SIS students to plant 1,000 trees

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Singapore International School in Jakarta is preparing for an environmental project for its students as part of the school's co-curricular activities (CCA).

The program is designed to broaden the knowledge and expertise of the students, especially in environment conservation.

"The preparation is still in progress. We will complete the project, hopefully in September," project advisor John Christian Torr told The Jakarta Post.

His team, he says, is now working on preparation through a series of meetings and discussion with parties involved including French nongovernmental organization Action Contre La Famme.

The project, called A Thousand Trees, was inspired by the well known story of Sadako Sasaki, a young Japanese girl who, while lying sick and dying in hospital, folded a thousand paper cranes (birds) with a hope she could get well.

She continued to fold cranes in her hospital bed until the day she died in a hope that she might also heal the whole world, according to a release from Singapore International School.

School principal Chris Lasdauskas said the children participating in the A Thousand Trees project plan to planting 1,000 trees and other plants in Penjaringan, North Jakarta.

The area was chosen because it represents urban and industrial areas that are in need of greening, especially after flooding and subsequent land erosion.

The children plan to work hand in hand with the French NGO, which will provide the necessary support and expertise, as well as with Penjaringan residents.

"With this synergy, this coming together of different communities with a common purpose, we all hope that this project is a successful one," Lasdauskas said in a press release.