The Green School Community : A microcosm of the rest of the world

Mahnaz’s reflections

The values and ethos of the Green School are enticing, inspiring and bring hope. Attending an assembly on Spirit Friday brings it all home, showcasing all the work the kids do for themselves, our community here in Bali and our planet – together. Anisa being the most creative and carefree I have seen since a few years before leaving primary school, which makes us feel like we are definitely in the right place – for now.

However, the school is made up of a community of families, and I am slowly beginning to realise that some of these families are here for more than just their children. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, Bali is a dream destination and everyone has good intentions (from their own perspectives). As a parent here on an education visa I am unable to work and charge for services, so everything I do locally is free or for charity. I knew this when I came and was prepared for it.

However, it has come to light that some parents are here to make the most of an opportunity to invest in Bali by leasing land (for up to 40 years) and building concrete houses. These are then sold for profit to investors. Now there is a big demand for housing as the intake of children increases at the school but this impact is substantial. Concrete has a very high carbon footprint, and increases the heat in houses rather than reducing it – meaning air cons are required. There are plenty of examples of alternative houses – bamboo in particular – which actually cool the rooms down naturally. As more houses are built, more rainforest land is destroyed. Wouldn’t it make sense to use this wood to create homes rather than shipping in concrete? Felling a tree over 100 years old is a huge deal. We won’t be able to sit under a similar quality tree in our lifetimes, and I feel we have a responsibility to its seed for their future generations.

Bali is a tiny Island and a place where people come for the natural environment. To heal, focus on their wellness and be in the incredible energy of the field Bali holds. The main cities of Denpasar and Ubud are growing and eventually they will meet because – you know – growth!?!? A word completely overused in the world of politics and business. I just hope the pace of change slows down or growth is stopped in its tracks somehow. But there is a problem with the way in which land is being exploited for quick money by visitors. Many of the developments are done by parents and one is even a teacher (see also Suleiman’s reflections below).

You would have thought that ALL people coming to the GREEN school came with an intention to keep the school and their environments GREEN! Conscious parents, who want their kids to be conscious and lead a world which is changing dramatically both from a climate and political perspective. I was wrong. I do think that everyone should be made to listen to the Green School song – it includes the line: “We are guardians of the Earth”. Perhaps the penny would drop?

Another question mark we have about the school is its moral grounding. It came to light recently that there is inappropriate language being used at the school by some boys. Not uncommon at this age, you may say, and some may not even understand what they’re saying – it’s just cool and may have come from online sources. Every school has it. Misogynistic, derogatory language with many sexual references. Girls falling victim to this language too and the perceived role they will play in society. There is exposure to this language even at a very young age. These issues simply present an opportunity to speak about them to improve understanding and realign with values. The school was very slow to react or lead, but some meetings have now been arranged to address this. Let’s see. It is also a reminder of how important it is for us as parents to speak with our children to support them in navigating through this crazy world.

The GS values are as follows : “iRESPECT”
Integrity, Responsibility, Empathy, Sustainability, Peace, Equity, Community, and Trust

I do wonder how things would be if Kindness was included in this mix. Something I discovered through my conversations with Audrey. Talking of which, check out my conversation with the wonderful Audrey further down the page. It is so worth a listen. She is a gem!

In other news, we have a new school head. He was selected after a thorough process where the entire community was involved. I am hopeful that he will do the school community good. When I attended the presentations in the school, there were 3 candidates. One is a current member of staff who has done incredible work with biomimicry and regeneratively. The other 2 were external candidates. The owners of the school came to inform the parents of the decision. It was actually refreshing to have them speak with us as it alleviated a few concerns.

Goton Royong

We have been involved in a community cleanup once a month. In Bali, this is the norm in every community. Everybody cleans their homes and the streets outside of their homes once a month. 7am on a Sunday morning – it sounds harsher than it actually is! So we got straight into it. Meeting at Kimballi (the recycling centre in the GS), picking up the tools to collect the rubbish and we headed back to our homes picking up plastic and rubbish along the way. I wonder if you could guess what the top three items of rubbish are…

Water bottles, Yakult bottles and small plastic bags which are used to carry food – sometimes with food in them (it’s gross). The majority of which is unrecyclable as it is just so dirty. Small sweet wrappers are a pain! We did our best. Another benefit of this was that our local neighbours were able to see us helping them and they were really appreciative. Most of the rubbish was outside construction sites. The bule (foreign) developers have been asked to place bins there but have refused – up to now.

