Project Report
| Jul 27, 2022
Learning about rosella tea
By Lucy Radford | Engagement Manager
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Cleaning the flowers
In traditional medicine, rosella (also known as hibiscus) is used to increase stamina and endurance, help the body flush out toxins, and lower blood pressure, cholesterol and uric acid levels. It also helps with migraines, coughs and sore throats. Because Leuser Nature School is based on the same site as Bukit Mas Permaculture Centre, the grade 8 students are learning from the women's group working there - harvesting rosella flowers, cleaning them and then drying them to be used as rosella tea. This is one of many nature-based activities the students benefit from at Leuser Nature School, made possible by everyone who donates to keep the school running smoothly. Thank you.
![Harvesting the flowers]()
Harvesting the flowers
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Apr 7, 2022
Sharing tree-planting with other schools
By Lucy Radford | Engagement Manager
![Working together to plant trees]()
Working together to plant trees
In normal years, a local State Junior High school visits Leuser Nature School. In 2020 and 2021, the COVID pandemic prevented this, but the visit was finally able to happen again this year, in late February 2022. The purpose of the visit is to enable the students to get to know each other and to share with each other the different experiences they have of studying at their respective schools. At the end of this year's visit, the Leuser Nature School children showed their visitors how to plant trees in the Bukit Mas Permaculture Centre. The seeds they used are the ones they donate each month in lieu of paying school fees.
Another event which was disrupted by the pandemic was the Badan Komunikasi Pemuda Remaja Mesjid Indonesia (the Communication Agency of Indonesian Mosque Youth) camp. This year, Leuser Nature School hosted the camp, which was attended by the Camat of Besitang and his staff, the Head of Bukit Mas Village, the head of the MUI (Indonesian Islamic Scholars Council) of Besitang Sub-district, and teenagers from Besitang sub-district. Hosting the camp was a great opportunity for the students to proudly show the other attendees their school, the rewilding project and the permaculture project they all help with, and will no doubt encourage the adults in attendance to send their children there in future years.
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Dec 9, 2021
Learning how to monitor tree growth.
By Lucy Radford | Engagement Manager
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The reforestation projects we support in Sumatra all use assisted natural regeneration to restore areas of land that have been degraded. This because although simply planting the trees and leaving them to it would be less expensive, there are several reasons why assisting the process has better outcomes.
Nature cannot be separated from people, and so involvement of and benefit to local communities is vital in ensuring that a restored forest remains protected long-term. Additionally, a lot of seed dispersal relies on animals and birds which may have long ago disappeared from a degraded area, so natural regeneration doesn’t always happen as quickly as it would if these species were present.
With this in mind, a key lesson for the students at Leuser Nature School is tree growth monitoring. They have been carrying this out on a monthly basis since August this year, and they are all really enthusiastic about it. They learn how to accurately measure a tree's growth and how to record and analyse the data. As the school is based at a restoration site, they are also exposed to real world examples of why this process is so important in helping areas of land become functioning ecosystems once more.
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