ETA Ian Morse’s school had a number of events approaching. MAN 2 Kabupaten Gorontalo was going to host a day of sports competitions with a partner school in another regency. An official from the Jakarta office was coming to inspect the newly built classroom building. It was also time for annual administrative check-ups.

So students gathered bamboo, plastic bottles, and paint to decorate the fronts of their classrooms. Ian arrived at school to see all students hard at work on the first day of the four-day process, having already built bamboo stands and now cutting up plastic bottles. Each classroom could decide the colors and arrangement of the plastic bottles, in which they planted flowers and shrubs. Having refused to throw away any of his plastic bottles since arriving in Gorontalo, Ian donated his three months’ worth of bottles to a classroom who needed some. Ian joined some students in cutting, arranging, and painting the decorations. In the end, vibrant red, yellow, blue, and green fences and bamboo stands walled the school’s inner courtyard.

Ian Morse is currently teaching at MAN 2 Gorontalo, Sulawesi