‘Keep Bali Clean’. That has been the motto spread throughout the Bali centre and indeed the wider community this week.
Our Bali centre, is located on a beautiful stretch of beach, in between two lovely communities, and set in a small but lush water garden. Yet the one isaw that all volunteers notice when they arrive, is the rubbish strewn over the road that has infiltrated the gardens and indeed the beach.
Thus our special project this week has been an ‘all hands on deck’ clean up of our area. All Directors, work study volunteers and volontourists have come together this week to design joint lesson plans and activities that promote the theme of environmental education.
We started the weeks classes with an educational session based around teaching the children how they themselves can directly help to save the environment. We taught them the difference between biodegradable and non bio-degradable goods, the importance of turning of lights, and the most important part was encouraging them not to drop their litter on the ground.
Our children responded in a manner so positive that none of us could have dared to believe. After our learning sessions the children engaged in crafts to emphasise what they had learnt. The younger children were given hats and they traced our motto onto them. The older ones where each given a cotton bag that they again had free reign to decorate. On Wednesday, the view from our home was children walking with coloured bags and hats throughout the area all promoting ‘Keep Bali Clean’.
Phase two of our special project was a practical beach clean up, that we were hesitant was going to be a logistical nightmare. We had no need to worry. All children were given a plastic rubbish bags and were asked to collect bio-degradable goods from the beach. The enthusiasm was electric. All the children were running around collecting straws and plastic bottles and crisp packets, running and shouting ‘Kak’ Kak’, eager to show us what they had found and collected. Some of the older children from the community grabbed a bag and helped and even a couple of parents voluntarily helped, thus fermenting the example to their children!
By the end of the day we had collected over 40 bags of rubbish just from our small beach. I cannot express how much cleaner our area looks, and how enthusiastic the children were to change their old habits. I really feel that this week’s special project has been an overwhelming success, one that the children thoroughly enjoyed and one that will continue to benefit the centre and community for weeks to come!