Adisti Sukma Sawitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The freshly whitewashed walls and manicured flower beds of State High School No. 13, not far from North Jakarta's murky Sunter River, are a huge contrast to their surroundings.
The 27 members of a group called Green School are to thank for the school's immaculate condition.
It is a welcome oasis of environmental awareness.
All in the last few years of high school, Green School members go by the principle ""reduce, reuse and recycle"" by making sajadah (prayer mats), raincoats, wallets and greeting cards out of used paper, plastic bottles and other durable plastic.
It also makes compost from dried leaves.
""A lot of research goes into these recycled products,"" said the group's supervisor, teacher Retno Listyarti, adding that arriving at the best formula for recycling paper took a great deal of experimentation.
Retno, who teaches civics at the school, started the group three years ago with several students out of concern the community was neglecting the environment.
Not only is the school admired by all the neighborhood but the group is also making money.
As more people are willing to give green products a go, the group makes up to Rp 200,000 a month from the sale of its products.
Moreover, Green School members often win prizes in competitions promoting environmental awareness.
The biggest prize they received was Rp 25 million in cash in the ""Go Green School"" competition held by green group KeHati last year.
With the money, the group held its own recycling competitions for elementary, junior high and high school students last week, to teach them to care for the environment.
They are also trying something new, cultivating plants with mosquito repellent properties, because disease spreads fast near the dirty Sunter River, including dengue fever.
""We observed the area over several years. Too many people were getting dengue fever,"" said the group's leader, Arief Gunawan.
Arief said that 10 people from the neighborhood and six students got dengue fever last year.
""We will cultivate enough rosemary, lavender and aralia for the school and the community by the end of this academic year. Most of the plants we have had in our school gardens for the last three months are still seedlings,"" he said, adding that the group had tested some mature plants out.
Uswatun, a group member, took an aralia plant home a few weeks ago. Aralia makes good hedge material because it is sturdy and grows fast in full sunlight.
""It works. The plant struck dead dozens of mosquitoes, even though it's not fully grown,"" she said.
While their membership in the group can only last as long as high school, the students are aware there is a long way to go before the community is convinced to support their cause.
""These high school students sure are great. But I don't think they can do anything about the river or the people who dump rubbish in it. It has been heavily polluted like this for such a long time,"" said Afifudin, a boatman who takes people across the river.
He said he could remember seeing the riverbed clearly when he first started working as a boatman in the early 1970s, long before industries and residents started offloading their garbage into the river.
""Can the students stop them from doing it? I don't think so,"" he said.
