088 / Sidomulyo, Bantul, DI Yogyakarta
Mrs. Eva, the Eco-Education Center manager, graduated from university and is now working as teacher in an elementary school in her home village. The Eco-Education Center will be based in Karang Taruna (youth center) serving as learning center for the local children where they can also get help with their homework.
Most of the people work as farmers and they cannot afford private tutoring for their kids. So the learning center, with the help of university students and other young adults, provides free lessons to these kids. They also have a small library.
The teachers always encourage kids to read. They go even further by teaching these kids some soft skills such as how to make key holders or piggy banks or how to reuse plastic bags.
The issues, they are facing are a lack of environmental awareness in the community and a lack of knowledge about waste management – people still keep on burning their waste. The youth organization sometimes takes the kids to plant trees or collect plastic bottles and sell them.
In the future, they plan to create a more comprehensive programme about the environment. Ms. Eva says: “If we would get green books, we would feel more motivated to help the kids in the village.”