Upcycle Courses for Children
During this incredible journey, I collected thousands of discarded plastic bags with underprivileged children and witnessed hundreds of moments of genuine happiness from them.
Julien believes that all kids love to play and that there is no better learning for children when they are having fun.
In 2014 he started the journey to teach underprivileged schoolchildren in Southeast Asia how to upcycle plastic waste/bags into DIY kids crafts – kites, then flowers.
Courses goals:
1/ Give a second life to discarded plastic bags.
2/ Share a “know how” with disadvantaged children.
3/ Point the issue of plastic waste pollution.
Julien’s Courses For Children was solely his initiative (not a company project or linked to a religious denomination). It was his calling, a new journey, and everything happened with only him working on the ground.
All about, his courses aimed as a sort of solidarity and humanist project involving recycling and education: some fun-filled ecological courses for underprivileged children.
NGOs Schools
Julien organized his courses in cooperation with NGOs schools caring for underprivileged schoolchildren in Vietnam and Cambodia.
He organized 15 courses, worked with ~350 children, and collected and upcycled thousands and thousand of discarded plastic bags.
His courses lasted ~2 weeks, time for the children to become autonomous with the upcycling process.
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plastic waste/plastic bags
The raw material of his courses was surely not in using new plastic bags. So each course started with collects of discarded plastic bags that could cleaned and reused.
Even though most areas, even small local dumps (where the collects were made) were horrible for Julien, it was OK for the participating children. In fact, the kids were always excited to go picking up waste, and simply because:
- These areas are, very unfortunately, common places in the daily lives of the project participants.
- Children are looking to have fun and to make crafts. Generally, outdoor activities generate more interest than school classes. Buying kids’ toys for underprivileged families is definitely not a priority.
Again, this first step was not to clean a dirty area, but to collect the plastic bags that could be reused.
Learning Through Play
• Do children cares about environmental issues? No.
• Do underprivileged children (kids raised in areas littered with plastic waste and other material) care about environmental issues? Much less!!
Julien’s courses method was anything but slapping the participating children’s brains with loud or desperate “Plastic Waste Are Not Good” as some people can do. Children don’t give a s*** about that…
Instead, his courses learning through play method and first goal was for the children to have fun. To see them excited in learning a new craft skill, to become more and more confidant and creative during a course, proud of their creations, playing with their kites like crazy/happy kids do with their toys and even taking ownership of them.
These aspects are within reach of children.
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Environmental Issues and Awareness
His courses last goal was to affect awareness about the environmental issue of plastic waste pollution to the participating children.
His method aimed at to use the excitement and beautiful energy generated by the children throughout a course, to finally counterbalance this innocent state to discuss about that plastic waste they had an awesome fun with.
This final step always took place with photos and videos captured during the collect of plastic bags, to educative and local animations, and talks about The Great Pacific Garbage Patch which is very, very close to country of those kids.
Here, sad faces expressions could be seen from the kids, the complete opposite than during the fun times of the courses and super energy.
Julien believes that such contrasts are also a way to create impacts to children.
DIY Kites-making
It all started with his “I Believe We Can Fly” project! DIY kites-making from plastic waste.
In 2014, Julien returns to Vietnam and Cambodia with this project only in his backpack.
DIY Flowers-making
In 2016, Julien became interested to add another string to his -plastic- bow, and began DIY flower-making courses.
His project method did not changed: collect plastic bags and upcycle them with children.
A New Journey
Julien is neither a school teacher nor a conquistador!
His courses were not organized to tell to children what they must think or what is best for their well-being.
Readers, let’s underline a basic point: we know that, sometimes, when discussing with our friends or relatives, when we’re really trying to explain something to them, or explaining another opinion, they might never agree or never really understand a different opinion or concern.
We can say that friends/relatives, sometimes, are not ready to understand, even sometimes to listen, a different opinion.
Back to Julien who worked with those children, a westerner not dealing with friends or relatives but with Asian and underprivileged kids. Knowing that they and him are not from the same country but almost from a different planet, that they are children, that their ways of life is not the same and so forth. Be done-to-earth, can you expect Julien’s courses to pull-up DIY kites flying all over Southeast Asia or continually flying in the schools where he organized his courses?!!
Well, the response was not depending on Julien, but on the NGOs schools who has cooperated with him…
Why did Julien aimed his project to children and not for adults? Because kids are sponges, they’re curious, they love to play, they’re innocent, amazing, they love to craft and to have fun.
Because younger generations copy the behaviors they see around them, Julien’s vision was to Share A Message, to demonstrate an alternative environmental action through a fun-filled, educative and poetic way.
His project had the simple and humanist purpose to teach a crafty skill, mixed with a clear awareness about the environmental issue of the plastic waste pollution, and above all, to appreciate the results with the cooperating NGOs schools.
“Through play get a message across” was the everything of his project, and his new journey.
As Nelson Mandela said: “Education is the most powerful weapon to change the world.”
I did my part. With people/kids (underprivileged and Asian...) I have done something Amazing & Beautiful for a better, happier and cleaner world.
In French we can refers to this as "la part du colibri".
Press Releases
His I Believe We Can Fly project (DIY kites-making courses) was followed by a French magazine which published monthly releases about Julien’s courses on the ground. Some other magazines and a French newspaper has also talked about his project.
Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Photo Copyright
All photos of his courses for children have been uploaded with a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC 4.0) to their metadata. If some photos may be reused to help other people in their educational or environmental projects: help yourself!
Contact Julien for uncompressed, watermark-free and full-size images.
Questions & answers
The first cooperating school had organized another kites-making course – during a national day celebrated at school.
Otherwise and unfortunately, no other NGOs schools kept his courses going as far as we know.
Julien find this finality such a pity, because the children he worked with always had the skills to keep crafting after a course was done.
One of Julien’s conclusion about his courses:
In such countries where the pollution by plastic waste is really important, English and computer lessons seems more critical than environmental activities for schools. Such a pity….
Because underprivileged children are happily playing with everything they have.
No, his last one was in 2019 in Siem Reap.
After many courses and no news from a participating NGO school to offer Julien the possibility of a medium or long-term plastic waste courses/project, Julien decided to move-on to a new journey: 5-star hotel photography and virtual project.