Regenerating Rainforests

The word Adiwiyata is derived from 2 words in Sanskrit; ‘adi’ and ‘wiyata.’ ‘Adi’ means big, great, ideal, or perfect, while ‘wiyata’ means a place to get knowledge, norms and ethics in social life. The Adiwiyata program is run by the Indonesia Ministry of Environment, whose aim is to raise knowledge and awareness of environmental conservation among students and faculty in schools. They do this by paying close attention to how lessons are taught and making sure should they are linked to environmental awareness. They also teach the 3 R’s (Reuse, Reduce, Recycle) and manage gardens for medicinal plants, etc.

Since August 2014, I have served as one of the committee members of Adiwiyata Kayong Utara Regency, representing ASRI, along with other committee members from the Ministries of Environment, Education and Religious Affairs. There are 12 schools in the regency whose vision and mission center on environmental awareness. I have been visiting and educating students in some of these schools.

The subjects I teach include “Environmental Threats” (for primary school students) which focuses on waste management, “Tropical Rain Forest” (for junior high school students) which centers on the benefits and threats regarding the rain forest, and “Environmental Threats” which also covers the rain forest and includes mangroves and corals in the lesson. 268 children (coming from 7 different schools) have attended these lessons. One of the schools also requested for ASRI to come plant trees with the students, and even sent 42 students to ASRI’s conservation office for a lesson on how to make recycled paper (taught by senior ASRI Kids). Furthermore, another school requested ASRI to teach environmental education as a local content subject for the 4^th and 5^th graders. So far, we have taught 4 lessons, each with a total of 105 students!

These schools are not only being guided by the regency committee, but also being evaluated and scored on how they implement environmental awareness in school activities and lessons. The 12 schools are expected to adopt environmentally-centered models. If they reach a certain exemplary level, the higher provincial committee, will guide and evaluate them to become the model school in the province, and then, in Indonesia.

This program will continue to conduct lessons and guide schools every year, and we will continue to monitor those 12 schools. We will also continue to encourage other schools to include environmental education into their activities and lesson plans.

Being involved in Adiwiyata has made the ASRI Kids program widely heard. A group of science teachers invited me to teach them how to make recycled paper, so they can implement it in teaching their students on the “Role of People in Environmental Management.” Moreover, six former ASRI Kids who are now known as ASRI Teens are teaching in one of the Adiwiyata schools once a month. Their students are 7^th, 8^th, and 9^th graders who join an extracurricular activity called SINAM (Siswa Pecinta Alam, translated to “Students of Nature Lovers”) in their school. Before they teach the class, I train them on how to make a lesson plan that includes creating fun teaching techniques and media and managing a class that involves 20-30 students.

Seeing my students’ enthusiasm in learning and being aware of their environment means a lot to me. As I have been involving myself in ASRI Kids program and Adiwiyata, being an environment educator has been my great passion.

Links:

• Etty's original blog

A couple weeks ago, when I was doing my daily routine work as a doctor in the clinic, I met him. He is Mr. Helmi, our 40 year old patient with a very bad foot infection. I remember him because he left a deep impression on me. How can I forget him? I still can remember the day when he came.

Tuesday, November 4^th, 2014 was the first day when he was showed up at the ASRI clinic. Although Tuesday is not usually as busy as Monday, there were a lot of patients that day. Because of that we were late for lunch. After lunch, when we came, he was waiting in the emergency room. He came with high fever, chills, redness, and swelling with pus on his left 1/3 distal shin for two weeks. His temperature when we measured it was 39 degrees Celsius. Random blood sugar was 386 mg/dL (more than three times normal indicating poorly-controlled diabetes). He had already gone to the closest referral hospital in Ketapang. The Internist had recommended amputation because they feared the abscess would spread to other parts of his leg but he refused. Then he heard about ASRI from his relative. His relative recommended him to come here because ASRI is the best quality standard of care and he was afraid to lose his leg. He hoped ASRI could make a miracle for him.

When we were exploring his wound, we found the abscess was deep and we thought it already infected to his bone. After a long discussion among us and an Infectious Disease Consultant from Stanford, we hospitalized him for a month and gave him antibiotic shots for 4 weeks and then switched it to oral for 2 weeks with very careful wound care every day. A miracle happens. Slowly but sure, his abscess was cured. He was very pleased with what we have done.

Before he saw it himself, he thought that ASRI is a religion mission foundation from the West and belonged to a Western country. Then I explained it to him. My explanation made him understand. He is going to tell all his relatives and colleagues about what ASRI has done. As a sign of gratitude, one day ASRI’s front yard was very muddy after the rain and he sent a truck full of sand to help. He also brought us a box of food.

I remembered one day our former volunteer asked me, what kind of movie do I like? I said, “Superhero.” I love superhero movies because superheroes are very cool. Superheroes can save people. I think everyone has a dream. A dream to make a difference. To do something. To save life. This is what I want to say. We are ASRI. We are not a superhero. We are just like ordinary people that want to make differences. To save lives and give hope.

Links:

• Dr. Yuli's original blog