FIELD TRIP EXPERIENCE

Field Trip to Yayasan Tangan Harapan

On March 1, 2018, Excellent Spirit Christian School went on a field trip to Yayasan Tangan Harapan to learn about planting and farming. We started off from school at around 8 am, and reached our destination about 20-25 min later. During the bus ride there we sang and played musical instruments and had lots of fun. When we finally arrived there, we went into a classroom, put our bags beside the seat we were sitting in, and waited for the staff to come and introduce themselves and also telling us what we were going to do. Pak Alphons was the instructor and also was going to lead us when doing activities. After the explanations Ms. Windhy assigned me, Luke, June and Valencio as team leaders. We were responsible for our team members and had to make sure that they understood the information the staff were giving, and that they followed instructions correctly.

Our First Activity

After naming our group names as growly pollys for my group, the harvesters for Luke’s group, we finally went on to the first activity. Our first activity was to put soil and seeds in our polly bags for us to keep at home and watch grow. We all gathered outside as we huddled up and waited for the staff to explain us what to do. Earlier on we had each gotten a polly bag and a pair of gloves for this activity. We were first explained by mr. Tom that there are may different little insects in the soil, and that the soil was actually also a mix of these insect’s poop. He also explained that without these insects the soil would just be like a pile of dirt which looked like sand. The staff then showed us a bucket filled with compost. It was made out of rice shells and insect poop. He then gave us some of it on top of our pile of soil, and were then instructed to mix the compost with the soil. After that, we made a hole with our finger to the length of around 5cm. Finally the first activity had ended.

Catfish Feeding

We then moved on to the second, which was learning how to feed catfish. The catfishes there had their eating time at around 5:00pm, and so like that it has always been, but we weren’t going to be there until that late in the afternoon, so we had no choice but to feed them then and see if they would still come to the surface of the water to receive the food. The instructor told us that when feeding the catfish, we should not spread the food all over the water’s surface, but rest it in one corner of the pond. Moving on to the next activity, we went inside and did the team building game. The game was a lot harder than I thought, but t was also fun at the same time. Luke’s group won by the difference in height by one cup. The teachers then started spreading out bowls of fruits and some bread to us. Then mr. Sendy called us and told us it was time to go and see the traditional houses. The instructor then explained us about the hut. It was round shaped, and wasn’t that big. He said that in the village a family of four could live inside these huts. The storing place for the corns and wheat were right above our heads. He also told us that in the village it was actually a little bit bigger than the one we had seen. After getting out of the hut, we took a quick photo together and headed back to where everyone was. After finishing the fruits and bread, I started filming since I had brought my camera. I then suddenly felt a drip of water on my head. Turns out mr. Tom was dripping water onto my head! I then grabbed a cup of water and splashed it on him, as he sprayed more onto me. Other people started joining our water fight and by the time it ended, we were soaking wet. Before I knew it , it was already time to go home. We thanked all the staff members for having us and teaching us about plantation, and headed off back to the bus so that we could go home.

Author : Cara Pruessner 

Primary Class 

Age : 10