By: Ciptanti Putri

The atmosphere at Sabilina Kindergarten in Jatisampurna, Pondok Gede, last Friday morning (2/5) was so festive. Dozens of students were seen wearing clothes or costumes created from used materials such as newsprint, cardboard, packaging bottles, plastic shopping bags, and even banana tree fronds. The creations were not just clothes, skirts or pants; some students proudly showed off their robot, astronaut, shark and hula-hula dancer costumes. The same goes for the teachers, who did not miss out on wearing their costumes made from scrap materials.

"Today is the culmination of a series of activities themed 'I Love the Earth' at Sabilina Kindergarten as well as Earth Day celebrations," explained Khusniyati Masykuroh, M.Pd., Education Manager of Yayasan Sabilina Jatisampurna, Pondok Gede. For a month, the students learned various knowledge about the environment and green lifestyle. All of this is one of the educational targets of this school, which wants to create a generation with the character of caring and loving the environment. "We teach students about the types of waste, we make a waste bank, ant operations to the neighborhood around the school, planting and caring for trees, to workshops on creativity with used goods for parents and students," he continued.

The recycled works were then exhibited on the Panda Mobile stage. WWF-Indonesia's multi-functional environmental education truck, the Panda Mobile, matched the theme of 'I Love the Earth'. In an orderly manner, the students and their teachers took turns climbing onto the Panda Mobile truck, showing off their fashion and costume creations. Their performances were judged on the basis of creativity, use value, and durability of the creations.

After the fashion and costume show, the judges worked to calculate the scores and determine the winners. While waiting for the results, Panda Mobile's storyteller, Kak Ryan, entertained the students, teachers and parents. He told the story of an Orangutan who accidentally fell victim to a plastic shopping bag that was carelessly discarded by humans. The Orangutan was almost killed by the plastic. Fortunately, the tiger came to his rescue. With an interesting storytelling style, Kak Ryan bewitched all the students and the audience so that they did not move from their positions even though the sun was shining quite hot that morning. At the end of the session, the students enthusiastically answered all the questions given by Kak Ryan. They were then reminded about the dangers of littering plastic waste and motivated to recycle it into various useful forms.

We have invited Panda Mobile to be present at the peak of today's event since last year. The services and facilities are educational, and very parallel with our theme," said Khurniyati Masykuroh on the sidelines of the event. She highly appreciated the Panda Mobile team's timely and responsive response to the school's needs. "We hope Panda Mobile can come to Sabilina regularly."

The day's event ended with the distribution of prizes for the winners as well as ant operations around the activity site.