By: Dwi Widya Mutiara and Natalia Trita Agnika

Hundreds of students from SD Taruna Bakti Bandung listened intently to the storytelling presented by Kak Ami from WWF-Indonesia's Bumi Panda team. Kak Ami told a story about Dodo who was playing in the river and found a lot of plastic waste. "If we litter, in addition to causing floods, it can also reduce the population of sea turtles in the sea, you know!" said Kak Ami. The students who heard this looked confused. "How come plastic can reduce the turtle population?" asked Amel, a 4th grade student. Kak Ami explained that plastic waste that looks like jellyfish and drifts into the sea is often mistaken by turtles as their food. When eating plastic, the turtles will choke and cannot breathe.

The storytelling activity took place on Saturday (10/10) when Bumi Panda WWF-Indonesia visited SD Taruna Bakti, Bandung. Bumi Panda took part in school activities themed "Love the Environment" in the form of coloring and collage competition activities. The students also performed in various art performances, such as angklung, musical drama, dance creations, pencak silat, magic attractions, and operetta performances.

In addition to storytelling, the Bumi Panda team also opened four environmental-themed activity stations. The first station was a game of cricket. Students in grades 1-4 played cricket while getting to know sea turtles. They were also given information about the current condition of sea turtles and how to protect the turtle population.

The next post was face painting. In this post, the students can make paintings on the face or on the hands with images of WWF-Indonesia's signature animals, such as pandas, tigers, and elephants. They were very enthusiastic waiting for the drawing to be finished. On the sidelines of the painting activity, the older siblings from Bumi Panda explained about the conservation programs carried out by WWF-Indonesia.

At the "Elephant to the River" game post, the students enthusiastically asked for information about the Sumatran Elephant. "Sis, why are Sumatran elephants protected?" asked Miko, a 6th grade student. Dwi Widya Mutiara from Bumi Panda explained that elephants are often hunted for their ivory and then made into ornaments. Many elephant habitats have also been destroyed due to land clearing for oil palm plantations.

The participants also got information about WWF-Indonesia through the screening of an animated movie about the environment in the last post, the information post. In this post, they also got information about the campaigns that have been and are being carried out by WWF-Indonesia.

The school really appreciates the activities carried out by Bumi Panda. "Through activities that are in accordance with the theme of this event, hopefully the participants can love the surrounding environment more and can behave in an environmentally friendly lifestyle," hoped Mrs. Irma Rahmawati, Vice Principal for Student Affairs of SD Taruna Bakti.