A letter from Rebecca Young in Indonesia
May 2013
Dear friends and family,
Indonesia is a vast archipelago, made up of 17,508 islands, that stretches farther than the distance from San Francisco to Bermuda. A large part of the islands were once covered by rain forest. Although the forest is being decimated at an alarming rate to sell the lumber, grow palm oil trees, and dig up coal, the Indonesian islands still serve as part of the “lungs of the world,” providing forests that recycle the world’s polluted air back into breathable oxygen again.
Trash fills a stream near Becca's house. Jakarta
In addition to deforestation, Indonesia as a nation is facing a huge problem that in the past the U.S. has also faced: what to do with the trash that is piling up. Like New York City, there have been barges sailing around the islands with nowhere to unload their cargo of trash. Indonesia doesn’t have the anti-littering laws and cleanup campaigns that the U.S. has. If you think about how much littering goes on in the U.S. even with laws and campaigns, imagine how much worse it might be without them. The most appalling sign I have seen here was one that read, “Keep our town clean. Throw your trash in the river.”
Until just a few decades ago Indonesians wrapped everything in banana leaves, which are abundant throughout these tropical islands. It was acceptable to drop the used leaves on the ground or in a nearby stream, because they are biodegradable. Unfortunately now the Indonesians use plastic to wrap everything, but they still think it’s okay to throw the wrapping on the ground. Thus the amount of plastic thrown away everywhere is shocking, most especially in rivers and the ocean.
Our campus, Jakarta Theological Seminary, is working to raise the awareness of our students about the hazards of throwing plastic into nature. One of the biggest problems is the breeding of disease in the trash piles. Another issue is that birds, fish and other animals can’t differentiate between food and plastic. They try to eat the plastic, which then gets lodged in their digestive system and eventually they starve. In 2012 at a local zoo 125 animals, including giraffes and wild goats, died because their stomachs were filled with plastic, thrown on the ground by zoo visitors. There is no way to measure how many similar deaths happen in the wild.
Becca and two of the alumni from Jakarta Seminary, Shella and Tunggal, who helped to build the trash statue on campus. 3 May 2013, photo by Isabella N.
One of the ways we are raising awareness on campus is to take a theological approach to the issue. This world is God’s gift to us. In the book of Genesis, God declares that creation is good. After creating humankind, God commands us to be faithful stewards of the land. Therefore we have started several campaigns to remind students that our definition of sin does not only include personal habits like lying or stealing, but also the destruction of God’s good creation through pollution and littering. In a recent anti-violence campaign, we spoke to them of how heedlessly throwing refuge on the ground is a form of violence toward the earth and our fellow inhabitants.
We have several alumnae who are very concerned about this issue and are doing what they can. To help decorate the seminary for Christmas 2012, a graduate named Sosam constructed a Christmas tree out of used plastic straws. Recently Sosam, Shella, Tunggal and other graduates created a life-sized statue out of trash that represents a person kneeling in prayer. Beside the kneeling statue is a sheet of paper with the writing, “Isaiah 53:2-5,” which is the passage about how the Suffering Servant is despised and rejected by society, yet he bears our sorrows and carries our diseases. Their idea is that trash is also a way of causing human suffering, but Jesus bears that burden as well as our other sins.
The trash statue with the Bible verses, Isaiah 53:2-5, on the Jakarta seminary campus. 3 May 2013, photo by Becca.
Two years ago, for a class I taught on how to think of Jesus in the context of Indonesia, one of my students wrote about communities in Jakarta that collect the city’s garbage and live by the dumps, doing the dirty work that no one else wants to do with what’s been thrown away. He does outreach to those people. He describes how these people are helped by the church through prayer, donations, and help with small business development. For these people of the garbage dump, Jesus is the “perfume” that makes the smell of the trash disappear.
In many creative ways our seminary is reminding the students, our supporting churches and the local community that God calls us to protect and nurture this beautiful planet that we have been given. I am proud to be able to work here at the seminary and help them in this effort, teaching about environmental issues in my classes. I am especially thankful to all of you for your support and prayers, enabling my work and the campus efforts to remind God’s people of our call to be stewards of God’s good gifts.
In Christ’s peace,
Becca
The 2013 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 199
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