Sea Vacation!

March 13, 2020, we welcomed Swietenia to our basecamp. We all love her. But, before that day, let me tell you the stories behind.

Benaya, Hanna, Sharon, and me, we're learning Geography that day. Our lesson is about the living environment. We got a lot of information such as biotic and abiotic environment, distribution of natural resources, how to keep it clean and natural, et cetera. This lesson made us feel a dilemma: we felt so happy about this beautiful earth, but on the other side, we felt sad too. This beauty has nearly gone. At the end of the lesson, we made a conclusion. We can't stop learning this in class. We want to share it with a bigger community. We want to do something!

By that, the digital campaign #alaminaja is launched. We initiate it from an idea: humans can take care of it, if they knew how beautiful is it. We invite people to share a picture of their environment. We glad to hear that all of the participants were very interested. They share their sky, their garden, their plants, their city-sky. They share their memories of it. The technology grows, but we use it to share awareness!

We do the campaign for a month. #alaminaja invites more than 70 participants with more than 100 pictures and stories. Instagram does its magic!

On Friday, March 13, we arranged a talkshow with Swietenia Puspa Lestari as a final decision to love our earth. We collaborate with SMPK Cahaya Bangsa to create this event.

Swietenia Puspa Lestari graduated from Institut Teknologi Bandung majoring in Environment Engineering and founded DCA in 2015. Living in small islands as a child, she is a live witness to the deteriorating state of our oceans due to marine pollution. An aptitude diver as well, she translates her passion for the environment to building DCA, a foundation that strives to prevent and combat marine debris. She has since represented DCA and Indonesia in multiple international conferences, such as ECOSOC in United Nations Headquarters, Australian Awards, Our Ocean Conference, and Obama Leaders, and was handpicked to be the one presenting and introducing Barack Obama. Recently, she was chosen as the only Indonesian in BBC's Top 100 Women of 2019 list for her hard work as founder and executive director of DCA.

Gita Grahita brought you to the sea vacation. When you came to the aula, you'll see fish and octopus swim in a blue sea. It's our wish for our environment. We launch a music performance, a talk show from Swietenia, and a magical surprise: gratitude from the sea!

We felt so happy. We hope this action can give an impact on our environment. See you in the next ideas! :)