PHILANTHROPY: COMMUNITY SPIRIT

During World Clean-up Day, children and adults from Rusunawa Marunda tidied a beach to bring about positive impact

Gen.t and Pansophia Nusantara join hands for World Cleanup Day 2019 in Marunda

On 21 September, Indonesia Tatler, together with the Pansophia Foundation and Gigih Septianto—the founder of wecare.id and a Generation T (Gen.t) 2019 awardee— went to Rusunawa Marunda to celebrate World Clean-up

Day (WCD) by tidying the beach around the area with children from the foundation’s Cahaya Permata school.

WCD is a global social action programme aimed at combating the global solid waste problem, including the problem of marine debris. The clean-up was also part of Gen.t Indonesia’s charity initiatives. Despite the humid weather that day—especially in Marunda, with its location on the northern coast of Jakarta—everyone was excited and thrilled about the event.

The main guest of the event, Gigih Septianto, was nominated as a Gen.t awardee for his part in co-founding wecare.id, a crowdfunding website aimed at making quality healthcare accessible to all by focusing on patients with limited financial power and those who are not covered by the national healthcare plan. During the clean-up, Gigih eagerly mingled with the children and parents while picking up the mostly plastic trash around the beach.

“I think this is a pretty good agenda, especially for the Gen.t community around Asia, as we are trying to drive change in society,” Gigih said. “I think the more we support each other, the more we lift up the community together, making it healthier and stronger.”

As well as Gigih Septianto, a representative from the Pansophia Foundation was also present during the event. The Pansophia Foundation was co-founded by, among others, Millie Stephanie Lukito, CEO of Mobiliari Group, the publisher of Indonesia Tatler and its Bureau Chief. The foundation’s mission is to provide knowledge and training and to positively influence disadvantaged communities by means of establishing learning facilities that focus on earlychildhood education and character building.

Established in 2009, the foundation currently has two learning centres and nine schools across Indonesia. The learning centres are known as Pusat Kegiatan Belajar Masyarakat RUMAH PINTAR and JENDELA DUNIA, while the schools are called Sekolah Cahaya Permata Indonesia. As of today, nearly 2,000 children have participated in Yayasan Pansophia Nusantara’s programmes.

“This kind of initiative is definitely valuable,” said Eliane Marlene, the foundation’s representative.

“Our children need guidance, and we are dedicated to learning more from other communities. Gen.t has really extraordinary individuals from across many industries so the kids can definitely learn more things because they are, after all, the future of Indonesia.”

After the clean-up, everyone returned to the school premises for lunch. Matthew Finlayson, an ESL teacher from Ukrida Penabur International, joined the event later on to teach English using song and dance while Gigih enthusiastically translated and joined in the fun. At the end of the day, it was an informative and positive day for everyone who was involved, with hopes that the lessons and impressions would spread and inspire lasting impact everywhere.

The More We support each other, The More We lift up The Community Together, Making it healthier and stronger