Last Mar 25, The Brooke Gallery at Fort Margherita joined the rest of the world to celebrate Earth Hour by inviting guests to experience the beauty of the fort in the evening.
Earth Hour is a global movement in which millions of people, businesses and landmarks set aside an hour to host events switching off their lights.
The Brooke Gallery at Fort Margherita Earth Hour celebration started with a tour of the fort led by the gallery manager Liza Sideni.
After a session of learning on the rich history of Sarawak under its White Rajahs, the night continued with sharing sessions by local social entrepreneurs.
Under a candle-lit atmosphere, Wee Hung Yee from the WormingUp project shared his journey to tackle food waste problem in Kuching.
Using Pateeworms, maggots of one type of fly found in the jungle, Wee and his team are introducing a new method for food waste disposal instead of using land use.
At the same time, they are also working on raising awareness on high food waste in Kuching.
Heart Treasures’co-founder, Kiew Boon Siew talked about her journey working with autistic youths, those with developmental delay, cerebral palsy, deaf and speech-impaired, disabled, are orphans and/or single mothers.
It is their hope to turn them into artisans with the hope they will become independent one day.
They used recycled materials such as old magazines, card boxes to make handcrafted products such as notebooks and paper jewerly.
Meanwhile, Mohd Saifullah Haini or Seph, shared his experience on starting Spativate which is a social enterprise to activate vacant public spaces and properties in the city.
Their pilot project was held at Seph’s Kampong Muara Tebas by painting a mural at the wall of an abandoned shophouse which used to belong to his late grandfather.
Some 25 patrons attended the inaugural event.
For more information on The Brooke Gallery at Fort Margherita, visit http://www.brooketrust.org/.
