Monday September 14, 2009

Caring youths

Undergraduates plant bamboo shoots in Kota Damansara.

UNIVERSITI Tunku Abdul Rahman undergraduates have brought changes in nature by planting 500 bamboo shoots in Kota Damansara Community Forest in Selangor, recently. Petaling Jaya City Council member Panneerselvam officiated at the event by planting the first bamboo shoot. Also present to help out with the project were youngsters aged between 10 and 16 from the Anbu Illam shelter home in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur , and other volunteers.

The students involved in the project are currently undergoing internship at CyberCare, a non-profit organisation which runs community service projects. The students formed a group named the Growth, Responsible, and Inspire in Nature (GRIN).

The UTAR undergraduates together with the youths from Anbu Illam and other volunteers made
the bamboo-shoot planting project a success.

The GRIN team was then assigned to run an event called Making A Difference, which falls under the Care4U project. The event was held at Anbu Illam itself.

These young coaches coached the children on life skills, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and talked about community service projects like the bamboo shoot planting project.

The GRIN team also helped the shelter's youths to make simple banners and flyers to help promote their event. The kids even made presentation slides to show to the 200 volunteers who signed up for the project.