...turns out, Girl Guides. Currently, I’m trying to drag up from my memory games & activities to enhance our youth environmental education program. We’re into the fifth session of eight, and so far it’s been a qualified success. Down to a core group of 8 regulars, all girls & they really like games. So far, learning about the environment is incidental. But this is a good first test run & will help Nasri & I to plan a better program for the next session.
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| Our first "remaja alam" class. |
My goal, however, is to design a logical, science-based program and booklet as a guide and then train the trainers. I’ve proposed a 2-day teacher training session to take place in about 6 months. In other words, I have no intention of going around to every local school week after week taking 6 or 7 kids at a time through an 8-week program for the next 2 years. So, some of my work hours are spent scouring the internet for educational resources, copying & pasting (with references, of course) to compile a teacher’s guide. Then, we’ll work on translating it & then distribute, distribute, distribute to any interested teachers. Thanks to Girl Guides and Atlantic Teacher’s Tour - none of my ideas are original & I always get a little warm glow when I find a use for past experiences which I thought (at the time) might be a waste of time (or at least not in my areas of interest). They’re certainly making me look good here.
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| Nasri marking the trail through a pine plantation. |
I’ll be getting busier over the next few months, as my language skills pick up & I can contribute more to lectures at the university & meetings in the local villages to facilitate the community forestry program. We’re expecting a class of first year students up in June for their field school - they’ll need a schedule & some supervision on plot establishment & data collection.
We’ve also started marking trails, just in case stray visitors happen along. The Hutan Pendidikan (Learning Forest) is only 1300 hectares in size, but seems a lot bigger, as the terrain is hilly. In places, the trails are very steep and there are several waterfalls scattered throughout the forest. Unfortunately a lot of the area is planted to pine, which is not native to South Sulawesi; the species actually originates from Sumatra. I say unfortunately because the native forest is much more interesting with mixed broadleaved trees - looks like you would imagine a tropical rainforest should look. The pine was planted in the 1970s by the government; professors from the university have also planted some areas with ebony and mahogany, which are native. In open meadows the natural forest does not regenerate - cows and water buffalo owned by the local community freely range and browse everything but a few stray shrubs that apparently aren’t to their taste.
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| Wallowing water buffalo |
And another small step this week; a meeting between faculty members and the heads of the local villages to talk about issues concerning both sides. Encroachment into the forest by local residents establishing rice fields and vegetable gardens is a problem that will require some discussion. The previously mentioned free ranging cows can obliterate reforestation efforts. Also, there is a random network of small pipes to conduct water from the hills to individual houses that should be replaced by planned distribution. Benefits to the local communities were emphasized; if we can build up the capacity of the Learning Forest to host visitors and researchers, job opportunities on site (for forest guides, security, cleaning & cooking staff) will increase. So, we seem to be on track, although I’m sure there are some bumps ahead that we can’t see yet.
