CIB Ambassadors 2009 – Mr Richmond Tan & Mr Sharif Ahmad Jusof

The final two Community in Bloom Ambassador’s include two guys who are Mr Richmond Tan and Mr Sharif Ahmad Jusof! Richmond is the youngest of the crowd and happens to be one of my moderators of the Green Culture Singapore discussion forum. I am proud of him!

Mr Richmond Tan

Mr Richmond Tan, 24, is a moderator of the Green Culture Singapore discussion forum. Richmond shares his passion on carnivorous plants by conducting talks to members of the public at HortPark and initiated and produced two e-books on gardening which he distributes freely to interested people to help them in their gardening efforts. He also  oversees the gardening project at Tanglin Secondary School and conducted training for the school students and staff on aspects of gardening. He founded and maintains a gardening blog as a way to share his ideas on gardening: www.dreamandgrowit.wordpress.com.

Richmond has captured the attention of the young curious minds by introducing carnivorous plants through his outreach initiatives. His gardening blog is a platform for knowledge sharing about gardening and an avenue to broadcast his knowledge and skills in gardening. His continuous effort to promote gardening among young people will help create more appreciative future generation in greenery and gardening.

Richmond’s Quote: ‘You don’t need to be botanist to do gardening, just like you don’t need to be engineer in order to use a mobile phone.’

Mr Sharif Ahmad Jusof

Mr Sharif Ahmad Jusof, 50, is the leader of the gardening club at Al-Istiqamah Mosque. He has led a pioneering community gardening project in a mosque. His work has inspired many other organizations to successfully embark on their own community gardening projects. His generosity in sharing plants, and helping to decorate nearby community places help spread the ‘gotong royong’ spirit. By welcoming visitors to view the garden at Al-Istiqamah Mosque, he also promotes inter-religious understanding.

He has conducted gardening talks and workshops at HortPark to help guide members of the public and to inspire them into gardening and volunteering. He also volunteered his time and effort to facilitate the setting up of community gardens by conducting show & tell at the Al-Istiqamah Mosque garden, visiting their premises to offer advice and donated plants to various gardening groups including Admiralty West Prison, Mangala Vihara Buddhist Temple, As-Syakirin Mosque and St Gabriel Primary School.

Mr Sharif lent potted plants and helped decorate places such as Serangoon CC, Serangoon Zone 5 RC and En-Naeem Mosque for community events and took part in events to promote and share gardening tips with visitors, such as the Singapore Garden Festival and Launch of Clean & Green Singapore.

Mr Sharif’s Quote: ‘Gardening keeps me healthy. The sight of colourful blooming flowers and butterflies in the garden makes me very happy. I am glad to be able to share gardening tips with everyone who is interested’.