The eco camp that took place in Tara National Park, Serbia, in May this year, changed the lives of the kids who participated. This experience was something unusual and new for them. They learned a lot and enjoyed the company of the Young Explorers. This is how they describe this eco camp and its impact on their everyday lives.
“The Eco camp in Tara was the best experience in my life. Before the camp I was also interested in ecology and worried about the problems that our Earth faces, but I just watched it from afar. I didn’t think I could change anything about it. With the Young Explorers I realized that if we work together, we can really make a difference. Now I’m much more aware of the importance of saving our one and only planet, because it’s rapidly changing, in a bad way. My life hasn’t changed a lot since the camp, but I live more ‘green’ than before. I changed many habits in every day life and little things that help to keep nature clean and to save energy. What I’ve learned from the Young Explorers I share with my friends and family now. I stimulate them to do little things that will help in some way. They are not always interested, which isn’t so encouraging, but I don’t give up. I’ve joined a lot of nature preserving organizations on the Internet. Every day I’m searching for news about the world and ecology. I’ve signed many petitions and joined different actions and shared it by social networks. I hope I’ll be able to do a lot more in the future because I really want to. These days, me and my friends from the eco club are planning future actions. We’ll show what we’ve learned from the Young Explorers and do our first big action on the way of making a difference!”
(Danica Babic)
“Everything looks the same like it was before my journey to Tara, but it isn’t. Some things have changed. My habits, the way I do some things, the way I think and behave.
Before I became aware of the importance of taking care of nature- before we went to Tara, I used to do a lot of things which now I’m not really proud of.
I can’t say that I was doing it all the time, but sometimes (if the bucket was far away from me or I was in a hurry) I didn’t drop the rubbish in the bucket. Honestly, I just dropped it on the street when no one was looking. But now, I would never do that. I would be ashamed. I thought that one paper or one plastic bag won’t kill us or affect nature that much.
I used to have a shower for more than 40 minutes And 70 liters of water just for me, imagine that! Now it’s 60 liters- joke, of course! And light, yes. I turn off the light every time I go out of my room.
Now, when we have our own club and team, we can make this town a nicer place to live. We can try to do our best with our ideas and make sure that next generations will understand the importance of doing this.”
(Branislava Lesevic)
