Young people play a crucial role in preventing and combating forest fires, which occur on Kalimantan island every dry season. This was one of the key takeaways from our community screening and dialogue about the role of youth in forest fire mitigation and adaptation.
On August 5, 2022, Youth Act team held a community screening and dialog in SMAN 3 Dusun Utara in Bundar Village, South Barito regency, Central Kalimantan. The dialogue brought together 67 high school students and teachers to learn about forest fires and share their hopes for the future of the Kalimantan forest.
We began the event by showing four films about forest fires in order to spark discussion about the causes of forest fires, their effects on health and the environment, and what young people can do to protect themselves and their ecosystem from haze and fires. The list of the films included When Women Fight Part 2, Death Inside a Breath (PM 2,5), Kebakaran hutan Kalimantan: Kisah dua relawan perempuan 'penakluk ap’ (Kalimantan forest fires: story of two female firefighters), and Katuyung firefighter in action. The students were intent on watching all of the films with serious eyes.
Following the film screening one of our young leaders, Juma, a 25-year-old firefighter from East Barito regency who works for the Regional Agency for Disaster Management shared his experience in fighting fires. He began his story by explaining why, after a year of working in a coal mining company, he decided to join the firefighter team. He also discussed the most difficult moment he had while fighting forest fires and how he overcame hardships. Juma not only shared his personal story, but he also highlighted fire fighting techniques in extinguishing large fires and explained various safety equipment that they must use.
Many of the students were inspired by Juma's stories, including Lesti, a 10 grade student who inquired, "What is the minimum education required to become a firefighter?"
"The minimum education to become a firefighter is junior high school. Many of our team graduated from junior high school and I also joined the fire team after graduating from high school," answered Juma.
Ardhi Pratama, a 12-grade SMAN 3 Dusun Utara student who joined our firefighter training in 2021, also shared his experience. He demonstrated some of the firefighting techniques he had learned, as well as how to protect himself and the rest of the firefighting team when the wind caused the fires to flare up and fill the area with thick smoke.
At the end of this community screening and dialogue, each student wrote a memo expressing their hopes for Kalimantan forests.
