March of the Frogs

We signed up with http://www.enoprogramme.org/ to take part in a "Be Climate Smart" campaign. Together with a group of friends, we made paper marche frogs and took to the streets to participate in the March of the Frogs. During this march, our children went round telling people about climate change,  asking them to pledge to make a difference by helping our earth. The pledges suggested by  ENO were as follows:

A)Decrease the temperature at home by 1 Celsius and turn off the lights whenever you don't need them.

B)Don't leave your TV, computer or stereo in a stand-by mode but switch them off when you don't use them.

C)Change your light bulbs into energy-saving bulbs.

D)Change your electricity into one that uses renewable resources.

E)Don't waste in vain - prefer to fix and repair rather than buy new

F)Sort your waste and recycle whenever possible

G)Use products that have as little packaging as possible.

H)Use public transport and walk or bicycle instead of driving a car.

I)Eat local food and less meat.

J)When you buy food I use a bag or an old plastic bag.

K)Favour environmentally labelled products.

L)Plant a tree and ask you friend to do the same.

First people to pledge :)

When we first started, most children were nervous and refused to approach anyone. To act as good role model,  I collected the first pledge by approaching a group of guys seated outside Subway. These guys happily listened and obliged, and they made the first pledges which they fed into Franck our Frog. :)

As the day drew on, almost all the children became very confident, approaching random people, asking them to make pledges to safe the climate.

During the whole campaign, the children met friendly as well as rude people. Some waved them off with excuses such as "Find me later" or "I'm in a hurry."  One lady waved us off as if in fear, opened her handbag and wanted to throw us some money. When we told her we didn't want money, but just a pledge for the environment, she was surprised. There were a few others like that who reacted in surprise,  "Is that all you want? Just my pledge?? " they asked in disbelief.

In total, the children spent about 2 hours on the campaign, and collected close to 400 pledges, pretty good for such a small group of children! As the various people they approached read the pledges and signed them, I believe our children who participated were making a great impact, (as one dad put it), by planting eco seeds in these people.  

In the end, I think the whole campaign gave a new sense of empowerment to the children too. They came away feeling more confident about themselves, proud of their achievement and role they've played in society. :)  Just before we called it a day, Nel my more introverted child, stepped away from the group. I saw her approach a lady all by herself, and asked if this lady would pledge to help the environment. For me, as mum, I felt proud of my gal...that she was able to break away from her usual self by approaching a total stranger to share about climate change. Proud of you Nel!  :)

One of our kids wearing the pledge

As the day went on, our children, more confident began approaching total strangers by themselves, sharing about climate change and asking for pledges.

A student feeding a pledge into our frog.

This guy humored the children because he pledged to do almost everything on the list!

reading the pledges, deciding which they would be able to carry out.

Other members of the group doing their part

Some people made pledges and left encouraging notes for my girls. :)

At home, we sorted out the pledges and Nel will be using the results to make a graph and we'll be analysing the results together.

 Here's some of the frogs that went with us.


Will YOU pledge to make a difference by pledging one of the above to help our earth?