FIFTY-FIVE eight to 14 year olds from Parade Gardens are among the students who have benefitted from the project dubbed Building Appreciation for Nature Among Children At Risk (BANCAR).

Funded by the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica, the joint initiative between the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) and RISE Life Management Services has introduced inner-city children to a variety of experiences in natural settings.

The Parade Gardens youths — drawn from RISE’s after-school Kidz Club — have enjoyed environmental workshops and field trips hosted by JET on topics ranging from birds and forests to wetlands.

“The best part of the programme was that we weren’t just supplying the children with information,” noted Suzanne Stanley, the environmental lobby group’s programme director. “Each workshop was immediately followed by a field trip, so that the kids could have a practical experience and see what we had been talking about in workshops.”

“For some of these kids, the field trips are their first experience leaving their community,” added Negita Brown, RISE’s project supervisor. “The trips are the most exciting, and most important part of the project.”

Born out of an idea from JET’s former programme director, Carlette Falloon, the BANCAR project was intended to expand the range of JET’s Schools’ Environment Programme (SEP).

“We had always found it difficult to introduce SEP in inner-city schools. There always seemed to be other more pressing social and economic issues that schools had to deal with which distracted from the success of the programme in these areas,” said JET boss Diana McCaulay. “So when Carlette suggested a project focusing solely on environmental education in these communities, I immediately thought of the work being done by RISE.”

The idea received an enthusiastic reception from that entity.

“A lot of what the kids have been taught by JET through the project is completely new to them,” said Brown. “They don’t learn it in school, and they definitely weren’t learning it at RISE.”

The project adds a new dimension to the RISE Life Skills curriculum, which is the focus of their after-school Kidz Club programme.

Field visits for the Parade Gardens community included trips to Holywell Recreational Park to hike along one of the nature trails, the Port Royal Marine Lab to take a boat tour of the mangrove forest, and to Hope Gardens for bird watching.

“In Port Royal, we met the real Spongebob and real Mr Crabs!” exclaimed Nicole Brown, a nine-year-old participant, likening the sea sponges and shellfish she saw on her tour of the mangroves to two of her favourite cartoon characters.

“We got to see lots of different types of sea animals in the mangroves and back at the lab, we even got to touch some of them — like the starfish,” added eight-year-old Monono Thompson.

The project has even had a positive impact on the outlook of the RISE Youth Development Officers (YDOs) — young adults from the communities who work closely with the kids.

“The experience has been amazing,” said Kenisha Morris-Myrie, one of the Parade Gardens YDOs. “As old as I am, I didn’t realise the importance of nature. We have to say a big thanks to JET for being here to show us these things.”