Project Manager of Green Xchange H2O, Mohamad Nur Isman Abu Bakar, during the launch of GX H2O at Serasa Water Sports Complex. BT/Saiful Omar
BRUNEI-MUARA Monday, May 12, 2014 THE Society for Community Outreach and Training (SCOT) is still committed to its flagship Green Xchange (GX) project despite introducing a new branch of GX that takes the project underwater. In an interview with The Brunei Times, Project Manager of the newly-launched Green Xchange H20 (GX H20) Mohammad Nur Isman Abu Bakar said its GX project had been a success as they collected over 26,000 kg of recyclables that had been exchanged for 7,000 kg of rice. The GX programme had been held six times since it was introduced in 2011 to help low income families and promote environment conservation.
With the launch of the GX H20, SCOT is embarking on an underwater initiative that would see volunteers clean up and restore corals in selected dive sites in Brunei, while spreading environmental awareness on corals. “We decided to take on a new aspect of awareness. We are going towards the direction of being environmentally friendly which is almost the same as our GX. “This project takes on a different direction but the essence of it remains where we are still educating youth on different aspects of life that requires more attention,” added Mohammad Nur Isman. SCOT viewed the project as a way to give back to the environment, where it places focus on the community as a whole, as the volunteer divers were not specifically selected from underprivileged families.
The project aimed to garner the interest of youth in serving a cause while giving SCOT “a certain edge” especially as diving continues to gain popularity among the youth, said the project manager. Mohammad Nur Isman added: “Diving can be considered a hobby and the youth are interested in new things especially those that they have not experienced yet.” The selected divers comprised five volunteers from HSBC, five from SCOT and another 10 volunteers who had applied to join the project, with the majority of them certified during the programme. “We will still do our flagship GX and we are expecting it to take place later this year, there are other projects too, but we cannot reveal any now,” he said.
Source: The Brunei Times
Author: Nabillah Haris
Published Date: Monday, May 12, 2014
