Family awarded for contribution to wetland education

Writer: Wang Jingli  |  Editor: Zhang Chanwen  |  From: Shenzhen Daily  |  Updated: 2022-12-06

A Shenzhen family was awarded at a volunteer thanksgiving event held by OCT Wetland Park (OCT Wetland) last weekend, according to Shenzhen Evening News.

The family has been voluntarily involved in the city’s nature education on wetland and activities organized by OCT Wetland for many years.

The family of three (in green vests) serve at a wetland education session at the OCT Wetland Park in this undated photo. Courtesy of the event organizer

The son named Shitou (or rock in English), currently a college student, visited OCT Wetland for the first time in 2013. “I visited the park back then with my parents in January where I saw many migratory birds. It aroused my interest,” he said.

Since then, the family has become frequent visitors to OCT Wetland, which boasts nearly 50,000 square meters of mangroves and over 800 animal and plant species.

OCT Wetland nature school was established in 2014, and Shitou’s father, identified as Xiaohe (or small river in English), became one of the school’s volunteer teachers engaged in environmental protection. Shitou then participated in different kinds of nature education activities accompanied by his father.

Shitou began inviting other students to attend classes held by the nature school, and in 2017, he passed related exams to officially become a volunteer teacher of the nature school.

Shitou believed that the volunteering experiences he had at OCT Wetland not only taught him to observe nature and to classify waste, but also cultivated his interest in public engagement.

Shitou’s mother, identified as Songzi, is also a volunteer engaged in the city’s environmental and ecological protection. Songzi said that OCT Wetland is her second home.

“I visit the park on weekends. The whole experience is relaxing, and I can learn knowledge to serve others,” she said.

Xiaohe observed that the nature education concept at OCT Wetland and Shenzhen’s volunteering environment turned his family into a family of volunteers. Nearly 10 years of volunteer experiences made him realize the importance of spreading the green development concept to the public, letting people respect and protect nature.

“A group of volunteers like Xiaohe’s family has contributed greatly to the development of OCT Wetland Park to bring hope and kindness,” said Meng Xiangwei, head of OCT Wetland nature school.

As of now, Shenzhen has 3.51 million registered volunteers, with an average age of 36. About 66% of the registered volunteers don’t have a Shenzhen hukou, or household registration status and 74.35% of them have lived in the city for over 10 years, according to information released by the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League of China.