South Kalimantan Social Volunteers Break MURI Records, Serving 15 Thousand Rice Boxes in 2 Hours

BANJARBARU, SOUTH KALIMANTAN (December 20th 2019) - As many as 1500 social volunteers with different ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds unite to process, cook, and prepare breakfast menus of 15 thousand boxes of rice and side dishes for the Social Service and Volunteer Jamboree Social at Banua Botanical Garden, Banjarbaru City, South Kalimantan Province.

"The atmosphere this morning at Banua Botanical Garden, is truly extraordinary. All volunteers work together to prepare food menus. Cooking and preparing food for survivors at the disaster site is one of the skills a social volunteer must have, especially the Disaster Preparedness Cadets (Tagana). This is a way to increase their abilities and capacities in managing public kitchens in a fast, hygienic and professional manner," said the Minister of Social Affairs, Juliari P. Batubara through the Director General of Social Protection and Security, Harry Hikmat at the Jamboree location, Friday (20/11).

The Director General said that the Social Service and Jamboree were held to welcome and celebrate the 2019 National Social Solidarity Day (HKSN) which falls on December 20th 2019. The cooking activity for 15 thousand boxes of rice and side dishes was contested between the participants, adding to the excitement of the event.

Technically, the Jamboree participants were divided into groups. One group is a district and has the task of preparing 1000 rice boxes with different menus per group. For example, yellow rice, white rice, boiled chicken eggs with red spices, sauteed vegetables and tofu, skipjack fish, fried chicken, and others. All menus are prepared from 07.00 to 09.00 WITA.

The jury for the competition came from the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Indonesian Record Museum (MURI), the Provincial Social Service, and several partners in the field of disaster. The winning criteria include the management of the public kitchen in the field, the results of the menu that are served, cleanliness, tidiness of the soup kitchen, and the appearance of the presentation.

"Interestingly, the entire menu is served in a reusable container, namely besek. This is also one of the local traditions and wisdom that must be preserved. It's even part of the Go-Green social volunteer movement by not using disposable wraps like styrofoam that aren't environmentally friendly," said the Director General.

The Social Service and Jamboree took place from December 17th to 20th followed by volunteers from the Tagana element, Pioneers of Peace, Disaster Preparedness Village (KSB), and Human Resources for the Family Hope Program (PKH) from 13 districts / cities in South Kalimantan Province (Kalsel). Also attending were invited participants from other provinces, namely East Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, East Java, West Java and Yogyakarta Special Region.

For four days, they carried out various social activities such as Tagana goes to School (TMS), planting 15 thousand tree seedlings in the Banua Botanical Garden area, Santiaji Procession to reinforce the spirit of social volunteerism, and Strengthening the Capacity of the Field Public Kitchen through Breaking the MURI record to cook 15 thousand boxes of rice and side dishes within 120 minutes.

TMS provides education to elementary to high school students and the equivalent in Banjarbaru City and Banjar Regency. They are invited to take an emergency response to disasters from an early age. A total of 246 schools were visited by volunteers.

Meanwhile, tree planting was carried out with the Minister of Social Affairs, Juliari Batubara on Thursday (19/12) together with all Jamboree participants. The tree seeds planted are Ulin Wood, Meranti Wood, Kasturi Fruit Trees, Striped Wood Trees, Sungkai Wood Trees, etc. All the tree seedlings were planted in a three hectare area in the Banua Botanical Gardens.

"The land of Banua was chosen because this land is a land that is considered to be full of tolerance and human values, with the theme" Mobile Social Volunteers (Fighting for the People)," said the Director General.

The theme, he continued, gave an important message that we were born to give, to help others without any sense of self, with the spirit of mutual cooperation from all communities that has been embodied in the State Principles of Pancasila.

"Social Volunteers are at the forefront of the Ministry of Social Affairs in disaster management in Indonesia. Through this Social Service and Social Volunteer Jamboree, the Ministry of Social Affairs invites them as partners to strengthen synergies in disaster management," said the Director General.

He also conveyed the message of the Minister of Social Affairs to the volunteers to maintain discipline and cohesiveness in order to be able to realize fast and targeted services.

On this occasion, Harry also said that the Minister of Social Affairs, Juliari P. Batubara appreciated the service of social volunteers in humanitarian tasks that have been carried out so far, as well as appreciation to the Provincial Government of South Kalimantan for the implementation of Social Service and Social Volunteer Jamboree throughout South Kalimantan Province for the first time implemented in the ranks of the Social Service in Indonesia.