Environmental Stewardship Training

The children from the local elementary school arrive knocking on our door a half hour early full of enthusiasm to learn and play. Parents bring their children and urge them to sit next to us in the circle, saying “Thank you so much for teaching my children.” They know that exposing their children to westerners to speak and learn English will mean a better future for them. Our curriculum for learning English is based on the Clean Bali series of books that were developed to teach children about the effects of littering and non-organic waste on their eco-system. Children form groups and take on roles in interactive games, like the heron and kingfisher, or the turtle and dolphin. The oldest kids, aged eleven, are just as eager to play “who can pick up the most plastic in five minutes” as the youngest, aged five.  The goal of the game, which we play at the end of each session, is to clean up the village and create awareness on how much plastic there is and how it doesn’t biodegrade.

We make learning fun by incorporating audio, visual, kinesthetic and experiential learning into the program.  Guest teachers add to the fun sharing activities like yoga, music and dance.  We are creating a play based on the Clean Bali books which the children will perform for their parents, to entertain as well as educate them on the concepts. All of the costumes will be made with recycled rubbish from our clean-ups.

The village of Laplapan asked us to create an eco-educational center and playground on an empty lot.  We have now moved this programme from the elementary school to the new center, and have started planting fruit trees with the children.  The group was full of excitement to get dirty, and adopt specific trees to give the seedlings special care.  The mangos, tamarind, avocado, durian, papaya and citrus trees were all planted alongside gliricidia, a fast growing nitrogen fixer which provides food and mulch for the young trees.  A ditch was also dug around the trees to channel and retain water to ensure the survival of the trees as it is the dry season.  A Dutch family happened upon the tree planting day and were so thrilled with what they saw, they gave us a donation on the spot! Soon to come are organic gardens of traditional foods and medicines, a see-saw, tree swings, jungle gym, benches and a covered gathering space.

Our outreach programmes also include adult education in valuable things like SRI (the System of Rice Intensification) which is a method of planting developed to receive an increased yield (up to double!) with less inputs.  During the trainings, we are distributing a special variety of heirloom organic rice which is ready to harvest in 3.5 months (same as the hybrid rice currently planted), rather than the 4-6 months required by most heirloom varieties.  This immensely important time difference in the growing cycle will be a huge incentive for farmers to switch back to organic heirloom rice, which provides the nutrients vitally needed in their staple food, as well as a higher price at market.  These courses are requested by villages and hosted in their banjars (community centers) for farmers who nearly all still grow rice for their families as well as their livelihood.

Our goal is to train Tri Hita Karana ambassadors as educators to share this information in schools and banjars across Bali.  A children’s programme has also recently started at the Pejeng Permaculture education center and one for the village of Bongkasa is in the works.  You can directly support and expand these projects with a donation to our non-profit organization, Tri Hita Karana Bali.