At Dyatmika School

Jacinta Dinsmore, class 2/3 teacher of Dyatmika School, invited me to give a presentation on our project at her primary school assembly this afternoon. I am honoured because at Green School only Jerry, grade 1 teacher, who invited me to do so in front of his class. And, that was historical because one hour afterward I received the first donation from Charlotte Cohen, one of Jerry’s students.

The presentation today will be historical too because Dyatmika School has given its first donation, eight million rupiah. Last December Jacinta organized walk-a-thon and raised the money for our foundation to support the endangered tarsier of Sulawesi. However, the most impressive for me was the interested audience. So many students, mostly from the ones 6 to 8 years old, asked questions about the tarsier after watching its video arkive.org/spectral-tarsier/tarsius-tarsier/video-08.html. I also loved to hear their spontaneous astonishment during the video showing.

One hour after the presentation, I met with a group of middle and high school students in the library. Tya, the librarian, is the facilitator of the Roots&Shoots of Jane Goodall Institute at Dyatmika and she organized this meeting.

The group is impressive. They all are girls and interested in the conservation issues. One girl is special; she is familiar with all socioeconomic component of the conservation and knows what to do to alleviate the complication of saving rainforest in developing world. She had visited some conservation sites in Sumatera and some other areas in Indonesia. What she needs is to apply her interest and knowledge in the field.

At the end of the meeting, we discussed the possibility of the students to visit our project site at the Lore Lindu National Park. They are looking forward to exploring the pristine rainforest and meeting the wildlife inside. Who knows they might encounter new animal or plant species.

In addition to the Dyatmika School, The Hon. Henry NR Jackman (easy to guess who he is to anybody who knows Consuelo Jackman), Nelly Joaquim, and Habsari Utami have given their donations to our foundation too this January. Thank very much to all of you. I hope by next July we are going to have enough money to buy a car for mobile clinic. By using this car, I am sure, I can save some people who need emergency evacuation to Palu. But I hope I do not have to assist baby delivery in the car and darkness on the way as I had done before in Papua some years ago.