For the third year in a row, Yayasan Usaha Mulia (YUM) will host 95 students and teachers from Mentari School Jakarta during their Community Project and Study Week. During eight days, the study week will introduce the children, who are between 14-15 years old, to various issues, such as sustainable agriculture, disparity in education opportunities, wildlife conservation and child development through sports.
This year for the first time, YUM is collaborating with two other foundations, Borneo Football International Academy and Borneo Nature Foundation. The study week will consist of a mixture of field trips, visits to various projects, workshops, Dayak cultural experience and a football tournament to end the week!
Borneo Nature Foundation will be assisting Yayasan Usaha Mulia with the EduTourism week by leading the Nature and Conservation Workshop. For three days, BNF will teach the students about Indonesian biodiversity, research techniques, which we use to monitor biodiversity and why this research is so essential to conserving wildlife. BNF will also be engaging the students to think about solutions to conservation threats across Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo), and then encourage the students to develop conservation campaigns and educational material with BNF’s Outreach Programme to mitigate these threats. These activities would not be complete without a day in the nearby forest to put into practice the research methods they learned in the classroom.
As part of their Community Project, the Mentari School Jakarta students have prepared various activities that they will do with the community members around the sub-district of Bukit Batu, Palangka Raya. For example, one group will visit village members and make a presentation about the importance of clean water and another group has fundraised to repaint the library facilities at the YUM Community Library as well as to donate school supplies and resources for local schools.
YUM has been organising edutourism activities such as these for the past 6 years, working with schools and organisations from within Indonesia and from other countries, such as Singapore, Australia, France and USA. Our edutourism activities are part of YUM’s sustainable initiatives, generating income to support various projects in Cipanas, West Java and in Bukit Batu, Central Kalimantan.
It is our hope that the students will gain insight in rural Indonesian community life and the struggles that the different communities encounter, and bring this experience back with them in order to take action and help to create a better, more equitable world.
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