Anjali - Save the Giant Panda Campaign

Yesterday I was backing the car out of the gate to drop Anjali at school when I saw two papers stuck on the gate. I stopped to examine what these papers were - they looked like important looking notices from impotant departments - which is normally cause for concern. On closer inspection I found that the top one, fully drenched in the over night rain but hanging on like the last leaf in O. Henry's classic story of the same name, was actually a cry to save the Giant Panda by Anjali.

  

The drenched appeal to 'Save the Giant Panda'

Written in pencil was this message.

"Save the Giant Panda!

To know how, look below.

(If you like it, tick it.)

When you look below you find a print out with information on the various ways to help the Giant Panda. Obviously this concern for the Giant Panda is coming out of the school project she did a day before on endangered and extinct animals where the Panda and the Dodo came into picture. There's nothing much one can do for the poor dodos, but the fact that Giant Pandas only eat bamboos and in large quantities and are no longer able to because those habitats were being reduced and threatened by humans, must have begun the current campaign.

The print out had a lot of information (you could tick on what you like). I am pasting the entire content of the print out in the blog (putting it on the blog is one of the things you could do to help the Giant Panda  as is written below). I must admit that was not my primary intent because I was more interested in the creativity of the act initially. But this is what one good deed or intent can do. It can make others think and act.

 

Friend of Giant Pandas 

Every good intent and deed deserves and gets support, big and small. Good job Anjali, for persisting with your thought and putting it out there even if it was raining and even if your effort might have been washed away. But the paper clung on through the rain, like your thought surely, and I saw it and I am sure many more will. I am sure many people will donate for the cause and that the Giant Pandas will have lots of bamboo to eat and do fine ever after.

If there's one thing to learn from this, it's that we can go out and do what we can, in our limited space and time and energy without thinking really of whether anyone will notice (like the painter who painted his masterpiece in the cold, snowy night in the 'Last leaf'). Great possibilities may emerge. So a teacher in a school gives out a thoughtful assignment, the child thinks, the child acts and then the small ripple gains momentum. Wonderful stuff what one thought can do.

A paper on a gate in rainy weather! But she didn't let those limitations or possibilities stop her. She believed perhaps that someone would see and do their bit. And that one act of faith can lead to another and another. I am so glad for the Giant Pandas that they have friends like Anjali who contribute with all their might.

The Print Out With Information (content below)

What The Print Out Says

Donate
 http://wwf.panda.org/how_you_can_help/support_wwf/donate/donate_panda.cfm

Travel smart

Panda tourism is on the rise. The Chinese government and WWF are now working on ways to reduce the impact of tourism on panda habitats, by promoting eco-tourism.

Other ways you can help

spread the word
Do you have your own website or blog? Why not link to us.

HOW YOUR MONEY CAN HELP

€ 15 ($19) Could buy 5 cartridges of film for infrared cameras used to monitor giant pandas and other animals in the Minshan Mountains.

€ 44 ($56) Could buy a water-proof suit for a ranger who patrols the panda's habitat.

€ 44 ($56) Could support a ranger for a five-day training course on GIS (Geographic Information System), which will help collect more accurate and critical information about the giant panda’s habitat.

€ 89 ($111) Could buy an energy-saving stove, which saves half the annual firewood that a household traditionally uses for cooking and heating.

€ 222 ($278) Could buy a biogas energy system, which would save half the annual firewood used per household, improve the sanitation of the home and get a cleaner energy source.

€ 222 ($278) Could buy an infrared camera (including film and battery) to be used for animal-friendly monitoring of wild animals in nature reserves.

€ 340 ($427) Could provide a household home garden, which would alleviate poverty by planting walnut, pepper, and other kinds of vegetables to be sold or used in the home.

€ 1,109 ($1,392) Could save an injured giant panda.