Kembang Desa : A Real Contribution from ITB Student in Developing Village

By Hafshah Najma Ashrawi

Editor Hafshah Najma Ashrawi

Keluarga Mahasiswa Teknik Industri (MTI) ITB gave a real contribution to the surrounding community. Through a program of work entitled 'Kembali Bangun Desa' or abbreviated to 'Kembang Desa' , MTI ITB show their concern in building an underdeveloped village. This year is the sixth event of Kembang Desa conducted by MTI ITB . The community service that was held over two days, Saturday (11/30/13) to Sunday (12/01/13), took place at Kampung Cibuluh, Pulosari village.
Kembang Desa has begun since 2008 with Cibuluh Village as the first village. Cibuluh village is located in the middle of the lake Cileunca, Pangalengan. The village which is surrounded by the lake as water resources apparently does not make Cibuluh become prosperous. Conversely, water deficiency becomes a major problem faced by the villagers. Another thing to note is the lack of villagers' awareness about the importance of disposing waste. Lack of dump and open waste burning habits of the villagers take part as problems in the village. Therefore, MTI ITB focused on water reformand and waste management in Kembang Desa this year.

Kembang Desa VI activity was participated by the whole mass of MTI. "Hopefully, this event can be the most beautiful and unforgettable moment, especially for batch 2012", said Muhammad Lutfi (Engineering Management 2012), chairman of the steering committee in his speech at the opening ceremony. Marked with a dancing performance by the children of the village, Kembang Desa VI activity was officially started.

During the event, participants of Kembang DesaVI stayed in the villagers' houses.Thus, the participants could directly interact with the villagers and knew what problems that they faced. After met with the villagers, participantsinvite their host family to attend a counseling which was held in the RW field. In this section, the villagers were divided into two big groups: a group of parents and a group of children.

Each group received the same education materials that packed in different shapes. The materials included counseling about the importance of disposing waste in dumps and build the villagers' awareness about the correct waste management. On the second day, the event continued by cleaning up the neighborhood residents and the surroundings, including the lakeside of Situ Cileunca. Next, a competition of decorating trash bins was held and participated by the children. Later, these bins will be distributed throughout the region of Cibuluh village.

All the villagers really enjoy the activities of Kembang DesaVI, as proven by their enthusiasm to participate in the event. At the closing ceremony, the mass of MTI gave groceries to the villagers as a token of gratitude. In the end of the event, a balloon was flight by the children of the village. The flying balloon considered as a symbol of the villagers' hopes for the future of Kampung Cibuluh.