Indonesia
Walks of Love
By Jakarta News Group (Originally in Indonesian)
[Jakarta] Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo has declared the last Sunday of each month as “Car-Free Day,” aiming to reduce carbon emissions. A Walk of Love is held by our Jakarta Center Association members on the car-free roads to mark the launch of a program whenever a new sub-region joins in the effort. As of December, Golden Year 5 (2008), the fellow initiates and their families have participated in six Walk of Love events. Wearing SOS t-shirts and distributing SOS leaflets, they raise awareness about global warming and tell people of the immediate and long-term benefits of following the eco-friendly, plant-based diet and a greener way of life.
The Interim Mayor of South Jakarta, Mr. Mara Oloan Siregar, the Mayor of North Jakarta, Mr. Effendi Anas, and the Mayor of West Jakarta, H.M. Djoko Ramadhan came to launch the first car-free day of their respective districts. They all had the chance to talk to our initiates on global warming and vegetarianism, and tried the delicious vegan dish samples. They fully support the ideal of “Be Veg. Go Green. Save the Planet.” Through such events, the initiates have collected over 10,000
supportive signatories on four, 10-meter long SOS banners, given away
over 10,000 plant seeds which symbolize a greener way of life, and demonstrated
how to cook many vegan dishes. Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo and the mayors
of all five district cities also showed their full support for the Be
Veg, Go Green, Save the Planet message. It is the loving wish of the
Jakarta initiates that more of their fellow citizens will soon join the
holy mission to save the Earth by becoming vegan.
Changing Our Eating Habits for the Survival of Our Earth Inspired by Master’s suggestion to invite our neighbors or even anyone who smiles at us to our home for a vegan meal, and to open more vegan restaurants so that these foods are more available everywhere in the community, initiates from the Jakarta Center formed kitchen teams in Golden Year 5 (2008) to help widely promote this plant-based diet. The Happy Yogi Kitchen Team With the mission to show the local people that vegan meals
are healthy, easy-to-cook, and delicious, the Happy Yogi Kitchen Team
have conducted cooking classes and participated in food bazaars at schools,
plazas, shopping malls, businesses and even the Foreign Minister Department’s
Office in South Jakarta. They also took part in the World Vegetarian Day
2008 Expo and organized various seminars. Using every opportunity, they
distributed the Alternative Living and SOS flyers.
People have responded very positively to the initiates’ exquisite cuisine and messages. For example, at BPK Penabur 2 Junior High School, where the kitchen team was invited to give vegan cooking classes, all the students loved their food so much that they asked their teacher to have such classes regularly. The school principal and all the teachers promised to have plant-based meals two or three days a week. An office employee told the initiates that previously he had a stroke due to heavy meat consumption and now he felt like he was being guided to meet them and know Master’s teachings. In an interview with Women’s Radio, Jakarta, on September
11 and 12, Golden Year 5 (2008), the kitchen team explained why it is
imperative to convert to a plant-based diet, and how a vegan way of life
can save our Earth from the destruction of global warming. The host pointed
out to the audience that eating for most people is for individual survival,
but to our group, eating is for the survival of the whole planet.
The Vegan Stall Team Since June Golden Year 5, the initiates have opened eight “VegStalls” by converting their home garages into businesses or setting up small kiosks on their own properties. They serve various simple but delicious vegan dishes at an affordable price to give people more reasons to go vegan. They also use the VegStalls as facilities to conduct cooking classes for those who are interested. The initiates’ VegStalls are often invited to be part of school events and various food bazaars. During business hours, they always tune in to Supreme Master Television and inform people about the seriousness of global warming and the benefits of the vegetarian diet. Jakarta initiates hope that through their dedicated efforts,
more families everywhere will adopt a vegan way of life to save our beautiful
Earthly home.
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