On the 31st of October 2009, the LEO Club of SMK Assunta participated in a project called ‘Zoo Day!!’. It involved 19 members of the club from form 3 and 4, accompanied by our teacher advisors, Pn Aisyah and Pn. Low Kim Hong as well as our Lion advisor, Lion Ivan Ho, taking a group of children from the Sentosa …Centre, all of whom are between the ages of 4 to 12 years old, to Zoo Negara to give them the opportunity of getting to see exotic animals and also learn more about them. The project was held to promote environmental awareness as well as providing the less fortunate children with an experience that was fun but yet educational.
We left the school by a school bus at exactly 8.00 am. We took about 15 minutes to reach the centre to pick up the children before we took off again. In the bus, we had a get to know session where the LEOs had to interrogate their ‘anaks’ about themselves and they were to tell three things about their ‘anaks’ to the rest. The 45 minutes after that pick up point in the bus was used for this activity to provide a more cheerful surrounding and to make sure the children don’t get bored.
We reached the zoo at exactly 9.00 am which was according to the schedule in hand. We had a group photo session with the children before we took our wrist passes and entered. We began by visiting the reptile house first. There, the children got to see many species of crocodiles, snakes, pythons and cobras. After that, we went upstairs to the Amphibian World to see the many kinds of amphibians, some alive safely behind the glass, and some that are dead and preserved inside jars. As we were about to leave however, we had an unexpected surprise, though some of them weren’t so pleased with it. There was an escaped bullfrog somewhere at the middle of the stairs. Some refused to move until the frog jumped out of the way giving them the freedom to actually move.
After that, we followed our planned route which was to go see the lions and tigers. We took a few pictures of ourselves with the lions and tigers at a distance. Then, we did our clubs roll call in front of the lion as it represents our logo. Later, we went around and got to see the other animals like the monkeys, bears, hippopotamus, cranes and flamingos. However, the part we enjoyed at that moment was seeing the giraffes and elephants. The children took a while to process the fact that these creatures look much bigger and majestic up close as compared to the ones they usually watched on television. This got them really awed and appreciative that they got the chance to see them up close. They then enjoyed leaning in to take pictures of themselves with the giraffes and elephants in the distance.
We soon moved on to the Animal Show which was scheduled to begin at 12.00 pm. We took our seats and waited for the show to begin. The show began on a very grand note with the release of a flock of birds. One of the instructors then came out to welcome us all and tell us some of the few rules we have to follow. After that, the show officially began with a performance from a parrot that was all the way from Venezuela, South America. It showed us its basketball skills as well as its acrobatic ability. The next performance was a from a 4 year old seal from Africa followed by a 19 year old sea lion from Amsterdam, Netherlands. The show lasted for about 20 minutes before it ended.
At 12.20 pm, we headed towards the Bee Museum instead of the aquarium as according to schedule as many people were also headed there after the show. Therefore, to avoid any mishaps, we skipped that stop. At the bee museum, we got to see real live bees as well as models of it. We also got to taste some of the organic honey straight from the bee farm. After that, we all went to the ‘Wild’ restaurant where we had a burger, fries and a cup if iced Milo for lunch. It was a moment for us to rest and refill ourselves before we take off again.
At exactly 1.00 pm, we headed towards the Savannah Walk. Here, the animals were allowed a bit more space to roam as in like their natural habitat where the herbivores are not confined with their own species as compared to the other animals in the zoo. The feeling was as if we were in Africa itself. We then followed the route that took us to our final pit stop where we got to see all the orang utans, chimpanzees and apes. It was extremely exciting to see the movement of these creatures and how in a way it shows a few traits of a human being. As it was our last stop, we took the route back to the entrance where we checked out and took another snapshot as a group with out LEO banner in the middle.
We left the zoo at about 2.00 pm with the same bus. In the bus, we asked the children of how the trip was and got a positive response to it. Then we heard a speech from the organizing chairperson herself, Leya Tomas, the co-chairperson, Darshina Ruba and the funding director for this project, Ting Pei Lim. We then handed out a few souvenirs to the children as a remembrance. The trip back home was shorter than the trip to the zoo. We only took 45 minutes in all to drop the children off at their centre and reached school at exactly 2.45 pm where we all headed back home after that. It was a truly enjoyable experience that one could never forget.
REPORTED BY
LEO SARMINI
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