We recently did our second month and were taken to a new central sorting centre which was to start picking up our rubbish. What has been lovely about this whole process is that community connections are being made and alternative ways of disposing rubbish are being established.

This is one thing which we have done together which cleans not just the surroundings, but it feels like an internal cleanse too. It is so satisfying to clear the forests and walk back feeling a sense of achievement. Even if next month we will see more of the same. Manufacturers need to create biodegradable solutions for packaging. There has to be a way.

The festival of Kuningan. The streets were dressed beautifully and we watched a procession pass by. It was long!

The tiny house built next to ECO Village.

Bamboo Indah

Another one of John Hardy’s creations. This was a pretty extraordinary place – all construction was made from natural materials – bamboo, stone, etc. There was even a bamboo lift! School parents were invited to listen to a talk about sustainability with 4 speakers with a keynote speech by John Hardy – which was interesting too. He doesn’t mince his words :

• Indosole
• Ibuku
• Sungai Watch
• Abundant Impact Ventures

At the end I had to speak with Gary from Sangai Watch. An incredible young man who is passionate about clearing sea/river pollution. In his speech he said that the rivers in Java are clogged with nappies because the Muslims believed that if you burn a nappy – it burns the babies bum. But if you throw it into the river it cools their bum. They are working with Imams to change the perception. I had to point out to him that this was a purely cultural belief and far from islamic, and he was correct to speak with Imams. He then said that they were planning to put a sign on the nappies to say “do not throw in the river”. I said he would be better off telling them how to dispose of the nappies instead to ensure that the minds are focused on what they need to do. He welcomed the feedback.

Hearts on the ground – If you are on instagram, do follow them.

We attended a fundraiser for one of the most challenged countries on our planet today – Palestine. One of my favourite moments of being in Bali. It was hosted by a restaurant which has a real life airplane which is no longer in working order with a flight simulator. We also had a screening of “Where the Willows Weep“, a film which I had wanted to watch in the UK but didn’t get the opportunity to. I am so glad it happened here. If you haven’t see this yet, I would highly recommend that you watch it.

Audrey

This is such a wholesome conversation, and it is finally edited and live. The details to listen, watch, learn and comment (if you wish!) are here.

Anisa’s Experiences

I went to Waterbom with my friend Deeks. Waterbom is a water park which is the biggest in Bali. It had loads of different types of water slides as well as three swimming pools and even a surfing simulator. There were also loads of restaurants and ice cream places. It’s very popular.

We all went on the python, the constrictor and the boomerang. The boomerang was a slide which goes round and round before dropping straight down before going straight back up again and then it goes back down the height backwards.

The whole experience was really fun with great lemonade and loads of friendly squirrels.

Ok and now for one of my favourite events that I’ve had through school so far.

This was the Worlds Scholars Cup. It is basically an extra-curricular activity where you debate against each other. They have an annual tournament where if you make it into the global rounds than you get to visit Bangkok and USA and well many other places. To be honest I don’t want to visit America anytime soon though. It is dangerous and politically unstable (especially with Trump as president).

Me and 5 other students went to the Bali round tournament and I was so scared because everyone made it out to look slightly terrifying and strict from some videos I watched, as well as the study guide we were given. It was like 7 double sided pages or something, probably more, full of different topics we might debate. When we were on the bus some of us (including me) kind of freaked out and frantically tried to memorise and study more.

When we arrived at the school at which the Bali round would be taking place we discovered that it would be at an Australian independent school which was built like an English school but just so much better. We went to the main hall with our badges and got the opening ceremony over with as we were directed to this classroom to do collaborative writing. Basically they gave you topics to choose from and you had to write about the topic from different viewpoints.

