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span class="caption" style="width: 398px;">Next generation: Citra Mentari Alrasyid, a member of the Nantu Forest Fans Club, poses with students at SDN 16 Wonosari in Boalemo. Courtesy of Nantu Forest Fans ClubCitra Mentari Alrasyid and Meldian Musa, both 20 years old and students of English at Gorontalo State University, are volunteer teachers at a remote primary school near the Nantu Wildlife Reserve.

Their monthly instruction at the school is part of the Nantu Forest Fans Club (NFFC) program, a division of YANI formed in March 2011 with 200 members comprising students of various colleges and schools in Gorontalo.

“On Friday and Saturday every month, six volunteers go there to teach all grades of primary school students and play with them,” said Citra and Meldi. Focusing on the environment, they teach English, drama and watch relevant films.

Citra said she had learned a lot from the children at that isolated school, specifically from their determination and enthusiasm to learn that is rarely found in kids from the city.

“Some of the children have to cross rivers or run for half an hour in order to arrive at school on time,” she said.

From the classroom the volunteers hear a lot of sad stories. One child couldn’t attend school for several months because his parents went to mine and his school uniform was locked in a closet.

“The mine also threatens the children’s future,” Meldi said.

“We want to nurture the children’s awareness from an early age to guard and preserve the natural asset called Nantu,” said Meldi.

In due course, according to the young teachers, they will initiate the development of ecotourism by creating trainings for the local community in handicraft-making with materials provided by nature, and the provision of homestay facilities for visitors to Nantu.

“That’s our future target. We wish to turn the well-conserved Nantu forest into a major tourist attraction capable of promoting the welfare of local people,” she said.

For the young, it takes a long time to arouse public awareness. But Citra and her colleagues believe education offers an opportunity to maintain the forest ecology of Nantu.

– JP/Syamsul Huda M. Suhar