Visiting New School!
by Mandy Lim Pei Mun
It is a wonderful day today. I had a goodnight sleep and I’m so hyper to begin my day. We visit SMPN 31 (I love this school) and a new school SMAN 19. Both schools are situated near the beach. We are arranging a beach cleaning activity with the three schools which are in Pasquelle’s and my care (SMPN 15, SMAN 19, & SMPN 31).
We drove to SPMN 31 for out first event which is the tree planting. The more trees we plant the more oxygen produce and the lesser carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It is an easy activity but it is important to have more greens especially in the urban area. We brought 30 trees of different species (Mimbo, Rambutan, and Trembesi) that we got from Surabaya’s government. All the trees are planted in the school compound. The best part of the activity is the enthusiasm and the interest the students express while working with us. All of them are so cooperative. They are nice kids who really want and have the passion to improve their environment. Everything goes on smoothly and the 30 trees are planted less than 2 hours. Though it is just 30 trees but a little bit of commitment do makes a lot of difference with continual efforts.
We then headed to SMAN 19. This is our first visit to the school and it is our first senior high school. The other schools that we visited are elementary schools and junior high school. The school is huge and nice with lots of trees. I saw my national flower which is the hibiscus or ‘bunga raya’. I plucked one hibiscus flower for my presentation later on our country and our culture. We also give a presentation on global warming and water pollution. We plan to organize some environmental activities in the school and the Kenjeran beach for beach cleaning with the other schools.
However there are some misunderstandings because of the communication barrier we have. We were told the children understand English but majority of them didn’t understand Pasquelle’s and my presentation. It didn’t go well as we planned but it should be ok. We did not get the opportunity to give our suggestions on the activities we want to carry out with them to improve the environment. However some of the students are very nice. Those who understand us were from the English Club and they stayed as the others left. It was quite saddening but we’ll try to work harder to attract their interest.
Though not everything went well but at least we contributed some of our energy for the society and the kids are doing very well with the environment. I can’t wait to begin my day tomorrow for the new adventure and journey waiting for me.