Commemorating National Flora and Fauna Day 2013

  Environmental concern should be introduced as early as possible to children. Commemorating National Flora and Fauna Day 2013, FORU held  planting trees action with students of Fortune Nursery School located in Lenteng Agung. To initiate the activity, FORU represented by Gita Galantari from Corporate Communications team symbolically handed plant seeds to Sum Purwaningsih as the head of Fortune Nursery School on Thursday, December 19, 2013. Taking place at Ragunan Zoo, the event attended by about thirty students of Fortune Nursery School Lenteng Agung was enlivened by various-animal picture coloring contest.

According to Solihin Al-Arafat,  a mentor of Sanggar Fortune, the activity was carried out in order to foster the values of environmental concern and love of the children. In addition, the event also aimed to raise awareness among parents, especially mothers, to keep protecting the environment and even create a better environment for the future of their children. “Therefore, we had a child hand plant seeds to the mother symbolically showing the child’s request to maintain the environment for the future,” said Arafat.

Thirty seeds of pohon trembesi (albizia saman or rain tree) were donated by FORU and the seeds are going to be grown along the main roads around Lenteng at the end of this year. A rain tree is a big tall tree that has a very wide canopy. This plant is well-known as a shade tree.

According to Arafat, this will be a stepping stone for FORU to expand its environmental activities next year. “In 2014, as a mentoring team, we have designed a green program called socio-green class. Through this program, Fortune Nursery School will be the agent for the development of social and environmental values. Thus, children are not only learning to read, write and count, but also taught to care about environmental issues around them, especially greening and hygiene,” he said.

Ning, as Sum Purwaningsih is called, was also enthusiastic by the holding of FORU’s green program. “We all realize the condition of the Earth today. Besides us, our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren are still enjoying this environment. If we do not take care of it now, what can we bequeath to them later? I’m really happy with the green initiatives that have begun to be inserted in the activities of Fortune Nursery. By seeking to foster the spirit of environmental love, we are wishing to create a better world for all until millions of generations to come,” he hoped.

In addition to rain trees, FORU also contributed seeds of pohon pucuk merah (syzygium oleana trees) to adorn the surrounding environment in the area of Fortune Nursery Ragunan. It is called pucuk merah (red shoots) because the leaf shoots of this plant are orange-red so it is so much preferred to shade a house yard or to complement a garden