TAME centre brings Sabah conservation groups under one roof

TAME centre

KOTA KINABALU: Tanjung Aru Marine Education centre (TAME) here will be used as a venue to bring awareness on environmental and heritage issues to the public.

The center co-founder Japson Wong said by using the premises, they hoped to highlight five key elements- heritage, marine, wildlife, recycling/upcycling, and green technology. On the heritage aspect, he said the building was used by a telecommunications company for the first wireless communications services in Sabah. Wong added a new wall was also built using 40,000 used glass bottles donated by the public which gave better ventilation and aesthetic values to the centre. The centre is also using used furniture or taking unwanted items and upcycling them into stools to send across the message to the public about reducing waste. “TAME shares common values with many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and thus this is a centre that could help everyone achieve bigger objectives. “This place enables more than 20 NGOs, social enterprises and like-minded people to share resources by working together under one roof. For example, an organisation may have a lot of volunteers but they do not have the fund. “This is also a venue for those organisations to be known for what they are doing,” he said, adding the centre was privately funded by individuals who wanted to contribute for similar causes.

Wow lead artist Japson Wong giving a talk to public at TAME centre in Tanjung Aru here on his team's art project that gives awareness on conservation purposes.

Wong, who is also Wonders of Wilderness lead artist, was met during the “sharktastic” two-day event recently which showed life-size whale shark, hammerhead shark and whitetip shark sculpture; educational talks; and pop-up booths. Apart from awareness talks, the centre also has rooms for NGOs to conduct activities for the public. “We are hoping this centre will give fun and hands-on learning experience especially for the kids, for instances, handling worms while doing composting or looking at the things being displayed at this building.”

Upcycled Shack founder Tressie Yap showing how she turned plastic bottles to high value and beautiful items during weekend event at TAME centre here.