Fifty shades of green
There may be cleaner streets in hilltown Malang
than this East Java nook, though they’d be
hard to find.
But then so is the place itself - Kampong Glintung. It’s well off a main drag, down a drab driveway,
imprisoned by a high factory wall smeared by graffiti. None of the images are artistic or original.
The clang of metal from the hidden workshop doesn’t better
the ambience. Maybe the GPS has given
the wrong spot and it’s time to turn back.
Then bang! A hit to
the eyes, not to the ears. Grim yields
to charm right at the junction where ugliness ends and beauty begins.
The house of retired driver Sukoco, 60, and his family mark
the intersection. Although their two-storey
home leaves no space for a forecourt, it could still justify being named Verdant
Villa.
With no room to spread out the couple have grown up, clothing
their abode with a multicolored vertical garden.
“Malang
is getting hotter every year,” said Sukoco’s wife Sri Winarti, 58. “Pollution is a problem. So is littering. But plants make such a big difference.”
She’s not a lone voice.
Apart from the color there’s a feeling of calm though many of the residents
are busy in the alleys. The location is
hard concrete urban, but the talk and activities are green.
An open drain runs alongside the asphalt. Unlike the residents it’s in a rush so
there’s no odor. The occasional plastic
bag shows not all obey the ‘Don’t Trash’ notices. “The rubbish comes from upstream,” said Sukoco,
gravity feeding culvert water onto street plants.
It’s not just individuals’ homes that are flowering. Every flat spot on the sidewalk has a pot.
The locals call their project Glintung Go Green, or ‘3G’, which is smart publicity as the term is
widely known from wireless mobile technology. But here it signals bringing the
country to the city.
The idea was first planted by agricultural advisor Bambang
Trianto seven years ago when he was elected Rukun Warga (RW – community leader) for a nearby street.
When Indonesian Expat
visited 3G, he was in Jakarta
running seminars on how to get city dwellers to find the sweet spot in the
spectrum between blue and yellow.
On the phone he said that as RW he tried to
persuade residents to garden. But his
successor was not so keen and the project faltered. The family moved in 2017 and
decided to lead in their new home by doing, not directing.
Going green can give warm fuzzies, what
academics label ‘virtue signaling’. But sustaining moral comfort entails more
than words and water.
Laggards need encouragement. Like marriage, nature requires regular refreshment.
Some plants can survive a nuclear winter – others shrivel in a sunbeam. Having a green thumb helps, but skills can be
nurtured if there’s an abundance of enthusiasm.
“I don’t know the names of the plants but I
know what they want,” said Sri Winarti.
“I’ve taught myself by watching them grow, and listening to people with
more experience.”
Bambang’s wife Erni Irianto, 62, can identify some species. Her favorites are members of the Sansevieria trifasciata family. Also known as snakeplants they seem to
withstand excesses of care or neglect, so good starters for amateurs.
“The kampong was quite dirty and polluted when we arrived,” she
said. “There was also a lot of petty crime.
We wanted people to feel proud of their streets so started putting
plants on top of walls.”
It was a technique also used by Singapore leader Lee Kuan Yew whose government draped Vernonia elliptica over the facades of old
buildings to disguise the grime.
In
Indonesia
the curtain creeper now bears the late Prime Minister’s name. It’s become a
trendy plant around hotel foyers, though not over-used in 3G.
That’s
because the 150 households aren’t into monoculture. If a shrub can be grown from a cutting those
with abundance offer twigs to others.
Seeds and suckers get swapped. Outsiders
can buy. A bunch that plants together blooms together.
In
one street is a State elementary school where the students play in a yard that
was once a dustbowl. Now the kids have
shade from trees and should grow up more aware of the value of nurturing the
environment.
Awards
and a notice board of visitors’ compliments decorate one wall of Bambang
Trianto’s house. Among them a message from Michael Clifton,
formerly of the Australian Trade and Investment Commission:
‘Privileged
to witness an inspiring model of community pride in action. Powerful proof of the power of passion and
leadership to change lives.’
Bambang has a home business making tempe (soybean cake). On the roof above the kitchen he and his wife
are building a seminar room where the principles of conservation, composting, recycling
and developing the green economy can be taught.
“We think this will be the only place in Indonesia where
a community is educating others,” she said.
“We haven’t had any government support.
“The most effective way to explain the benefits of going
green is by example. That’s what we’re
doing.”
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