We got in touch with
Shavez before arriving in Brunei, and once there he invited us to join the 1SB
group on a couple of their trips.
The first was to the
water village which was an experience in itself.
This is a photo of the bank behind 1SB
member Nasri’s parents’ house. His parents didn’t drop the litter, but they
still have to put up with it in their back yard. This was infact the sight of a
previous cleanup event run my 1StopBrunei, in which 100 people got involved to
fill up a truck with litter. And now look at it a few months later. As Shavez
said “it doesn’t make the slightest difference if we pick it up, it’ll still
come back. The reason we do it is that the more people see us picking it up,
the more we educate people, the more we engage people, and if even a few of
them stop dropping litter then we’ve made a difference”. Too true.
The next day we spent the
day with Shavez and Bazilla. First we drove to a school in KB (near the
Malaysian Border) and watched Shavez give two talks to the students about the
wildlife of Brunei. He doesn’t get paid to do this but he strongly believes
that he needs to reach out to the young people and educate them early on. This
is already paying off as the students go home and tell their parents, and many
of them have now started contacting 1SB if they hear of any animals in trouble.
Education is the key!
This was followed by a
hornbill hunt (of the photograph kind), and an interesting visit to a fishery,
followed by a requisite roti on the way home (a 1SB tradition after all of
their meetings). It was a great day, and we learnt so much from this incredible
22 year old and the wonderful Bazilla: Not just about Brunei, but about how a
few small people can make big ripples, and start a wave of change. I have high
hopes for Brunei if people like Shavez are looking out for it!
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