After that we got to get any snacks from one of the random snack stalls dotted around the school. Then we did scholars challenge, my least favourite part of this whole thing. It was a test that we have to take about the study guide and all of the curriculums. I failed this so badly. The girl opposite (Olivia) was really sweet and kind and looked like she knew exactly what she was doing.

After was just break, so yeah.

Then we had the part which terrified me the most. Team debates. I was only scared of this because I saw videos of others doing it on a stage in front of everyone but I didn’t realise that we did it in a small classroom with one other group from one of the other schools. This did calm me down a lot, but we were still all quivering as we spoke our parts in front of the judge.

Low-key I kinda carried that first debate but the school we were against was absolutely amazing.They were a school from Surabaya and they were incredible.They brought the entire school with them and they got the most medals in the end. Unsurprisingly, but when we finished (and lost) one of the girls just asked me if I wanted her instagram (but I don’t have it) and everyone took selfies with us which was strange but cute.

Ooh and when you lose you get a lollipop which was pretty kewl. The second debate (sorry if this is boring) none of us actually understood why we lost. It has confused us so much and we still don’t understand how they won because their points were much more poor than ours and basically one of the girls was talking about how when you hug your best friend you know they’re not gonna backstab you, which just didn’t make sense to me because the topic was should everyone have an AI best friend and I talked about trust, reliability and pressure, ooh and a rebuttal too.

The other team were all just repeating their points like they were mashing up all their points and repeating the same things over and over again when the other person already said it. Lowkey carried that again.

2 lollipops.

Finally for the final debate we were a lot more calm and we all were just much more relaxed and when we started ,the question was: should futuristic video games prepare us for the future? We were on the negative side of the debate which was which made this pretty fun for us. We did so good and we won which made us all so elated. And for some reason they still wanted to take another selfie with us…..

Then the next day we were doing trivia, talent shows and the award ceremony. In the award ceremony Olivia and her friends sat in front of me and goodness gracious, she got so many medals. And in the scholars challenge she won a gold medal. However the senior group at Green School won a trophy for the trivia which was INCREDIBLE.

We won a couple of silver medals but still were qualified for the globals which was exciting as it is in Bangkok. I don’t know if I should go or not but yeah. We all got alpaca plushies too for some reason and we all had to sing songs with the lyrics on the board.

Ooh and I forgot about the lunch there.
IT WAS SO GOOD THEY HAD PASTA,CHICKEN WRAPS,COOKIES,ICE POPS,RAMEN,CRISPS,AND RANDOM OTHER JUNK.

At the end of this experience I was so relieved but also wanted to debate again. I think I might go to globals with my friend. We skipped 2 days of school doing this too because it was a couple of hours away.(which was a bonus.)

For my ISU student conference we had to design an outfit in a group or with a partner, as well as individually create a poster about a sustainable fashion brand. I chose the brand Pagaia and wrote very cursively so no one could unfortunately read all of the text i spent hours writing. I knew I should’ve done it in legible teacher writing but it’s ok. Me and my friend just experimented with the outfit with little charms on the shirt. I didn’t really like the shirt. For the skirt i made hot glue sequin stars and stuck rhinestones on it while my friend put safety pins on and helped me with the glueing. At the end we got to make a screen printed tote bag and watch ‘ The Devil Wears Prada’ with popcorn. Overall, I really enjoyed this ISU and its topic of sustainable fashion.

Okay, now I will recommend some books because why not?

• The Locked Door – a psychological thriller
• Betting on You – a rom-com
• Dancing the Charleston – a mystery
• Death in the Spotlight – a murder mystery

The rest (7) are kind of embarrassing sooo… I am currently reading The Housemaid which my friend recommended so I have read 2 books by that author and am currently reading that one too.

There was a dog with a bunch of puppies and the owners came out and said we could adopt one, so guess what will happen after the mummy dog stops feeding the puppies and they are old enough to be taken away? YES.

Also I went surfing and I finally stood up for more than 15 seconds so I get a free t-shirt which I suppose is a strange reward but I’m glad.

