Melati Wijisen (Wy-sen) - Wednesday, 12/9/2018 - Happened on Friday, 7/9/2018

    5th grade is really a special grade. For one thing, it's the last grade of elementary school. But in my school, 5th grade is the grade known for its best unit, a unit that covers lots of things, and a unit that changes who you are. A change makers unit. And because of that, we get to meet lots of notable people.
    Last Friday, we had Melati Wijsen, the 17 year old co-founder of Bye-Bye Plastic Bags come to our school to talk to us. She first arrived on Thursday to talk to the high school students for their Global Action Program (GAP). Next, she went to middle school, and then came to our grade, 5th grade.
    5th grade was lucky because in the whole elementary school, only our grade got to meet Melati. She talked to us regarding how she started Bye-Bye Plastic Bags, which happened on a day in 2013, when they were learning about notable people that helped change the world. Walking home that day, she and her sister, Isabel, said that they didn't want to wait until they were adults to make a difference. They wanted to get started immediately.

Us with Melati Wijisen

    They found an interesting subject, garbage. But garbage was too big of a subject for them, they thought. So, they focused on a realistic subject for them kids that fell under garbage, plastic bags.
    After a long time of persistence and determination, the two sisters were able to get contact with the governor, where they negotiated and managed to get the governor to sign a contract banning plastic bags from their home, Bali, by 2018.
    She also told us about some of the problems she was facing. She told us that the plastic industry made about 40 million per annum. It's hard to tell someone to stop earning 40 million (I don't know what currency), and the plastic industry didn't want to stop.
    She said that she was planning to start a pilot project to empower children to chase their dreams, because maybe, because of one of them, the world will be changed.
    Other than that, she thought us 3 lessons she learned because of Bye-Bye Plastic Bags.

• Lesson #1 - Teamwork - Teamwork makes the dream work!
• Lesson #2 - Think outside the box!
• Lesson #3 - Persistence & Commitment.

She ended with one of her quotes - "We kids may only be 25 percent of the world's population, but we are 100 percent of the future!"