Hello! Amanda’s here from the Think-Research team! Happy Tuesday everyone! Although it is national holiday here in Indonesia, it’s still has been a busy start of the week nonetheless. We never stop exploring many new opportunities that align with our vision to be giftmaker for the earth. One of them is expanding our Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) training program to schools in Indonesia and Japan. Although, I am mostly involved in Think team, this SDG program particularly excites me because it relates back to my first experience when truly learn from nature and fell in love with it.
I began my journey by delving into the community development and bringing small environmental contributions to my surrounding communities when I began entering youth participation efforts as an Intern for Linking Individuals to Natural Community (LINC) at Golden Gate National Park Conservancy. It was my first year in the US and my first time spending two months with new people to do various volunteer works and camp with them. I remember being nervous talking actively about environmental topic because English was my second language and not knowing much about the history of and natural environment in California. But at the same time, I also remember the excitement of learning new things and being surrounded by nature everyday. Through hands-on experience, from small volunteering project at plant nursery in urban parks until big ones like composting project on Alcatraz Island, it introduced me to environmental management and environmental justice issue in the Bay Area. At the end of the LINC Program, the exposure to various sites, and engagement between each other in solving issues during the program definitely made me more confident in myself to be involved in environmental issues. I was fortunate enough to given the opportunity to not only learn about California natural and historical sites, but also gaining lifelong friends and rewarded with access to and enjoyment of camping, sailing and hiking. These experiences showed me youth engagement in nature is a privilege in learning development.
This is why I am excited to expand su-re.co SDG program to wider partners in Indonesia, Japan, and any country in the world! As you can read here, we have done several with School and University in Japan. This program is a flexible curriculum designed around issues of island sustainability in Bali, Indonesia to comprehend environmental and ecological issues and potential solutions from a multidimensional perspective through close interaction with su-re.co team and various social entrepreneurs. To provide hands-on learning for participants abroad, we have also developed virtual tours to various locations assisted with Augmented Reality technology and 360 video.
I would be honored and excited to give back to our generation and continue crafting gifts for the earth together!