One of the activities I joined during my student exchange program in 2026 was planting mangroves. We were accompanied by Miss Lily, who was one of the lecturers in the student exchange program in 2025. There were also other lecturers and students from SLSU.
The mangrove area was not far from our cottage. It only took about 10 minutes. Even tho it was close to where we stayed, the experience was something new for me.
I am from Surabaya and I grew up there. Since I started university, I have lived in Lamongan. I am not used to being around mangrove areas. The places where I lived were not close to mangrove forests, so I did not often see mangroves.
In fact before this activity, I had never visited a mangrove area. I had also never planted a mangrove before.
That is why this activity became one of the new experiences for me during my exchange program.
When we arrived, we learned about how mangroves are grown and cared for. One interesting thing was that the mangrove project worked together with people from Brazil. They shared information about how to take care of mangroves from the early stage until they were ready to be planted.
We also saw different mangrove plants. Some of them were still small and were not ready to be planted. Others were already strong enough to be moved and planted near the beach.
After learning about the mangroves, we started planting them.
At first, I thought this was simply one of the activities in our student exchange program. I enjoyed the activity and was happy to try something that I had never done before.
However, one moment made this activity very special for me.
While I was planting one of the mangroves, one of the people who worked there came to me. They asked me if I wanted to give a name to the mangrove I was planting.
They said the name could be a memory for me, so I would always remember that I once planted a mangrove in the Philippines.
That question touched me.
I answered, “Ananta.”
I chose this name for the mangrove that I had just planted.
The person then wrote the name Ananta on a small wooden sign and put it next to my mangrove.
When I saw the small sign next to my mangrove, I felt that this activity had become more personal for me.
Before that moment, I never thought that planting one small tree could give me such a special memory.
I only planted one mangrove.
Just one.
But then I thought that something small can still have meaning. Maybe one day, the mangrove that I planted will grow bigger and help the environment around there.
Maybe I wont be there to see how it grows. But at least, a small part of my experience will stay there.
Its name is Ananta.
We also learned how to move mangroves that were ready to be planted. The mangroves were carefully moved into plastic bags filled with sand. Later, when they were ready, they could be moved to the beach area, like what we did.
From this activity, I learned that protecting the environment does not always have to start with something big. Sometimes, a small action today can create a bigger impact in the future.
For other people, this may have been just another activity in the student exchange program.
But for me, it became a special memory.
When I remember my exchange experience in the Philippines, I will not only remember the places I visited, the people I met, or the activities I joined.
I will also remember a small mangrove named Ananta, which I planted about 10 minutes away from our cottage.
And maybe, one day when Ananta has grown bigger, I will come back and see how the small mangrove I planted during my exchange program has become something much bigger.
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