Sekolah Pelita Bangsa Cirebon, Indonesia |

One Step Closer to a Clean Cirebon!

We are delighted to share a blog written by Catherine Citra Pekasa, a student at Sekolah Pelita Bangsa Cirebon who is part of a team delivering a Global Goals project for the 2018-19 Global Goals Competition.

Their project is among over 620 social action projects currently running as part of the GSL movement and we are excited to be supporting them to design and lead positive social change in their community. 

Our journey have been a life changing experience that taught about open-mindedness, social communication skill, and most importantly to care about our environment.

Project Overview

Indonesians are drowning in a sea of trash. In Jakarta, the capital city, 175 000 tons of household waste is created every day. Our hometown, Cirebon, doesn’t encounter a significant difference. It is typical to see a pile of trash by the road, on the road, on mountains, beaches and basically everywhere. With this project, our group aims to raise the awareness of people, starting with students, in our local community to stop littering.

As students, we often see our friends mindlessly throwing their trash everywhere, so our target is to get as many as possible schools in Cirebon to get involved in this program. We plan to introduce this system to schools, especially their student council that might need more cash to fund events.

We are planning to create a partnership with a senior organisation concerning nature called Sanggar Lingkungan Hidup. They offer us to sell the trash we collect to them so they can process it into compost.

The trash we will have collected will be transferred to Sanggar Lingkungan Hidup where it will be fed to Black Soldier Fly Larvae that can make compost faster. The compost can later be used to fertilize plants and support a greener environment. At the end of the program, we will give a workshop to schools that participated about keeping the environment clean and why these kind of program is important.

On Wednesday, December 5, 2018, our group went on a survey to the organisation’s headquarter. We met the initiator and current leader, Mr. Cecep. We discussed a few matter such as the transfer of trash and how much will we get paid for each amount of trash.

After further discussions with our team members and our school party, we finalized our plan and to execute it as fast as possible.

Our Journey

In participating in the GSL Global Goals Competition, we have developed a more open-minded view of the world and the problems surrounding our everyday lives. We have learned that there are more efficient and creative ways to solve common issues. Not only that we have developed our skills in researching information, but also our ability in interacting with people. Up to this point of the program, our group has been observing the local community for problems present, and brainstorming the best way to solve them. It also requires a lot of time surfing the internet, and consulting with many people from diverse organisations that all concerns the continuity of available resources on Earth. We have also talked to some student council members from other schools and whether they would be interested in helping to apply this program in their school

Since one of our goals is to keep this program running even after we won’t be able to manage it anymore, we need to inspire others to continue this good habit of keeping their own trash and dispose it properly. That, how to encourage them to proceed with this routine is what we see as our biggest challenge in the running of this program.

Our way to overcome this baffling question is by educating people concerning the importance of this action. Once people realize that these small actions can help in saving Earth and do it continuously along the program, it will slowly become a part of their habit.

One of our other challenges is the funding and timing of the project. As we have to attend school and many other personal activities, it is difficult for us to arrange an appointment discussing the possible partnership with other schools. The funding is also considered as problem because the amount of money the organization is willing to pay is not that much and we are concerned if it will be enough to attract the students.

The Next Chapter

Unification Project is the name of our program. By the term ‘unification’, we intend to encourage each and every person to join in to make a step forward towards a brighter tomorrow, especially other youths.

Basing on our own experience and how this project gives us a clearer view of the world, the more people taking part in this kind of projects, the more the community will be aware of the problems and possible solutions of the global society.

Especially to teenagers, who will be the future of the world, knowledge about how to sustain the environment is crucial. This is why we want to encourage other youths to take part in similar projects for a better Earth to support their future and the destiny of upcoming generations.

The 2018-19 GSL Global Goals Competition is now open and runs until June 2019. If you belong to one of the 700+ teams of students currently delivering a social action project as part of the competition we would love to hear from you and feature your blog and project photos on our website to inspire others.