Terra – Proper noun: (Astronomy) The Planet Earth

Last Saturday, October 18, 2008, our company celebrated its Global Volunteer Day at the La Mesa Ecopark in Quezon City. Less than an hour drive from Makati, the Ecopark is the last remaining forest of its size within the whole metro. It serves as the carbon dioxide sink for the city and the source of clean fresh water for about 12 Million residents.

First part of the event was an awareness campaign program. It was sad knowing the previous state of the forest. The threats and obstacles hindering the drives in making the whole protection project successful were evident. But thanks to the combined efforts of the government, non-govermental organizations, private corporations and the public, it is still in a manageable state. This is another testimony that when people work together, they can make a difference. However, the dream is still far from being fulfilled, there is still a lot to do… and awareness is the key. Global Warming, for instance is already a known phenomenon but there are still people who have no idea about it. What we can do is participate in environmental projects like this and at least advocate. Start with ourselves. Small things sometimes, when done by everyone for a unified purpose can do BIG things. An act of brushing teeth while using a cup, for instance, instead with running water can quench someone else’s thirst.

During the afternoon, there was the EcoMazing Race, an Amazing Race-like game where teams will have to go to 10 stations in the park and rush to finish first. I’ve never been in this kind of race and I thought it would be fun. A total of 10 teams with 10-15 members each will have to do a task in each station in exchange for a clue to decode for their next step. Throughout the game proper, all members will have to be inside an elastic loop while running, walking and going from station to station. The elastic loop (a garter) was there to signify unity. The last task of the race is to arrange every bit of the puzzle collected after accomplishing each task. While in the race, we thought we were leading since we finish every task in no time, but I guess everybody thought that way. With all the luck we had, we came in fourth. Congratulations! Apparent enough, what we believed along the way was not true at all. But it was okay, finishing the race was more than completing it, it was a lot of fun.

In the afternoon, we were tasked to pick non-bio garbages and clean up the park. After that, we went to the nursery area to plant seedlings. Each volunteer was given a chance to pot at least five (5) seedlings. I planted 10 small trees. Hopefully, they will all grow well as tall as they can be.

While going back home, despite the exhaustion from all the days work, I thought of three things: the fun I had, the new friends I made and most importantly the simple deeds I shared for the environment and the community. I hope I can join more projects like this in the future.