Young Grow camp trains Koh Mak youth to protect Songkhla Lake basin

A youth-led Young Grow camp in Koh Mak, Phatthalung, recently brought students together to protect the Songkhla Lake basin while building community health leadership, with Phuket-linked official Dr Nisa Rattandilok na Phuket among those backing the effort. Organizers said the project responded to declining natural resources in the middle Songkhla Lake watershed and a lack of creative learning space for young people spending most of their time online.

Four-course program targets waste, leadership and ecology

Project lead Nattakorn Laheem said the camp grew from decades of community conservation work, beginning with marine resource protection in 1993 and a “2 Lor Thung Dam” waste campaign in 2001. She said the community turned those experiences into a written curriculum so knowledge would not disappear with older generations.

The first-year camp trained participants through 4 courses: community resource and waste management, youth leadership and life skills, creative local enterprise and digital storytelling, and ecological citizenship. Activities included household waste sorting, turning wet waste into compost, using Canva to present community identity, surveying aquatic species in the middle Songkhla Lake basin, and managing resource data through the iNaturalist app.

A total of 80 secondary students from Koh Mak Secondary School and Satsanupatham Pak Phayun School joined the camp, with community leaders, teachers and staff bringing attendance to nearly 100.

Organizers said the camp produced new youth leaders, with participants applying lessons at home and feeding into plans for a local children and youth council linked to 4 core bodies: local government, local administration, state agencies and community organizations.

Source: https://www.dailynews.co.th/news/5845611/