Farmer Musdi Siraju, 19, picked his way down the steep, slippery mountainside in bare feet, on his way to a grove of coconut palms, canarium and nutmeg trees where he works every day to support his family on eastern Indonesia's Makian Island.
Farmer Musdi Siraju, 19, picked his way down the steep, slippery mountainside in bare feet, on his way to a grove of coconut palms, canarium and nutmeg trees where he works every day to support his family on eastern Indonesia's Makian Island.
Seeds of change On a grass verge by a road dissecting miles of rice fields in Central Java province, a group of volunteers with ‘Aisyiyah, Indonesia’s oldest Islamic women’s movement, walk along a row of mahogany, sengon, and teak trees they recently planted. A group of women forest rangers patrol in the forest of Bener Meriah, Aceh Province, Indonesia, on November 25, 2020. Photo: VCG
A short drive away, Ismokoweni, who leads ‘Aisyiyah’s local environmental chapter and goes by one name, picks her way past painted gravestones towards an area of damaged forest where the group has also planted seedlings.
By Harry Jacques, Thomson Reuters Foundation
6 Min Read
SUKOHARJO, Indonesia, May 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - On a grass verge by a road dissecting miles of rice fields in Central Java province, a group of volunteers with ‘Aisyiyah, Indonesia’s oldest Islamic women’s movement, walk along a row of mahogany, sengon and teak trees they recently planted.
A short drive away, Ismokoweni, who leads ‘Aisyiyah’s local environmental chapter and goes by one name, picks her way past painted gravestones towards an area of damaged forest where the group has also planted seedlings.
After a drought dried up wells here, members purchased gallons of water from the local utility for affected households, Ismokoweni told the Thomson Reuters Foundation shortly before Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.