ESD Winter Camp, Nam Định 2022: Think globally, Act locally

Ếch Sọc Đỏ Camp (ESD camp) is the first and only boarding camp in Vietnam built on the content of Education for Sustainable Development coordinated by UNESCO under the United Nations Agenda 21. After 03 years of successful organization: 2019 in Hội An, 2020 in Ứng Hòa, 2022 in Lào Cai and Nam Định, ESD Camp has made a big splash, helping HILL to be selected as a social partner in the research project of Uppsala University (Sweden) on the informal learning component for sustainable development.

Following the success of a series of summer camps based on education for sustainable development, ESD Camp has returned in winter 2022 with unique experiences in Nam Dinh - the ancient land with Xuân Thủy mangrove forest - the first wetland of Southeast Asia to be included in the RAMSAR Convention. It is also a place with many traditional cultural heritages relevant to the lives of the inhabitants of the wet rice civilization. “𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒈𝒍𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚, 𝑨𝒄𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚” (Global awareness, local action” is the guideline for the ESD Winter Camp 2022). The program covers relevant issues about community, culture and environment suitable to the perception of students, associated with two of the 17 sustainable development goals, namely “building and developing sustainable communities & cities” (G.11) and “acting for climate change” (G.13).

DAY 1 - BIODIVERSITY OF MANGROVES

Why did we choose Nam Định? The land is both familiar and unfamiliar, not too close but not too far and there seems to be nothing that can surprise and challenge explorers’ feet.

From the first time examining Nam Định, HILL teachers cherished: "We absolutely have to bring our students to this place". It can be said that Nam Định is the interference of indigenous culture and foreign culture as well as the interference of plain landscape and coastal mangroves. This is an ideal land to organize a sustainable development-oriented program.

Going to Xuân Thủy on a day with low water level, under the guidance of Mr. Dũng - an expert from Xuân Thủy National Park Management Board, the campers were able to explore the mangrove ecosystem, learn about the structures of some species of mangroves that help them adapt to their habitat, and take a cruise on the Trà River to appreciate the magnificence of nature and experience the livelihoods of the people by the sea.

Our camp had 2 members whose hometowns are in Nam Định. After the trip, they told us: "I go to Nam Định every year, but I didn't know there were so many interesting things in my hometown!"

DAY 2 - THE SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD

Environment – Economy – Society are the 03 main pillars in Sustainable Development. Learning about local livelihoods is a way to introduce campers to the relationship between people and the natural environment, especially in the context of today’s ever-changing world.

Life after life, so many generations are still deeply attached with the sea. They are the farmers who persist in keeping the traditional method of making fish sauce.

Above all, fishermen, salt farmers, farmers are the most ideal teachers to give children lessons from real life.

DAY 3 – CHRISTMAS LOVE

Christmas is not only a time of receiving gifts but also an occasion to spread love.

This trip was definitely very different from all the charity trips that the children have participated in because:

For the first time, the children attended a Catholic meal – a cozy meal with priests, nuns and friends at the orphanage.

For the first time, the children made 160 cups of lemonade by themselves to contribute to a fuller and more hearty shared meal.

For the first time, the children organized an exchange where they themselves learnt and taught the children at the orphanage how to make a dream kite.

And for the first time, the children were not only the givers but also the receivers of the lesson "Treating friends with disabilities like normal people is a way to show love and respect”.