By: Natalia Trita Agnika

"See my forest is full of trees.

About 50 children were seen compactly singing the song "See My Garden" whose lyrics were replaced with an invitation to protect the forest. The festive atmosphere was seen in the Buka Puasa Bersama Panda Mobile WWF-Indonesia held at Darul Istiqomah Foundation, Tajur Halang, Bogor on Wednesday (14/06). In addition to the children who live in the foundation, the activity was also attended by children who live around the foundation.

Sharing activities with others through social services and breaking the fast together are routinely carried out by Panda Mobile WWF-Indonesia when the month of Ramadan arrives. Not only sharing happiness, the Panda Mobile team also shares information to educate children about the environment. Hopefully, they can become the next generation of conservationists for a sustainable nature.

The event, which took place before the time to break the fast, began with a story about the damaged and burned forest. Kak Ryan, storyteller from Panda Mobile was able to make the children imagine what will happen to the wildlife living in the forest when the trees are no longer there for shelter. The children, consisting of kindergarten, elementary, and junior high school students, were invited to protect the forest because it also means protecting the animals that live in it.

One easy way to protect the forest is to use less paper towels, especially after washing your hands. Saving paper towels means reducing the number of trees that are cut down. During the event, children were taught how to dry their hands after washing them by clapping 30 times, known as the #30ClapsChallenge.

In addition to storytelling and practicing the #30ClapsChallenge, the Panda Mobile team also invited children to play the game "Explore Papua". Through a game of throwing balls into baskets with pictures of endemic Papuan animals, children were introduced to several animals, such as whale sharks, birds of paradise, cassowary birds, and leatherback turtles. "I've seen a whale shark on television. It's in Papua, right?" asked Sisi, a 5th grader to one of Panda Mobile's volunteers.

The environmental education shared by the Panda Mobile team goes beyond animal conservation. The children were also introduced to the water cycle, water quality observation, and ways to conserve it. Rafli, a junior high school student, explained the water cycle that he knew. The Panda Mobile volunteers then refined the information and invited them to observe the microbial content in water using a microscope. The children were very enthusiastic about this rare opportunity.

Getting to know nature and ways to conserve it can indeed be packaged in an effective and fun way, as done by WWF-Indonesia's Panda Mobile. Iftar time arrived when the whole series of environmental education activities ended. The sharing event with Panda Mobile ended with breaking the fast together and symbolic handover of library equipment to the management of Darul Istiqomah Foundation, Tajur Halang, Bogor.