Scarecrows get new clothes

80 people came to Ubin for a beach cleanup and scarecrow decoration project this morning.

Initiated by the Rotary Club of Bugis Junction (RCBJ), the project included participation from the Interact Club of Yusof Ishak Secondary School, NParks and several volunteers from UVP. The Rotarians also took advantage of the fact that Ubin is one of the few remaining places in modern Singapore where we can still find scarecrows and so they decided to include a Dress-A-Scarecrow segment at the Sensory Trail. They invited 12 kids from the Chen Su Lan Methodist Children's Home (CSLMCH) to enjoy the day out. Joining them were also many friends of the Rotarians, among them a group from Lexmark International. In fact one of the American families in the Lexmark group had just settled in Singapore 6 weeks ago and already they got themselves involved in cleaning a Singapore beach! Admirable effort.

Whew! That's a lot of people involved in a worthwhile project!


Beach cleanup is often mistaken as just getting a group of people to clean a beach. If we delve a little deeper, it is more than that. Cleaning a beach teaches us to recognise the impact of our lifestyle on the environment around us. It brings us closer to the natural inhabitants of the beaches, mud flats, rocky shores and see for ourselves how trash from human beings degrade nature. Through this experience we hope it may teach us to use less, buy less, recycle more.


Enough said, let's look at some pictures from today....




Yusoffians cleaning the beach behind the wayang stage. This part of the beach yields the biggest bags of beach trash.


Woman strength.... Dirt? No sweat! At beach area next to Pak Ali's shop.

Yes, it's trash alright! Lots of plastic bottles, beer bottles, aluminium cans, plastic bags, straws, metal parts, cigarette butts, forks, glass, tyres....

Families and friends of Rotarians join in the fun. Their scarecrow looks well-stuffed and should be able to withstand wind, rain and sun and do its job to scare away the wild boars.

This is the group from CSLMCH. The kids insisted on dressing the scarecrow themselves, and even planted it.

The young ladies and gentlemen from Yusof Ishak came prepared. They spent Friday afternoon making paper mache heads, special hands and feet. Certainly the most creative designs in today's little competition.

This Yusof Ishak group wanted their scarecrow to look scary - 'blood' on clothes, claws for fingers, an 'axe' for a necklace.

So, we have 4 very well-dressed scarecrows on Ubin!