River Cleanup

"Bunda, it's gonna be really fun."

"Can you imagine? Dressed in boots and gloves, walking down the stream and picking up trash along the way. It's gonna be reeeaaaaaally fun."

On the way home in the car, Bagas kept saying that over and over again to his mother. He was an adventurous boy, and the idea of cleaning up the river near the school has been part of his vivid imaginations. 

"Do your best, captain!" His mother replied.

"Aye aye, Captain!" Bagas responded.

***

On the next day, boys and girls in blue T-Shirts were lining up in the school yard. They wore boots, gloves, and caps or hats. While waiting for the teachers to give announcements, they had a chit-chat and a little bit of fun time together.

After few minutes, Mr. Ridwan came bringing some trash bags and his own homemade wooden trash pickers. Before he handed them out, he explained some rules. One trash bag was for two students. 

First, students would work in pairs. One student would holf the trash bag and the other one picked the trash with the picker. 

Second, the should stay to each other when walking down the rivers. It was and little, but there was much trash on it. They should shout to tell Mr. Ridwan if they found a dangerous animal or any other harmful objects.

The river behind their school building was not big and deep, but the sides were covered in thick bushes and bamboo trees. Therefore they needed to wear long-sleeved T-shirst and hats. They also needed to wear mosquito repellent cream or gel on parts of the body which were not covered by the T-shirts and pants.

Bagas and all the other students were very excited. Walking down the river, they picked all the trash they found. "So many cans!" Bagas said loudly. "And these disgusting baby diapers," Bunga replied. "Don't forget these plastic bags and bottles," Arkha added.

***

After a an hour, their bags had been full of trash. They carried them up to the school's back yard. Without realizing, they had walked down the river for about 3 kilometers away. They didn't even feel heavy doing that. They were very happy. 

Once they finished putting the trash at a corner of the yard, they all cleaned theyr bodies up and gathered at another corner which was shaded by a big tree. Helped by Bagas, Mr. Ridwan handed them out snacks and cold water. While having snacks they had a chit-chat about their experiences. None of them looked forced. They were all enthisiastic about collecting the trash from the river.

Having finished with snacking, Mr. Ridwan asked them to talk about the lessons from the program. Bagas was the first to raise his right hand. "We cleaned up the environment, meaning that we helped decreasing the amount of water pollution. We also did a great teamwork!" Bagas explained. The rest of them shouted, "Agreeeeeeee!"

Then Mr. Ridwan nodded to Naomi to say the next. "I would say that we sharpened our voluntary skills by cleaning the river without being paid. We also practiced our social skills as caring for the environment means caring for others as well as other living creatures." All of a sudden Rendra raised his right hand and said, "That also means we have started to do something to make the earth more sustainable." 

After some other minutes of discussion, they came to a conclusion that cleaning up rivers is an excellent example of implementing all the silas of Pancasila. 

Before getting dismissed to go home, Bagas was thinking what they were going to do with the collected trash. But he only kept that in his mind. Smiling wide, he said goodbye to Mr. Ridwan and his friends. He walked home with a feeling of accomplishment.