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GFE camp 2k17 

9-12 maret 2017

Hallo alles zussamen!  my name is Andre Yudhistika, one of 50 top delegates from GFE camp 2k17. I am student college from Institut teknologi Bandung, and i am going to tell you my story.

Pre-event

                On a random day, my friend ( from different university) sent me a broadcast about it, she said it suited me because i like nature and outdoor activity. So i had to register first and pay fee. After that i have to take two kind of test; general aptitude and psycho test . Then i managed to top  200. I had to make a green campaign video. And i did it with many likes! But only one thing that bothered me, the main event was held on 9-12 march, that was the same day with my midterm schedule. But screw it, haha.

Day 1

So i managed to stay awake till 5 o’clock in the morning, an hour before my flight. I supposed to sleep at 11, but i was afraid that i could not wake myself up. I asked my friend ,ovi to take me to Husein Sastranegara. Last flight was a little bit rough because i felt dizzy. So, i arrived at djuanda international airport at 7 pm ( i do not really remember exactly ). So i ask others on the WA group “ is anyone already at djuanda?”. And then i recognized a face that i have seen before in youtube, he is andre maxwell with elsa. They were the first participants that i saw on that day. So we talk each other and introduce ourselves, several minutes later, i saw kukuh and duo ilham, and jodii ( ilham rabbani and ilham gresnadi ). Soon after that the speaker the gate was opened. We flew to lombok praya international airport. The flight route is strange i thing, we flew through north bali then to north lombok and then flank it so i could see west Sumbawa shoreline ( i took several  pictures about it though ). Finally we landed at the airport, we met another group of GFE’s participants ( as far as i remember irfi, fifin, vunny, debo, cires, audi, intan ). Even we took a photo at one of airport’s booth ( yeah, i think it was embarrassing because people was disturbed back then ). Then we met committees at the meeting point. We went to klui beach, that was where our camp lied, the girls went first, and then followed by the boys.

The campsite was beyond my expectation , i thought it was only several tents. The i found it got a proper mobile toilet too (a with seven rooms), two sockets for each tent, and lights! Especially theview. Luckily, my tent face west. I could watch the sunset ( unfortunately, it was cloudy :( ).

                The first agenda is opening by our beloved mc, and kak Emen as the project officer. We were asked to wear our traditional clothes and bring traditional foods too. But mostly, we all wore batik. Only Ijong and Susi who wore real traditional clothes. So, we were divided into four groups, i was the member of the first group, the others are Ijong, Dhira,  Debora, Fifin, Vinny, Saskia , and our leader Luthfi. We got a mentor too, her name is PICI ( i do not know her real name yet... ).

                Next agenda was a puzzle game, so we were asked to solve a puzzle, it was actually a panorama of a beach in Lombok. My group got the 2^nd position, it was just a game by the way haha. The committee gave us a shirt for each person, they said we should wear it tomorrow.  

Day 2

                So after we woke up , we did a stretching, it is called “senam penguin”. After that, we took a bath, even though some of us did not......... we went to Banyumulek village to learn how to make a handy craft called “gerabah”. Almost every grown women there can make gerabah. if they cannot, they will not get married. And the men take the clay from mountain. Imagined if they do it for decades more, what will happen to the mountain? We(Niko, Luthfi and me ) made three shape of handy craft; they were bowl, cup, and ash tray . then we went to Anan craft shop to learn how to decor it with eggshell. First we glue the eggshell and then stick it to gerabah. For additional ornament, we can paint it with motive. Then i found out that we will not going to Sade village, I was disappointed.  

                Fortunately, we went to Cemare beach to plant some mangroves. We traveled by group to the spot by traditional motorboat through the river. Our spot is kind of hard one, while the others seems easy and fun, but that is okay, we had a  lot of fun too because of that circumstance. Then we wandered around the river and enjoyed the scenery while taking photos. the locals are so happy because we did it, I think this spot need to be introduced more, so tourists can visit and contribute too, maybe after they visited rinjani or gilis.

                That night, we had two famous guest speakers, the first one is Mr. Syawaludin from bank sampah NTB, the second is Mr. Teo an artist who made a lot of furniture that made of paper.they made me realize that garbage is not always a problem, even it can make us money if we put extra effort to it. Mr. syawaludin for example, he made the “garbage donation system” ,he collects garbage from people and pay them, then he separates it, anorganic and organic. He produces fertilizer using organic garbage, while he sell the anorganic garbage to Bali.

                Mr. Teo has made his product using paper waste. He made a lot of things, include a table with traditional motive. His product are hard as wood, even though they are made of paper. To make one table, he need 40 kg of paper waste.

                The last session was about making an idea about conservation and  then present it in front of others group. Our idea was about clove conservation at south gowa, Makassar

Day 3

This is the most fun part, we were going to Gili Trawangan. I thought we were going to interview bunch of international tourists. Next challenge was to make a video about our conservation, we event interviewed international tourists from Chile,  we asked them to say our tagline “ libatkan diri, sertai kami “. Next challenge was about to take underwater photo. It did not met my expectation . This assignment made me realize that our corals nearby gili trawangan shore line are gone! Most of them are white ( yeah, bleaching ). It makes me sad till now. I think this is caused by global warming, the sea temperature is rising and make them white. Sad but true. I hope government or people in charge will act about this tragedy.

We went back to campsite. Take a shower and ate our dinner. The next agenda is closing. We watched a traditional dance from Lombok. Here is the rule, if the dancer give you her fan, you have to join them and start dancing. Fortunately, one of them gave me a chance to participate. Although i am not a good dancer, i enjoyed it very much. next, each of group had to present their videos in front of others participants. Unfortunately, my group cannot finish it till now. The other groups are creative, one of them event inserted comedy.  Next, closing speech from bang Emen.  And last, GFE camp is closed by bunch of fireworks that coloring the sky and the full moon that night. The moment feels right, it’s kind of sad because this spectacular event is officially over :( .

Lessons :

1.       The games taught me about coordination

2.       The traditional food and clothes show me how important our diversity is. So we have to keep it alive.

3.       The handicraft activity taught me about local culture

4.       The mangroves plantation told me that we have to encourage and tell tourists more about this place.

5.       The guest speakers taught me to think with a different perspective. How to transforms problems into something that gives us money.

6.       The conservation presentation forced us to think about creative idea to solve problem.

7.       The gili trangawangan’s tragedy taught me that our corals are in the edge of extinction. So we have to take care of them.