By: Sani Firmansyah (Bumi Panda Coordinator)

Volunteers WWF-Indonesia is one of the frontlines in delivering conservation education targeting school-age children to the general public. The majority of these volunteers are students with different backgrounds. Of course, these volunteers must be equipped with information to deliver education. They also become messengers of conservation activities through various writings that are packaged creatively.

For this reason, WWF-Indonesia's volunteers, especially volunteers Panda Mobile and volunteers Bumi Panda received Creative Writing training on Saturday (19/11) at WWF-Indonesia's office, Graha Simatupang Building, Jakarta. Before the training began, the participants were invited to play "Zombie" game. In this game, zombies had to fill the empty seats that have been provided and the volunteers were tasked to block the zombies from filling the empty seats. The volunteers seemed enthusiastic when playing the game, to the point that some collided when switching places. "These zombies are like hunters who are after protected species. We must play a role together to be able to maintain the existence of these species," said Saipul Siagian, Frontliner Trainer WWF-Indonesia, explaining the game's message.

The Creative Writing training session began with a short writing exercise about the volunteers' journey from the gathering place to before the training began. In a short time, participants wrote down various stories. It turned out that, although the events were the same, the way of writing and the angle of the story were different. The training resource person, Natalia Trita Agnika, Marketing Content Officer of WWF-Indonesia explained that creative writing will make the writing more interesting and enjoyable to read.

Nika also explained that the volunteers must hone their concern for the surrounding environment when doing activities to get "rich" writing material. In addition, different educational backgrounds can also be an asset in strengthening writing. "To make the writing more interesting, the writer must know in advance the insights of the article to be made and must have sensitivity to the surrounding environment," said Nika.

Panda Mobile and Bumi Panda volunteers will need these writing skills when they have to write about Panda Mobile and Bumi Panda activities, both for the website and Panda Mobile News media. "Through this training, we hope that WWF-Indonesia's volunteers will not only be able to write articles creatively, but also be able to recognize environmental issues and convey the information through writing and publishing for the realization of a sustainable Earth," concluded Nika.