Running An Environmental Workshop In SMPN 5 Kepanjen Malang
by James Ogilvie – England
Today we left very early in the morning to drive to SMPN 5 Kepanjen Malang, a school located in a town outside Surabaya called Malang. When we arrived we were taken out for breakfast with the principal and some of the teachers.
When we returned to the school after eating, we were introduced to a class of students who showed us around the school. It was a very nice school and was very clean and tidy, and the children were clearly proud of this. They have many plants, flowers and trees in the school grounds, which make it look very attractive. They run a program where each child has to bring a plant to school and be responsible for it, which added to the overall greenness of the school and the classrooms. They also have a fish pond with lots of fish and water lilies, and we helped to feed the fish before returning to the classroom.
We ran a workshop with the children where Yusuke and I spoke gave presentations to them about recycling, water problems and eco-schools in England and Japan. The the children and the teachers were very interested in all of the things we discussed and asked many questions. After that, Roni spoke to them about global warming and climate change, but was mostly in Indonesian so I did not understand very much!
Before leaving, we had the usual photo session with the children and the teachers. Although this time I was also asked to sign literally a hundred autographs, which was a new experience for me! It made me feel even more like a celebrity in Indonesia than ever before.