The 20th of May 2011 was the 10th ENO Tree Planting Day. The Tree Planting Day is organised twice a year, in May and in September, and in the past decade it has reached thousands of schools in 150 countries. The man behind this extensive project is Mika Vanhanen, an elementary school teacher in Eno, a small place in Eastern Finland. ENO’s objective is to underline the importance of the environment and forests globally, by having 100 million trees planted by 2017. The UN has also declared 2011 the International Year of Forests.
The Embassy of Finland participated in the day in a pre-school Educare in Petaling Jaya, near the city center of Kuala Lumpur, by planting a lime tree. The children also did their part by planting a small organic garden. The event was organised by Khatulistiwa, a Malaysian company focusing on corporate social responsibility. The 40 kids who participated in the event were very excited and looking forward to see their garden grow.
It was also a good opportunity for the children to learn something about Finland. Muumi is not known in Malaysia, but the most famous Finn – Santa Claus – made a huge impression on the kids. “Wow, he really exists then, my mother was wrong after all!”, one boy exclaimed.