Our non-human interactions

Suleiman’s Reflections

After our recent travels (more of which in our next blog), I was hoping for a couple of months of tranquility as we wind down to the end of the academic year and the start of Anisa’s summer holidays.

However, the relative peace in Sibang has been disrupted by a worrying development (literally) which has threatened the cohesion of the expatriate community and forced us to consider why we are all here.

My Bahasa teacher has been building a small wooden house on a plot of land opposite the school. The house is being designed by a local carpenter friend and is based on sound ecological principles. Once day workmen appeared in the plot adjacent to the house and asked if they could plug into their grid. They then merrily started to scythe away at the woodland. It transpires that this land – which wraps right around her house – has been granted approval by the King of Sibang for the construction of a new development that will change the face of the street on which the school is located. And this was the first that she knew of it.

The proposed development includes a commercial swimming pool, restaurant and bar, and a co-working space. I have mentioned in previous blogs that we only have a handful of eating places in Sibang, and all these new ventures seem perfectly sound business opportunities which – on the surface – have the potential to enhance the lives of the Green School families.

So why the cynicism? It’s unfortunate that my teacher has had to go through this, but progress stands for no-one, surely, and all for the greater good, etc.?

Well, one reason for my ire is that the new development will provide the one facility that the local community has never known it needed: padel courts. And not just one padel court. Oh no. Why have one padel court when you can have four of them! After all, nothing says “tropical Indonesian jungle” quite like a bloody concrete padel court right in the middle of it!

Forgive my sarcasm. I have nothing against padel. Jurgen Klopp had a court installed at the Liverpool FC training ground and I bow to no-one in my admiration of him. And I don’t really mind a padel court or two being installed in Sibang. 

But there are a number of issues with this planned development:

1. There has been zero consultation with local stakeholders. Few people were aware of it until trees started to be chopped down. The community then came out in force to protest and to beg for a pause while legal redress was sought. The developers – who include parents at the school and (shockingly) a Green School teacher – then popped up in our community WhatsApp group advising that they were creating this development because of the demand amongst Green School families, and that they had consulted with all the relevant stakeholders. Pity that didn’t include the woman who lived next-bloody-door, hey? Or the school themselves (who were completely unaware). Despite polls showing 98% of the community were opposed, they have not been amenable to any kind of public meeting or forum, advising that they are looking at other platforms to deal with the concerns being raised (which of course will happen the day I win the Padel World Championship). 

2. The facilities being created here are at odds with existing facilities in the area:
   
   • There is already a massive swimming pool at Green Village, a beautifully designed development of traditional Balinese bamboo houses built on stilts. These facilities are open to the community.
     
   • A co-working space called The Living Bridge opened this very week at the school. It is a stunning piece of work that has taken two years to complete, and incorporates the design principles of biomimicry, bioarchitecture and biophilia. It was the idea of a student who initiated it as part of their Green Stone school project and encompasses everything we would want new developments to be about.
     
   • The few local restaurants around the school are all embedded into the community and are generally run by the Balinese. The impact on them economically of such competition would be potentially devastating.
     
3. There are developments such as Green Village, EcoVillage, and even some of the new local houses (see pic of one at the bottom) that have been sensitively designed, and don’t just fit seamlessly into the landscape, they even amplify its beauty. The focus of this particular project appears to be on speed, getting it ready as soon as August when the new school year starts. It is not going to be designed based on ecological principles with sustainable materials and a consideration for the environment. It will be built cheaply with a view to a quick return on investment.
   
4. There will be a significant loss of biodiversity as a result of this development. There are many species of birds, butterflies, snakes, and civets whose terrain will be destroyed. Not to mention the destruction of the trees which bring such welcome and cooling shade. How can this be justified?
   
5. How will this actually benefit the local Balinese population? Will they be able to afford to use the facilities? Will they be given free or discounted access? (Yeah, right). It feels more like a barrier further emphasising our separation from them rather than a way of connecting with them. There are lots of padel and sports clubs in other areas of Bali where there are bigger expat communities. Do we really need it here? Just because the developers can cite a demand doesn’t mean it needs to be built. And certainly not in this location opposite the school. There are many other vacant plots of land in Sibang, and assuming the facility was built in a way that aligned to the environment and encouraged the Balinese to use it I would have no objection.
   
