BANDUNG, unpas.ac.id – Last Saturday, July 10th, 2021, Unpas Student Association of Nature Conservation (Mahasiswa Pecinta Kelestarian Alam, Mapak Alam) already finished series of online Basic Training on Mapak Alam (Pendidikan Dasar Mapak Alam, PDMA) for its young members.
Since it was established in 28 October 1979, the 40th PDMA event became the first in history held online because it was previously always carried out in the field. Covid-19 pandemic, which has still ended yet, forced PDMA to hold it by teleconference application.
The event was officially opened at Student’s Council Room, Jalan Gajah Lumantung, Bandung, by Unpas Vice Rector III Dr. H. Deden Ramdan, M.Si as Mapak Alam supervisor. On his speech, he reminded the members how important the commitment is for the organization unit/association within Unpas.
“The online inauguration [of PDMA] is a consistency actualization of Mapak Alam to keep its existence. In the midst of Covid-19 pandemic situation, Mapak Alam still tries to be persistent and responsible for preserving nature as an inseparable part of us as humans, to always protect the earth to remain sustainable. Hopefully, those who passed the training could maintain the spirit of the organization,” he said.
Held for two weeks from 17 June-10 July 2021, the online inauguration (of PDMA) holding the theme of “Being Honest, Loyal and Responsible” was attended enthusiastically by the participants. They were given materials about the organization, mental ideology, mountain forest and search and rescue (SAR), caving, rock climbing, maritime, and the environment.
“The materials are similar to the regular ones. What makes them different is that there is no direct practice. However, to describe real event to the new members, we show them our documentation of our activities [of Mapak Alam],” explained Head of Mapak Alam for 2020-2021 period, Dede Mohamad Soleh, on Wednesday, July 14th, 2021.
Dede said that two months before the inauguration, the committees has already prepared administration selection, health screening, physical test, psychological test and interview. Based on the result, total of 14 participants passed to attend the inauguration (of PDMA), while 2 of them was confirmed failed during the event was running.
“It was admitted that dealing with so much theories for two weeks in a row is really a boring thing, but Alhamdulillah they have good enthusiasm and strong consistency. They are really persistent become a member of Mapak Alam,” he said.
On the normal condition, PDMA activities tend to be real close to the nature. Participants will do rock climbing in Tebing Citatah, followed by rafting in Citarum. After that, they do the long march from the points set, to Bukit Tunggul, Lembang.
“In Bukit Tunggul, we camped for 7 days. Every day, we filled it with many activities: SAR simulation, mountain forest, navigation and other. We stayed focused to form their physics, character and mental as nature devotee,” he continued.
Mapak Alam is also known as student association closely related to the sense of family. However, since it was held online, the sense has not perfectly built and interaction between each members is still lacking.
Due to the conditions, Mapak Alam still emphasized its members to be able to protect and preserve the nature, as well as make the existing resources useful as effective and efficient as possible.
“Therefore, based on the discussion between Team of Ideology Mental and participants, the 40th-generation is named after Chatura Deepa which means light of excellence,” Dede ended. (Reta)*