Green Life 2016: Call From Rhinos

Post by: trangtrang | 10/03/2016 | 2811 reads

Green Life 2016: Call From Rhino

Green Life is an annual event organized by the GHA club (Green Hanoi Amsterdam). Their plan to create cute handmade crafts from recycled paper has widely attracted student participation. More importantly, the program aimed to encourage Amsers to act for the environment; with this year’s theme (Call From Rhino), the club members hoped to raise awareness for rhino hunting and urge people to join hand in protecting one of the rarest species on the planet.

GHA is one of the oldest clubs with the highest number of members in the school, specializing in organizing activities regarding the society and the environment. In particular, Green Life over the last 7 years has been a major hit and become a much-awaited annual event among Amsers.

Students eagerly participating in waste paper collection and recycling through Green Life every year

As the main tradition of Green Life every year, students came together to donate waste paper, used textbooks in exchange for lovely handmade objects made by the club members themselves, such as dream catchers, bracelets, bookmarks, cat-ear headband, … This new and interesting method not only encouraged and attracted plenty of student participation, but also helped convey the overall program’s meaningful message. Everyone wanted to make their contribution and bring home small creative souvenirs.

Little handmade objects full of colors are highlights of Green Life

Following the success of Green Life 2015 – “Save Son Doong”, Green Life 2016 made its comeback with a new theme “Call From Rhino”, hoping to play its part in protecting this wild animal and remind us to protect our living environment – our home. This year’s new feature was the fact that those handmade objects had been made not by the organizing committee but the collaborators accompanying the event. Ingenuity was only one criterion, but above all it was their spirit and enthusiasm that mattered, thanks to which Green Life has attracted a large number of participants.

The current topic of rhinos became the center of attention this year

The event took place from 12PM – 2PM on the 4 last days of 2015, from 28/12/2015 – 31/12/2015 in Lobby B & C at Hanoi-Amsterdam High School. Beside the traditional goods exchange, this year the committee also arranged for many side activities. “Nail it for rhinos” made its first and only debut. In this activity, participants had their nails painted in any color and shape they liked, which had a deep meaning. It strongly showed our students’ voice claiming that “Rhinos’ horns are just like human nails” to protest against rhino hunting. Moreover, Free Hug was a fresh idea this year, bringing people closer through our GHA-ers’ friendly hugs. It was also a way for the organizing committee to express their gratitude to everyone who came and showed support for the event.

Free Hug

Beside the traditional activities, “Nail it for rhinos” made its first appearance

Nail art was done not only for visual pleasure but was also a way to say “no” to rhino horn hunting and consumption in Vietnam

After the first day, even though the total weight of collected waste paper was not significant, Green Life did make a big impact on a huge number of students. During the following days, the amount of waste paper collected rapidly increased, especially on 30/12/2015 a record was made with 353.3kg and even a higher number on 31/12/2015. The total amount of paper collected after 4 days was 920kg – the highest record of all time. Even better, the event has spread the words on raising awareness among Amsers about the alarming situation of wild rhinos when they were extinct in 2010 in Vietnam, and warning about the serious possibility of losing our eco-system balance. As a highlight of this year’s theme, a numerous numbers of heartfelt messages and signatures of participants speak volume about our love for nature and our promise to protect and preserve Mother Nature’s gifts to humankind. Last but not least, the organizing committee members would like to encourage us – high school students – that no matter what actions we make, no matter how small, will add up to make a significant change to stop climate change and bring back the green to planet Earth.