Education that creates lasting waves

Our vision continues to grow – with new classrooms, successful graduates, young ambassadors for marine conservation, and important progress in our infrastructure.

“Room for Education” – additional classrooms

With the opening of our Blue Ocean School one year ago, our school community continued to grow. However, it quickly became clear that the need for space was increasing again and that we wanted to welcome more children from the villages of Raja Ampat.

Therefore, in addition to the four classrooms in the Blue Ocean School, we have created two additional modern classrooms on the second floor of our new sanitation building. This means that our school will soon have a total of six modern classrooms available.

Construction work on the two new rooms is already well advanced. The electrical installations and interior finishing are currently being completed before the final floor tiles are laid and the new school desks are installed.

We are very pleased that the new classrooms will be ready in time for the start of the new school year. For our school, they mean much more than just additional rooms: they create better learning conditions and enable even more children from the remote villages of Raja Ampat to access high-quality education.

From Child Aid Papua to university – the way is clear for the next important step in education

We were also able to celebrate impressive achievements in the field of education. Our first 12th grade class completed their practical final examinations in Sustainable Tourism with the highest rating of “very competent”. We were especially touched by the feedback from the external university assessor, who certified that our students had a level of expertise that exceeds that of many students at his own university. For our team, this is a valuable confirmation of the quality of education that we have built together.

Another moving moment was the graduation ceremony of our first graduating class. All six graduates received scholarships for studies in Bandung or Jakarta – including fields such as Management, Hotel Management, Digital Communication, English Literature, Education and Multimedia. We are especially happy that our graduates chose such a wide range of study areas. This shows how diverse their talents have become and how broad their future opportunities now are.

For many of these young people, this marks the fulfilment of a dream. They are among the first in their families to pursue a university education – an opportunity that would have seemed almost unimaginable just a few years ago.

“Congratulations”! Outstanding achievements on a big stage

Our students also achieved excellent results in various English competitions: Mark won the English Contest in Waisai, Ola took second place, and Alvaro and Mery achieved third place in the English debate. A special achievement was also celebrated by our tenth-grade student Shonia, who won a major English competition in the city of Sorong, with around 300,000 inhabitants, against participants from significantly larger schools.

With these achievements, the children are setting new standards for the Raja Ampat region. Such successes repeatedly show that talent, dedication and enthusiasm are more important than a child’s background.

Drinking water and rainwater treatment: Reliable supply – even during the dry season

Our drinking water treatment system is now fully operational and reliably supplies our school with clean drinking water.

Since the entire system relies exclusively on rainwater, the unusually long dry period of the past months has once again shown us how important sufficiently large water storage facilities are. For almost two months, there was hardly any rainfall and our reserves were heavily used.

We have therefore decided to bring forward the construction of additional rainwater storage tanks. Two new water tanks are currently being built, each with a storage capacity of around 38,000 litres. A reliable water supply is essential, especially for our boarding school operations. The new storage facilities therefore not only create additional infrastructure, but also provide greater security and independence in the long term – even during extended dry periods.

First Conservation Camp “Sahabat Laut” – Friends of the Sea

A special highlight was our first three-day Conservation Camp “Sahabat Laut”. Three students from each of five different schools in Raja Ampat joined us as representatives and participated together with our students in workshops on marine conservation, coral reefs, waste management and sustainable resource use.

We are especially proud that our students prepared and led all workshops themselves. They shared their knowledge while gaining valuable experience as leaders. Our fundamental hope with this programme is that participants return to their villages as ambassadors for marine conservation and inspire more people to protect this unique natural environment.

With this video, you can immerse yourself in Sahabat Laut and follow even more closely how the educators spent their time together: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSCXrnd3iyc

A safe place for strong young women

Another important milestone is the completion of our new girls’ dormitory. It provides a safe and modern home for 32 female students from the most remote villages of Raja Ampat. In addition to the sleeping areas, the building includes modern sanitation facilities and a spacious common area for studying and spending time together.

With the dormitory, we are not only creating a protected place to live and learn. We also want to encourage young women to follow their own paths and discover new perspectives for their futures – opportunities that go beyond the roles traditionally often lived in their communities. In this way, we are not only investing in buildings, but above all in the potential and future of our students.

New school boat: Mobility across the water

Thanks to the generous support of many donors, our crowdfunding campaign was successfully completed and the construction order for the new school boat was awarded to a shipyard in Ambon. We are deeply grateful for this great solidarity.

How important this new means of transportation is became clear to us again during this year’s monsoon season. The rough weather conditions made safe journeys with our previous boat extremely difficult. At the same time, the increasingly worn material repeatedly led to extensive repairs. As we now take responsibility for significantly more students as well as numerous education and conservation projects, a reliable and safe boat is essential for our daily school operations and programmes such as the Conservation Camp “Sahabat Laut”. Completion of the new school boat is planned within the next three months.

Thank you

When we look back on the past months, we feel immense gratitude. The visible progress on our campus, the impressive achievements of our students and the trust of the families show what can be achieved together. Every new classroom, every scholarship and every successfully completed project represents an opportunity to sustainably change the lives of young people.

From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for walking this journey with us.