085 / Sei Siur Dusun IV Panton, Langkat, North Sumatra

Mrs. Fathin has been working at Yayasan Pendidikan Al-Islam since 2008, now she is managing the boarding school as vice principal there. The boarding schools are the same level as SMP (Junior HS) and SMA (Senior HS). Since she became the vice principal, she wants to raise awareness to the kids about nature and environment.

Village Sei Siur Dusun IV Panton is located on the coast. Local people are working as farmers and fishermen who do not have a proper educational background. And due to the low economics, they never encourage their children to go to school to get a formal education.

The local people frequently cut the mangrove trees on the beach. They use it as charcoal for cooking at home and also sell it in the big cities. It became their income. But it also created a problem for the village, because the mangrove trees are getting less and less and in the high tide, the water from the sea now easier reaches the village and causes floods.

Local government tries to work together with the army to give counseling about the benefit of mangrove forest, however, after that, the people still don’t get it.

Through eco-education program, Mr. Fathin really hopes to educate more kids about environment to prevent the mangrove destruction.