Thursday was an unusual, to say the least. The Eco Rangers took a break from the usual mundane meetings and headed out to the planting spot - as everyone named it - to make a pathway across the planting spot instead. The purpose of making said pathway is to enable the student population of Sri Aman to view the plants without trampling them. Being able to view the plants without getting their shoes dirty was also an added bonus.
The Eco Rangers stayed back after school on Thursday to complete the pathway, which was going to be made out of leftover bricks from the school's previous construction projects. The reason for them not buying new bricks instead was because buying bricks were neither cost or environmentally friendly.
Before beginning the project, Farhanah put Nadiah, Ili and Azmina to the job of evening out the earth using spades and hoes. It was rather messy work and they got the earth all over the place, including the rest of the disgruntled members' shoes. However, Samantha - who brought a pair of slippers for this occasion and the people who walked around barefooted - namely Pui San and Angela- managed to avoid getting their shoes dirty.
While Nadiah, Ili and Azmina were evening out the earth, the rest of the Eco Rangers were put to other tasks, including pulling out weeds, picking up rocks and hunting for bricks. Pui San was one of the members who were in charge of hunting for bricks, and she found something (or rather an animal) while carrying out her task - A toad. She was rendered speechless with a rather comical expression on face that had other members rolling around in laughter. In another case, Sophia and Sara found earthworms and centipedes under the bricks. The barefooted members were cautioned to keep away from that area.
Eishatur was in charge of picking up rocks in the way of where the pathway was supposed to be. She kept the rocks in a small bucket. After she was done with picking up the rocks, she thought that it would be a good idea to challenge Angela to lift the bucket up. Angela, being extremely gullible, got tricked by the tiny size of the bucket and nearly buckled over because of the massive weight of the bucket. Eishatur got a kick over watching Angela's expression.
Halfway through carrying out our tasks, it started raining. Azrianna who was in charge of pulling out weeds, started holding an umbrella overhead while doing her job. The rest of the members continued working through the rain. Of course, members who got caught colds easily were allowed to stand in the shelter. Thankfully, the rain wasn't heavy and only lasted for a short period.
Soon after the rain stopped, Nadiah, Ili and Azmina finished evening out the earth for the huge occasion of actually making the pathway. Everyone did their part in laying the bricks and arranging them. After all the brick laying and arranging was done, Angela was ordered by Sophia to catwalk across the pathway to test its' firmness - 5 times, no less. Her imperfect balance caused by the uneven and slippery tiles attracted peals of laughter from her less-than-supportive group mates.
The walkway was completed at around 4 P.M. after Pui San and Azrianna scrubbed the tiles to remove the soil, grass, weeds and roots from the tile. After hosing their shoes down, the members finally left for home after a hard day of toiling.
Despite all the hard work and effort put in, all the members enjoyed themselves immensely while carrying out this activity. It was an eye-opening experience for all of them.
