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Orangutan Caring Week 2008
November 26, 2008
A number of conservation oriented NGOs gathered together with local Indonesian university students to host Orangutan Caring Week IV (OCW IV) in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Activities were held from 15-23 November in commemoration of this OUREI inspired event, all designed to raise awareness and education levels of the public about the plight of the orangutan and its forest home. As protecting and saving the forest ecosystem is key to their survival, such information was presented and distributed to Sumatran peoples.
On the first day of OCW IV events were held in the Sun Plaza shopping mall, which consisted of film screenings, information/brochure distribution and conservation petition signing, appearances by multiple ‘orangutans’ (don’t worry – just some brave volunteers in orangutan costumes!), as well as dramatic performances by UNIMED and USU university students. This was followed by a day of fun at one of Medan’s large, busy roundabouts, where information and materials were distributed to everyone passing by, as well as conservation oriented stickers being given out to local bus drivers to place on their buses for all of Medan to see. Then there were day long events held at local college campuses which aimed to educate these communities and perhaps inspire some students to come and work for conservation!
Such actions are vital in that in order to save the orangutan and the countless species of flora and fauna it lives alongside, first and foremost the people living nearest to them have to support their protection and continued existence (this is not to say that the larger, global market does not also play a massive role in what goes on in the forests here – in fact it can be argued that that has a greater effect!). Therefore education and awareness are paramount, yet for many people they have too much else to worry about to remember – thus this week of mass outreach whereby many different NGOs and organisations come together to blanket an area with information.
Participating institutions for Orangutan Caring Week 2008 were the OIC, YEL-SOCP (Leuser Foundation / Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme), LIF (Leuser International Foundation), OUREI (Orang Utan Republik Education Initiative), CPOI (Orangutan Caring Club), FFI (Fauna Flora International), USAID OCSP (Orangutan Conservation Services Programme), Sun Plaza Shopping Centre Medan, UNIMED University Theatre Club, UNIMED University Mapala Club, USU University Forestry Department, UNIMED University German Club, OIC Orangutan Friends Club, USU University Agriculture Department.
We would like to give thanks to all participants and also the institutions who helped make OCW IV a great success. In such education focused programmes, the outcomes are difficult to measure as they are not often immediate and may take many years to materialise. However it is our collective hope that this event inspired people to care more about and more importantly do something/take action to help protect their natural environment. It is up to us to do something! But in order to do so we have to know what the problem(s) is (are) first!.
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