Live & Learn Resource Centre Officially Opened

Live & Learn Environmental Education (LLEE) Officially opened their new Environmental Resource Centre. The establishment of the Resource Centre has been a twelve month project which commenced last year with the distribution of thousands of books, resources, and sporting equipment to many of the schools across Vanuatu. Since then Live & Learn has been busy setting up an environmental library and Resource Centre and constructing an outdoor learning space that is conducive to learning and the sharing of information. 

Students using the Resource Centre

 The construction of the Resource Centre was made possible due to the support of Australian Donors, and AusAID which provided the funds for the building materials. With the help from the staff at Live & Learn and the WASH enterprise group in Mele, the Building was completed and was officially opened by the Australian High Commissioner, H.E. Mr Jeff Roach, in a small ceremony held on the 26 July which was attended by stakeholders, Chiefs, teachers, and members of the community.   Mr. Jeff Roach, congratulated Live & Learns efforts on building such a useful and worthwhile community resource and supported LLEE in its quest to facilitate the learning of locally relevant environmental issues in order to build skills and knowledge.

Australian High Commissioner H.E. Mr Jeff Roach and Australian Volunteer Tracey Robinson cutting the ribbon to officially open the Resource Centre

 The Resource Centre compromises an Environmental Library and Learning Space that can be utilized by all members of the community. It contains resources that can be utilized by teachers to develop interesting and engaging lessons for their students, environmental picture books for children to look at and read, cooking and gardening books and literature about science and the environment. It is now open for students, teachers, members of the community, community groups and stakeholders to utilize free of charge, where the focus is on access to information and the opportunity to ask questions, read and learn. The Resource Centre is located at Live & Learn in Fres Wota Four (opposite the Fres Wota School).  

Students utilising the outdoor classroom

Stringband event with important Climate Change message

Last Friday a fun and energetic stringband and poster competition event was held at Sea Front Stage in Port Vila town. The event, which was organised by Live and Learn and funded by GTZ/SPC and NACCC, aimed to raise awareness of Climate Change issues in the Pacific and Vanuatu. Participation in the competitions was open to all Ni-Vanuatu stringbands and school children in Efate. A condition for entry into the competition was that the stringbands must perform one original song on the topic ‘Adaption to Climate Change in Vanuatu.’

Live and Learn held a stall near the stage with a poster display and information about what causes climate change, how it will affect Vanuatu communities and what action can be taken to adapt to the challenges it may bring. Ian Kalsuak from Live and Learn addressed the crowd, explaining that “climate change is predicted to cause important changes such as increased coastal erosion of beaches, decreased rainfall and coral bleaching”. Kami Robert, also from Live and Learn, told onlookers that “Climate change will affect us all in some way. Communities need to start talking about and planning how they will learn to live with these changes. Relocation of village buildings back away from eroded coastline and the planting of stronger varieties of crops to withstand temperature changes are examples of adaption options some communities may wish to consider.”

The winner of the 30,000 vatu prize for first place in the stringband competition was Vuod from East Efate, Epau Village, with a catchy tune that described the impacts that climate change would have Vanuatu, including rising sea levels and increased temperatures. A GTZ/SPC climate change DVD prize was also awarded to the person who correctly answered questions about issues raised in the song.