Eco-friendly Eid: The Indonesian women on a mission
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Published: 10:05 PM,May 14,2021 | EDITED : 08:05 PM,May 14,2021
Indonesia
SUKOHARJO, Indonesia: On a grass verge by a road dissecting miles of rice fields in Central Java province, a group of volunteers with 'Aisyiyah, Indonesia's oldest Islamic women's movement, walk along a row of mahogany, sengon and teak trees they recently planted.
A short drive away, Ismokoweni, who leads 'Aisyiyah's local environmental chapter and goes by one name, picks her way past painted gravestones towards an area of damaged forest where the group has also planted seedlings.
After a drought dried up wells here, members purchased gallons of water from the local utility for affected households, Ismokoweni said shortly before Eid al Fitr.
'We are creative women,” said Hening Purwati Parlan, national head of 'Aisyiyah's environment wing, the LLHPB. 'We are not rich, but we have solutions.”
'Aisyiyah was founded in 1917 to advocate for education at a time when girls did not receive formal schooling.
Today 'Aisyiyah, part of Indonesia's larger Muhammadiyah organisation, has at least 4 million members with branches throughout the world's largest Muslim-majority country, where more than 80 per cent of the population of about 270 million identify as Muslim.
'Aisyiyah has drawn on its national network to advocate for reproductive rights and prevent child marriage.
It also operates thousands of schools and runs diverse social programmes to promote breast-feeding and improve child and maternal nutrition, among other things.
Alimatul Qibtiyah, a professor who sits on the National Commission on Violence against Women and is an 'Aisyiyah member, said the group cooperates with the national government as well as many other organisations, including from different faiths.
In recent years, it has increasingly turned its attention to the environment.
'We bring the Hadith (teachings of the prophet Muhammad) to explain why the impact of climate change is important,” said Hening.
In 2015, 'Aisyiyah's leadership set up its LLHPB environment wing to increase women’s capacity to respond to climate change and natural disasters.
'Aisyiyah also runs a 'Green Ramadan” programme, holding evening talks on how families can reduce waste and the use of plastics during the Islamic fasting month.
'It is explained in the Koran that it is important to do good in the month of Ramadan,” Rahma Susanti, head of the LLHPB in West Kalimantan province, said in an online interview.
'Protecting our ecosystem and environment is one of these good things.” - Thomson Reuters Foundation
A short drive away, Ismokoweni, who leads 'Aisyiyah's local environmental chapter and goes by one name, picks her way past painted gravestones towards an area of damaged forest where the group has also planted seedlings.
After a drought dried up wells here, members purchased gallons of water from the local utility for affected households, Ismokoweni said shortly before Eid al Fitr.
'We are creative women,” said Hening Purwati Parlan, national head of 'Aisyiyah's environment wing, the LLHPB. 'We are not rich, but we have solutions.”
'Aisyiyah was founded in 1917 to advocate for education at a time when girls did not receive formal schooling.
Today 'Aisyiyah, part of Indonesia's larger Muhammadiyah organisation, has at least 4 million members with branches throughout the world's largest Muslim-majority country, where more than 80 per cent of the population of about 270 million identify as Muslim.
'Aisyiyah has drawn on its national network to advocate for reproductive rights and prevent child marriage.
It also operates thousands of schools and runs diverse social programmes to promote breast-feeding and improve child and maternal nutrition, among other things.
Alimatul Qibtiyah, a professor who sits on the National Commission on Violence against Women and is an 'Aisyiyah member, said the group cooperates with the national government as well as many other organisations, including from different faiths.
In recent years, it has increasingly turned its attention to the environment.
'We bring the Hadith (teachings of the prophet Muhammad) to explain why the impact of climate change is important,” said Hening.
In 2015, 'Aisyiyah's leadership set up its LLHPB environment wing to increase women’s capacity to respond to climate change and natural disasters.
'Aisyiyah also runs a 'Green Ramadan” programme, holding evening talks on how families can reduce waste and the use of plastics during the Islamic fasting month.
'It is explained in the Koran that it is important to do good in the month of Ramadan,” Rahma Susanti, head of the LLHPB in West Kalimantan province, said in an online interview.
'Protecting our ecosystem and environment is one of these good things.” - Thomson Reuters Foundation