood. There are various examples on how to increase their interest and raise awareness of sustainability practise. Those includes practise green cleaning, use a paper bag or even avoid plastic straw. This small matter actually gives a big impact for our precious earth.
- Complete this section with a one to two sentence personal statement, suitable for use as a quotation, addressing how and why this project was valuable and what was the most important thing you learned as a result. (Indicate student’s name for quote attribution.)
“The involvement of youths in educating other fellow youths can bring benefits for both sides. The Green Ribbon Box Project did a great job in taking the initiative in helping stateless children in Etania School on their way to a proper education, while learning new things along the way, within their members themselves.” - Jane Ann Jumi
“One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy" - Hazwani Binti Halid
“ This project made me realise how important education for the youth is. Especially for marginalised societies. It is so great to see that there are people out there who have worked so hard to ensure no child is left behind. I owe it to KSF for giving me the opportunity to do something good and meaningful in my youth.” - Danelle Leezong Jinivon
“An eye opening experience that I would never forget. The Project for Happiness was such a success in many aspects, giving me such great memories with great people. The students of Etania showed me the real meaning of ‘home is where the heart is’. I believe activities like this should be conducted more often to ‘globalise’ one self for self development and it will totally worth it.” - Mohd Nazreen Shah Bin Baharun Alam
“The power of words is that, with as simple as one single sentence, an uplifting phrase or an act of kindness, a life will meet the starting point. When we become more proactive in inspiring our children, think about the influence we exert and the difference we will create. The very things that help build future visions are also our voices. And sometimes those dreams are to be just like us.”- Muhammad Safwan Bin Ahmad
“Education is for everyone. Really glad that the children in Etania get the chance to receive education and Matakana Learning Centre made that possible. I am grateful to be part of the Green Ribbon Box Project and I am sure this project gives meaningful memories to the students of Etania and also to the members in this project.” - Jeremy Jacob Bin So Sui Gum
“Do small things with great loves. I believe we all have different strengths, gifts and talents and we should use those to show love and kindness to others. From this programme, we can understand the importance of education which is the ultimate key for us to guide the kids to success. Children, who will become the adults of tomorrow, can only have a healthy and balanced future life if they are supported with knowledge.” - Matthew Jonathon
" The exposure of basis Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) is an eye-opening experience to the students to enhance their problem-solving skills and to also create an awareness of taking care of our mother nature, this programme from KHIND creates a medium both to us as organizer and the kids to learn more about STEM and taking care of mother nature. I hope more programme this alike will be held in the future " - Muhammad Haziq Harris
" If you are working on something that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. And this project is something we really care about. It warms our feelings knowing that these children can have so much more and dream so much more through the education we provided through KHIND. Organizations like KHIND are what make these children's world better. " - Syahshella Eliana Abdon
“We tend to be ungrateful for what we already had and complain a lot but never think about how other people who are incapable of a lot of things are trying to survive at the same time making sure they are not left behind in terms of education. This Project of Happiness is so eye-opening to us, seeing those unprivileged students happy to learn and always show excitement in gathering knowledge and give their best in the project makes us be thankful that we are still able to go to the university without having to struggle with money or anything. I hope there will be more people who are going to invest in the student at Etania Green School because they are all great and have their own potential” - Dayang Russalnie Deh
Image Gallery
