By: Melisa Yuki (Volunteer Panda Mobile)

Lack of environmental awareness has led to polluted waters in Indonesia. This can be seen from the dirty condition of sewers and rivers near settlements. This will certainly affect the condition of the sea. Therefore, education that can trigger people to jointly love the Earth and protect the environment is needed.

WWF-Indonesia's Panda Mobile in collaboration with AIESEC President University provides water education to the community. The topics discussed were not only about marine biodiversity, but also about why the ocean can be polluted and how to overcome it. The educational activity took place at the Indonesia Heritage School Foundation, Depok, on August 1-2, 2017.

Assisted by 21 students from several countries, this activity was arguably very interesting. The AIESEC team spent the night there so that they could interact more closely with the children who attend IHSF, Depok.

The educational activity about water was packaged as simply as possible to make it more understandable. The main purpose of the activity is to encourage children to love the Earth and protect the environment by starting from small actions first.

One of the methods used to introduce water is through observing water quality using water laboratory facilities. Children get an explanation of clean water and dirty water through indicators of color, smell, and taste. In addition, they gain knowledge about the acidic and alkaline properties of water through testing using a pH meter.

The AIESEC members also explained about the water cycle. From the explanation, the students understood that what happens to the water ecosystem on land will affect the ecosystem in the sea. At the end of the activity in the water laboratory, the students were invited not to litter and to be wise in using water.