August 2021 – SDG 2 Zero Hunger

Malaysia was in Phase One of Movement Control under the National Recovery
Plan (NRP) and has been under total lockdown since June 1, 2021. Many low-
income people have been affected by the Movement Control Order. Malaysians
have flooded social media with the # benderaputih movement, calling on those
in need of food or essentials to raise a white flag outside their homes.

At that time, students were learning about a topic related to food in their
Chinese textbook. During the lesson, they were curious about the White Flat
Campaign, and we discussed the campaign in the class. Then, the teachers and
students decided to explore SDG 2: Zero Hunger to help the poor in Sandakan.

They went through five lessons, learning about the situation of hunger around
the world; the causes of hunger; how hunger affects us; the feeling of hunger;
how to reduce waste; and how to help the hungry. They also learn about the
types of food that are nutritious and suitable to donate to the poor, for example
rice, flour, biscutits, instant noodles, salt, sugar, oil, and others. After each
lesson, they will complete a worksheet related to the lesson.

After the lessons, the students decided to donate food to the needy. They had
discussed with their parents using their pocket money or ang pow money to buy
some food and deliver the food to the school. Because it was still MCO, the
teacher helped to sort out the food accordingly. Then, we decided to send it to
Bless Ministry.

The Bless Ministry is led by the Reverend Tomonty. During the pandemic, they
provided food baskets to those foreign workers (Indonesian and Filipino) or
families who were in need, especially the elderly. These elderly people couldn't
get a stable job or were jobless since the pandemic started. The 14 elderly from
Sungai Kayu and Sungai Obar Village were blessed with food donated by the
students.
June – July 2022 SDG 15 Life on Land

The sun bear is the smallest bear in the world and it is the least known species. After
completing a topic related to food in our Chinese textbook, the students decided to explore
what sun bears eat. They learned that the sun bear eats fruits, invertebrates, and honey. They
wrote and drew five flashcards about the food that is consumed by sun bears. After that, the
students learned about the sun bear's characteristics and habitat. In the third lesson, the
students discussed the sun bear’s role in the forest. They managed to use a mind map to show
the four roles of sun bears in the forest. They are the forest engineer, forest farmer, forest
planter, and forest doctor. 

Then a picture book: I belong to the forest, was used to understand the threat of sun
bears. Sun bears are threatened by heavy deforestation, illegal hunting for food and the
wildlife trade; they are also harmed in conflicts with humans when they enter farmlands,
plantations and orchards. From the story of the picture book, students realised that there is a
Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre that provides care and rehabilitation for the sun bear.

The students were touched by the effort of this conservation centre. They decided to help the
centre by adopting the bears. Students got to know from a newspaper interview of the founder
that the monthly food cost for a sun bear is around RM400-RM500. The centre spends
RM20,000 on food expenses per month for 44 sun bears. They decided to draw a sun bear
and put up a "Love Sun Bear Art for Sale" to collect some funds to adopt the sun bear. They
wished to raise RM600 and adopt two sun bears.

After a week of hard work, they managed to raise RM 2715 and adopted 8 sun bears
altogether. They were so excited because they had exceeded their targets. They had done it by
putting the learning into action. On Saturday, July 23rd, the students visited the Bornean Sun
Bear Conservation Centre and met the founder, Dr. Wong. They had a very interactive
session with the founder. They also had a good time learning on the platform by observing
the sun bear's behaviour.

A sharing experience session was done on 25th of July, students had a great field trip. They
have learned a lot about the sun bears through the 2 weeks of exploring SDG 15- Life on
land. As a local Sandakan child, it is always great to be part of the contribution to the only
sun bear rehabilitation centre in the world.