6. The developers appear to think that there is a market for the padel aspect especially, but are local GS families actually going to use it? Are families who live in Ubud, Canggu or Sanur going to come in to use it when they can use their local facility? Or do the developers not care, and are they only interested in a quick return (and if that doesn’t materialise they can turn the land over for a profit a few years down the line)?
   
7. And what about the impact on the school? It is world-renowned for having a campus without walls and being immersed in nature, leading the way not just in project-based learning but also living in a sustainable and ethical way with the local community. How does that square with having this concrete monstrosity right opposite its front entrance? The school don’t appear to have much say or sway in how the surrounding area is developed, unfortunately. We had cause to spend a little time around the school at night recently waiting to pick up Anisa from the World Scholars tournament. At that time of night, the sky is a glittering carpet of stars, and it is astonishingly quiet save for the sounds of chirping, buzzing and hissing from the jungle fauna. It is also very, very, dark because … well, it’s the f*****g jungle! It’s supposed to be like that. To have a construction in this location with lights and noise (padel is like hearing gunshots, apparently) will just be so at odds with what this environment is meant to be.

What has been particularly dispiriting has been the realisation that not all the families in Sibang hold the same values that we assumed everyone did. After all, every expat family has come huge distances and uprooted their lives in order to live in this habitat. We are all visitors here, mere guests, and our role surely is to be good citizens and leave a positive imprint on the community who will spend their lives here. I don’t feel it is our right to foist an edifice like this on Sibang, especially when it will probably lie idle in a few years’ time (in Europe, many padel courts are now dormant, vacant or abandoned as the padel boom has started to fade).

Naïve of us, I know.

We are aware that some GS families here in Bali are MAGA supporters (I know, right, bloody immigrants?!). We know that there are families who live by the beach, send their kids to and from school with a driver and are treating their Green School experience purely as a holiday, not getting involved with their local community or even with the school itself. But everyone has their story, and who are we to judge? However, what is disheartening to know is that there are families who live in Sibang – and who would presumably have committed to living here in this tight-knit community close to the school for a reason – who are focusing purely on the short-term. They don’t share the school’s own values, and are here to make a fast buck without any consideration of their legacy to the environment and its people.

A couple of people have even said those opposing the development are being hypocrites or NIMBYists. After all, we haven’t said much about the rapid pace of other housing developments in the village, and of course we live in the results of those developments.

The key distinctions I would make are:

• Most of us had little choice around our housing. We, for example, are here for 12 months, we arrived in the middle of the school year when there was a choice of only three villas – all designed for bule – and we were not going to reject them to live under the stars (romantic as that might sound).
• We have genuinely tried to live as good neighbours and good citizens, being involved in (and leading) community initiatives to bring us closer to the local population, and being respectful of our shared environment.
• We cannot protest against all the new housing developments as we don’t know the background to them (although we’re finding out depressingly fast just how involved some GS families are in them). It’s not our place to simply object to anything we might dislike. But we absolutely can protest against a development that will plonk a concrete behemoth of questionable value directly facing the school.

The developers appear to have been, shall we say, economical with the truth, with the King of Sibang under the impression that this will be a low-impact development aimed at children, and their own investors told there would be little opposition for a facility the local community wants and needs. It looks like there is nothing to stop the development from proceeding, though. It is not illegal, it will create promised temporary jobs for the contractors, and we fully expect that they will accelerate their work during the summer holidays when many families will be away.

But this has significantly impacted the way we feel about the area we have grown to love. Whilst there has been a welcome groundswell of like-minded individuals and families coming together and supporting each other to live in a way that is in harmony with the land, it does feel like Sibang and its demographic is changing at an astonishing pace. The characteristics and qualities that make it such a unique place to live are being razed to the ground much like those trees and woodland. 

I wish this was a more positive and less angry blog ☹

P.S. You should have seen my first draft, it was a bit like this (NSFW – parental caution advised).

15/05/25

As always, we would love to hear from you so do comment below 🙂