Friday, September 23rd 2022 is the start of our journey. We left Palangkaraya in the afternoon while anticipating rain. It’s because we definitely would pass through the companies’ road which was muddy and slippery after the rain. After road driving for six hours and quite extreme company roads, the team finally arrived at Talekoi Village at around 11pm. Even though we arrived late at night, we were still warmly welcomed by the villagers.
Devi, the library manager.
The next morning, the team carried out their respective duties according to what was previously directed. Me as a coordinator and initiator of Project Smile activities headed to the library to coordinate with the library manager to fix the day's activities in accordance with what had been scheduled and previously communicated through WhatsApp media. I also conducted a survey to explore the surrounding nature for the Smile Project activity that day. On that day it was planned that there would be two classes, the first class was the plant class (Plantae) and the second one was the butterfly class (Lepidoptera). The purpose of these two classes was to recognize and understand the role of the surrounding plants to maintain the stabilization of nature and also to recognize and inventory the butterflies around the village of Talekoi.
We also brought some things for the library such as styrofoam, pins, posters and some other things. Even so, to make children more comfortable to study and have activities in the library there were still many things needed in the library such as reading books, carpets, dolls and other.
The activity started 30 minutes earlier than the schedule. That day the class was attended by approximately 23 elementary students from grades 1st to grade 6th. The children seemed very enthusiastic to take part in the learning activities that day.
Project Smile's activities that day changed slightly from the original plan because of the rain. The plan for land and butterfly exploration activities could not be carried out. However, the essence of the day's activities continued by making the class more interactive. Children learned to recognize plants and made simple herbariums. They also learned the role of butterflies in the ecosystem. After some explanation, I asked the children to practice making butterfly origami paper. It seemed that this kind of lesson was a new thing for the children and they were very enthusiastic to take part in every class process that day.
After finishing, the origami made by students were displayed in the library to enhance the atmosphere of their library, making them even more enthusiastic in providing the best results in terms of paper folding.
“I am very happy to be able to learn to make butterflies from origami paper. We have never done anything like this before, apart from not knowing how to fold the paper but also having never seen and used origami paper directly before,” said Rando, one of the students.
I also encouraged the children to help each other and work together in completing origami if there were any of them having difficulty to finish one. Simple things may be done alone easily, but helping each other and caring for each other are values that I always teach of the Smile Project.
Lastly, before we parted, I asked the students to write their names on the sticky notes that had been provided on the board. It was a form of concern for their commitment to always look after, care for and visit the library as their own together. Then we took a photo together.
It's hard to do all that, but when I see the smiles of happiness of these children, my spirit is boosted. I feel love, compassion and consistency are the keys to continue this work. Smile for Future, Smile for Happiness.
Written by Muhammad Andi
