Stube HEMAT & KKN-PPM UGM 2023/2024.          

Mothers are the family's driving force, especially in sorting waste and using environmentally friendly goods and materials. UGM KKN-PPM 2023/2024 in the Jaten, Jomblang, and Bolawen regions tried to contribute by introducing the Luffa aegyptiaca plant which is widely known by the public as bestru, gambas, or termemes. By collaborating with the Stube HEMAT institution (https://stube-hemat.or.id/) which has been involved in managing and developing this plant into an organic sponge with the ADE'WASH brand as a substitute for plastic washing sponges, the 2023/2024 UGM KKN-PPM students held an outreach at PKK meeting of Sendangadi village, Mlati-Sleman. The meeting took place at the Joglo of Kindergarten school ‘Rumahku Tumbuh”, Jomblang (Sunday, 14/01/2024). From this meeting, it is expected that women, especially mothers can become pioneers in reducing plastic waste and preserving nature.

The Luffa aegyptiaca plant is a tropical plant that grows vines and requires simple treatment, with no intensive fertilization. This plant can grow and develop well with sufficient sunlight, and of course with sufficient water like other plants in general. Ariani Narwastujati, S.Pd, S.S., M.Pd, the Executive Director of Stube HEMAT said that she can harvest Luffa fruit two months later after planting. Within 6 months, this plant produces extraordinary number of fruit, especially if it is given a place to grow and hang on (anjang-anjang). The fruit can reach a length of 85 cmss with a diameter of 10 cms. The ripe-young luffa can be consumed as a rich-fiber vegetable which is good for health, while the old ones can be used as organic fiber for dishwashing sponges and other kitchen utensils, as well as as a skin cleansing bath tool to improve blood circulation. The first six months are the best harvest period with large and long fruit, next the fruit becomes shorter both in size and length, so that the plants need to be regenerated.

The women who attended admitted that there were no such plants in their area, so they were enthusiastic about planting them. There was one participant confessing that in her childhood she had seen and used this fruit for washing dishes, but as time went by, she could no longer find this plant and replaced it with a plastic sponge for washing dishes.

This socialization from UGM KKN-PPM 2023/2024 students is very useful to remind people the local wisdom that actually the community already has by using organic washing sponges which can decompose in the soil when they are no longer used and become trash.

The Luffa aegyptiaca plant is a tropical plant that grows vines and requires simple treatment, with no intensive fertilization. This plant can grow and develop well with sufficient sunlight, and of course with sufficient water like other plants in general. Ariani Narwastujati, S.Pd, S.S., M.Pd, the Executive Director of Stube HEMAT said that she can harvest Luffa fruit two months later after planting. Within 6 months, this plant produces extraordinary number of fruit, especially if it is given a place to grow and hang on (anjang-anjang). The fruit can reach a length of 85 cmss with a diameter of 10 cms. The ripe-young luffa can be consumed as a rich-fiber vegetable which is good for health, while the old ones can be used as organic fiber for dishwashing sponges and other kitchen utensils, as well as as a skin cleansing bath tool to improve blood circulation. The first six months are the best harvest period with large and long fruit, next the fruit becomes shorter both in size and length, so that the plants need to be regenerated.

The meeting with the PKK women from Jomblang hamlet was a good and useful opportunity to provide information to the women's group, who attended it enthusiastically and asked questions on other material presented by the students, such as Organic Fertilizer and Applications for Monitoring Child Growth and Development. Of course, women are definitely empowered! ***