Local Village Flood Barrier – The Great Wall Project

Our Year 3/4 and Year 4 Classes have been busy organizing charity events as part of their Unit of Inquiry:
'People from around the World are involved in Helping Others in Need'.

They had a selection of short movies one week during lunch times, a Bake Sale, a Soccer Shoot-out and a Garage Sale. Together the Classes were able to raise Rp. 11.861.000 (about USD 1.330) which is quite amazing! The students were able to caste a vote on whom they wanted to provide with long term assistance to, and the outcome was to help people affected by floods in Jakarta which were prevalent at the time. Behind the ACG campus is a small stream, which often floods the very poor area there when we have heavy rain in Jakarta (or further up the river system), so this seemed an appropriate project and one relevant to the school.
 
The Teachers negotiated with the local Village Chief of this kampong (village), to build a wall to prevent or lessen the flooding through the houses there. Mr Toby - the Builder currently working on the ACG new building projects, helped to design the wall and a simple drainage system. He informed the staff they would need to buy two pumps, to drive out excess rainwater which cannot drain out of the lowest area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two teachers from ACG International School Jakarta visited the Watambune School rebuilding project in Watambune village. They have returned to ACG Jakarta and wanted to share some pictures of what the school has been like up till now with further pictures of everyone laying the foundation blocks of the new school. 

 

Mary Lee Stenson has kindly donated Rp 5.5 million (from her Afternoon Activity Drama Club) to JAAN (Jakarta Animal Aid Network) on behalf of ACG Jakarta.

Mary Lee is also the Secretary of our Parent Support Group and is actively involved in all ACG activities. She is featured here with Natalie Stewart, one of the Founding Directors of JAAN.  Natalie is holding "Lollipop," a former stray dog, now sweet and cuddly, which JAAN has available for adoption. ACG is always keen to support JAAN activities and they regularly visit our school to talk to the students about caring for their pets at home. Great work Mary Lee!

Our Year 3/4 students investigated a Unit of Inquiry titled, “People help others in need”. They discussed what type of people might be in need in Jakarta and decided there would be sick people, starving people, children without education and lonely people. As the Unit developed the students progressed to discussing ideas concerning ‘how’ to help people, and learnt about providing short term and long term assistance. They understood that giving people food might only benefit them for a few days, and the students finally concluded that if people have a job they will have access to a sustainable income and therefore be able to feed themselves.

This idea extended further when the students decided to create a job for someone in the local area of the school in South Jakarta. They organised a fundraising event for a sponsored Swim-a-thon. The event was a great success with lots of parents coming to cheer their child on and encourage them to keep swimming. The generosity and support of the children’s families and friends were amazing and the students were able to raise 14 million Rupiah! (Approx: US$1,582).

With help of the Chief in the local area, they found a family man who was unemployed and was struggling to feed his family. They met with the man to discuss what skills he had. He said he would like to sell ice tea and coconut juice at the Ragunan Zoo which is near to our school and a very busy place. With the money raised, the students were able to cover the cost of building a stall for him and bought all the supplies required for his juice stall, such as glasses and containers. The man will now start work and Year 3/4 will monitor his work and visit him occasionally.

The remainder of the money raised was donated to the new school ACG has just celebrated building in Central Sulawesi at a small mountain village called Bambakinini. This money has been used to purchase Indonesian books to commence their very first library, as well as providing students with necessary stationery items.

Year 3/4 Class also coordinated a ‘Gift Giving’ project where each family donated a shoe box filled with small stationery items and gifts suitable for a nominated child at the orphanage we visit regularly. We also sponsor the education of four Secondary students. The students really enjoyed coordinating the boxes and taking them to the orphanage for distribution to the students.

This Unit of Inquiry was a great success and the children have demonstrated tremendous ‘Action’ by showing compassion towards people in need. They have provided one family with a sustainable income as well making a difference in seventy-two children’s lives who’ve never had access to library books before. They also demonstrated great motivation and organisational skills in planning their fundraising events and projects. Well done, Ms Bianca’s Class!