Lebebae – for a Sustainable and Musical Ambon

by Klara J. B. Jakobsen

https://web.facebook.com/blackduckatsea

a gardening excursion

Have you ever seen a politician in gardening gloves?
We saw five the other day on a mountain peak in Ambon.

On Monday the 29th of November 2021 we were lucky to partake when five politicians from the Capital Jakarta and Ambon went on a little gardening excursion up Nona Mountain, in Ambon.
The reason for the excursion was a tree-planting initiative taken by Lebebae Community, a local environmental organization of teens between the age of 10-17.

The place where the tree-planting took place was on a little plot near the peak, with a stunning view over Ambon Bay.
The land had been donated by the nearby village.
This place is only one of many locations where Lebebae exercise their tree-planting.
The trees are all donated, many of them being Clove and Nutmeg trees from local farms.

more than planting trees

Before the tree-planting began Lebebae gathered to welcome the Officials and the Press with Ukulele and song, followed by a speech from the founder Kezia Arabelle Tulalessy.

Kezia started Lebebae, which literally means Better on the 18th of August 2020.
At the beginning the group consisted of about a dozen children running beach clean-ups around Ambon. But as the organization grew, the organization have started other projects such as tree-planting and reef-rehabilitation. A few of the teens hold international dive certificates, so they can work on the sea-bed relocating and planting new coral.
At present time Lebebae has over 80 members.

A musical community

But Labebae is not only an environmental group, but also a big-band of ukuleles and harmonizing vocals. Kezia’s father Nicho, who helps manage the organization, (also the Chairman of the Amahusu Sailing Community which hosts the Darwin-Ambon Rally) has been a keen ukulele player since he was a child and is teaching the teens to play.
He believes that music is great medication for the soul. And when in engaging kids in creative learning they will avoid being lost in screens. This is especially relevant currently as the kids have been doing online school for almost two years due to Covid 19.
Nicho estimates that about 1000 children in Ambon can play the ukulele at current time.

Nicho is still trying to get Ukulele playing in Ambon in the Guinness book of World Records. His latest attempt, though interrupted by Covid 19, was for ‘Longest Ukulele Playing at Sea sailing from one country to another’ when he was going to play the Ukulele for 24 hours non-stop on a racing catamaran from Darwin, Australia to Ambon. He still hopes to continue the project once things are back to “normal”.
Nicho already passed the challenge of playing ukulele under water, but says that the only thing he accomplished was a broken Ukulele.

After the welcome with music and speeches the tree-planting could begin. Each official was given a pair of white gardening gloves and a spot on the plot to plant their tree.
Surrounded by cameras the Director General of Culture, Ristek Hilmar Farid, from Jakarta, kneeled on the ground and dug into the compost. Kezia showed him how to pack the soil around the little clove tree.

a habit hard to shake

It was a special sight to see a teenage girl showing a grown man how to put a tree in the ground. But what was stranger was to see every single politician, including the Head of Environment and Land Office of Ambon City leave the plastic which the plant had been wrapped in on the ground afterwards.

The pollution caused by people throwing plastic over their shoulder comes from more than just ignorance, it comes from habit. And even at an event like this where sustainability is in focus, that habit is extremely hard to shake.
Maybe that is one of the few advantages of leaving the environmental responsibilities to people who are still young enough to change their habits.

Love your country

“Continue to maintain environmental sustainability and never get tired of loving this country” Hilmar said in a speech to the group.
I think the group are showing immense love and respect for both their country and the environment of the planet by working to make it clean and healthy again. But when you look over the water of the bay and through the streets of Ambon City, it does not look like the Government is showing that same love and respect, for Ambon is still rife with plastic.

Pollution is a widespread problem throughout Indonesia. But a major issue like this should not be on the shoulders of kids and teens.
It seems to have become a trend all over the world for kids to set examples, but it seems in some way upside down. Childhood should be a time to learn and make mistakes and fall in love with the world, not a time to teach and take on the burden of saving the world.
So in the case of Lebebae it is awesome to see that it is not done through protests and anger, but through social bond and love for music. And I hope that the Government will see them and feel proud and inspired and back them up to help keep Ambon healthy.

The future of Ambon

Through their work and music Lebebae hopes to get the attention of the government. They urge for immediate actions to put in place a proper system for disposing and recycling of waste in Ambon.
The future of Ambon depends heavily on changes to be made, as the pollution is causing multiple issues such as poisoning of the water, accumulation of undisposed waste, bleaching of the coral, contamination in locally caught fish meat, bad smells in the streets and a filthy smother of an otherwise beautiful City.

You can find the Lebebae Community on Facebook https://web.facebook.com/groups/651419375487474/?_rdc=1&_rdr
or on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lebebaecommunity/?hl=en

Thank you Lebebae!

---