For the last three years, Bangalore-based Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (Atree) and the School for Vocational Studies and Languages (SVSL), have tried to put to good use the two-month long winter vacation in West Bengal's Kalimpong region by holding a camp for local children. Many of these children are lured by vices like alcohol during the cold winter days. This year, the winter camp included about 175 children and 25 facilitators drawn from among college students, teachers and scientists.

But the camp is not only about having a good time. Rather, it is about making young minds aware of the serious environmental problems that plague the region. Says Priyadarshani Shreshtha, who organises these camps for rural children, "We want to make children more aware of local environmental issues." And so, through all the fun and games, laughter, craft, role playing and songs, the first two days of the camp were devoted to five sessions that covered a wide range of issues from flora, fauna, insects and environmental issues to waste management and matters concerning a 'green' consumer.

In fact, while planning the camps, the organisers kept in mind the hard truth that while there is much literature and awareness on global issues there is very little information available on local problems. And understandably, discussing distant problems never evokes the same sense of involvement as issues that involve one directly. The curriculum for the camp was shaped keeping this in mind.

And so, the sessions, field surveys and the nature walk to the river Relli were woven around local problems like deforestation, landslides, water scarcity, soil pollution, rising consumerism, waste management and even the use of MSG (mono sodium glutamate) in the favourite local snack, momo, and in Chinese food. "The focus is always on the individual's contribution," says Jaya Thapa, the Atree representative in Kalimpong. "We like to work with children on issues where an individual can make a change." Hence, the children were sent to do surveys on domestic spending patterns, to check the efficacy of the ban on plastic, the use of local and branded products and to assess the influence of advertisements on consumers.

Both SVSL and Atree had been working with teachers and principals on environmental education when they felt the need to know their ultimate target -- the children -- better. And what better way to bring up a future generation of environmentally conscious citizens than by working directly with them? The two organisations got together and came up with 'Green Minds', an environmental education handbook written specifically to address local problems. And then came the camps.

The first non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the Darjeeling-Kurseon-Kalimpong region to work on such issues in an organised way, SVSL and Atree also know that the children "carry the message home".

Every camp is different. Yusuf Simick of SVSL is happy that they have evolved since the first camp, which was inspired by sessions they had attended with organisations like the World Wide Fund for Nature. "With experience and exposure, we have designed the material in such a way that even though the environmental education teacher is constrained in school, we can fill the gap," says Simick. Adds Thapa, "The children's response makes you want to go forward."

The beauty of the camp is its simplicity whether through games or through basic models which were found extremely effective in conveying messages about local issues like deforestation and the resultant soil erosion. Gradually, through the camps and their other work with student groups, a body of aware citizens is being built up in the region which, SVSL and Atree hope, will form pressure groups that would, for instance, guide the municipality to segregate waste.

And Simick ought to know the value of such aware citizens since Kalimpong is one of the few places to have banned plastic after efforts by Atree, SVSL and municipality officials.

By the end of the eight days, most of the children and their parents, who had been invited to see the models, paper and charts the children had made, realised that each of us can take responsibility for our actions. And it required little prodding for them to pin their resolutions on the Sankalp Vriksha, promising to take practical, feasible steps from using re-chargeable batteries to switching off lights when leaving a room. As a next step, Simick and Thapa are now trying to document their work so that they can come up with a manual that can be replicated anywhere else in the country.

Both of them feel this is an essential step to take since they have heard complaints far too often on how difficult it is for schools in big cities to organise such camps. They disagree with this thinking.

For starters, try their 'Nature Walk in 10 Steps'. You will be surprised at the issues those 10 paces can throw up -- from plant and insect life and their problems and threats, to birds, waste management, noise pollution... the list goes on. As Simick and Thapa say, it all begins with a single step. (Women's Feature Service)

Benita Sen
March 2002

An extensive traveller, Benita Sen has worked as a journalist in different parts of India. After a stint in mainstream media in New Delhi, she now works as a freelance journalist based in Kalimpong.