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Published: June 20th 2013
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Forest Schools is a growing initiative in the UK and a number of other countries. I was lucky enough to go through the Forest Schools Level 3 Practitioner training in 2010 when I was working for the RSPB in Essex. The programme is an inspiring one and really highlights the importance of natural stimulus in childhood development and the need to get children learning outside of the classroom. While with the RSPB I worked with a wide audience from tiny tots and teenagers to adults and saw first hand the benefits experienced by those individuals. The number of children in the UK getting regular and meaningful interactions with nature has reduced greatly over the years; however the importance of this interaction is gradually being recognised so hopefully this will improve.
The situation in Sierra Leone in completely different, it would be very difficult for children here to avoid interacting with nature on a daily basis. Over half of the population of the country is under 16 years of age, so children seem to be everywhere. New born babies are wrapped in colourful African fabric and strapped to the back of their mothers, they go everywhere together and mum
will carry on her usual routine of farming, cleaning, fetching water and cooking. Once old enough to stand on their own two feet the quick road to independence begins under the watchful eye of older siblings and neighbouring families. In rural villages in particular, the majority of community life takes place outside.
Forest and non-timber forest products are still abundant around most of the Gola communities so the idea of needing to protect what is remaining and to think about conserving it for the future is an unfamiliar one. My current project with Gola Rainforest National Park (GRNP) is trying to address this issue in a new way.
Earlier this year we established Nature Clubs in 34 schools around the National Park. These Nature Clubs are all in rural villages surrounded by community forest. Seven of these schools were selected for a trail project where the students were taken on a field trip into the forest, aka Rainforest Schools. What surprised me most about this project was that many of the students had never been into dense forest before, never climbed a hill to look down on their village, never seen the different types
of fruit that can be found away from the village. These kids spend almost all of their time outside, they may walk for hours every day to fetch water or walk to school, but they’d never really had a chance to properly explore. We hoped that through interactive activities deep in the forest we would provide these students with a better understanding of the importance of the forest and the need to protect it. These young people will share the knowledge that they gain with friends and family, and gradually through the Nature Club programme they will become positive ambassadors for GRNP.
Our first visit was to a school in a village called Belebu in Tunkia Chiefdom. The roads are gradually getting worse as we move into the rainy season so the journey took even longer than normal but eventually we arrived. The children were very happy to see us and eager to begin the programme. Before we set off Eddie (my Salone Education colleague) did an introduction about Gola and talked through safety in the forest. There seems to be no such thing as red tape here so there was no regulations to follow but the
safety conscious side of me made sure that we carried a first aid kit, explained the boundaries to the group and had a whistle to signal that they should come back together. Ideally we would have taken all of the groups into the National Park but for most it wasn’t possible so we instead went to a nearby area of dense community forest. The journey to the selected point was often one of the most interesting points of the day; in Belebu it involved crossing a swamp and climbing a very steep hill. The lower half of the hill was heavily deforested leaving only charred remains and tree stumps littering the ground. Then all of a sudden we passed through an invisible line and were shrouded in cooling shade and surrounded by trees, the contrast in air and temperature was dramatic and noticed by the entire group.
We started the session by getting the group to stand together in a circle – which was often difficult as the forest was so dense. Once together the students were asked to close their eyes and to sense the forest, to focus on what they could smell, hear and feel,
and the differences they noticed between this area and the village. Immediately the group were focussed and attentive, fully involved in every activity and trying to learn as much as possible. We spent the next hour exploring our new classroom, searching for items in a scavenger hunt, naming the plants that surrounded us, matching leaves to the trees, identifying bird calls and monkey calls, naming all of the mammals that we couldn’t see but we knew were lurking in the depths of the forest, and hunting in the undergrowth for squirming minibeasts. After discovering this vast diversity of life we were able to talk to the students about how everything is linked together in food chains, the role of minibeasts in the forest, the adaptations of various animals and much more that I’m sure would have taken days to understand in the classroom.
After the cool shade and fresh air of the forest the sun felt harsh beating down on us as we made our way back to the school. We took with us some interesting items that we found in the forest which the students were able to draw during the refreshment break when we got
back to the school. Before leaving we did one final activity with the group which is an adaptation of musical bumps to teach about all of the reasons the forest is important and how much we will lose if we don’t protect it – obviously great fun.
This style of interactive teaching was completely new not just for the students but also for the Gola team I was working with and for the Nature Club teacher. After the first session they were amazed to see how much the students learned from the activities and how engaged they were throughout the session. For the first few visits I was very involved (even though the teaching is mostly in Mende) guiding Eddie on how to deliver the session, and adding and developing ideas as we went along. Gradually though he got more confident and by the end I was a complete observer which fills me with confidence that he will be able to repeat this programme with another seven schools later this year.
One particular highlight for me which linked together all of my work including Nature Clubs and community Roadshows was the answer of one
boy when asked why the forest is important. His reply was that ‘the forest is important because the trees store carbon’. When this was translated for me I thought ‘ok maybe he’s heard that somewhere but I’ll be surprised if he knows what that means’. It turns out that this student was ‘Mr Carbon’ in the drama that I designed for the Nature Club to teach the community about carbon and climate change during the Roadshow. He not only remembered that trees stored carbon but he was able to tell us that if the trees are cut down the carbon will be released, it will turn into carbon dioxide and the increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will lead to global warming which will cause the climate to change! It was a proud moment as this is a really key message for GRNP at the moment as we are currently in the process developing a REDD Carbon project which will mean that all of the work we do will be funded by selling ‘carbon credits’ on the international market.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Learning outside the classrooms
Life is full of experiences which cannot be absorbed within 4 walls. I can't imagine a child who has not climbed a hill to look down on their village. Sounds like your work is paying off...you are learning and so are the children. Great job. Can't wait to read more.