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To some, it’s rubbish; to Angela, it’s flowers and dresses – a Novakid student’s fascinating story
‘Hello Novakid. My name is Angela Josephine.I come from Indonesia. I live near the beach. The beach is beautiful, but it is so dirty now, plastic is everywhere. People are throwing plastic after eating and drinking. I want to stop people to throw plastic into the sea. So, I started to collect the plastic. Everyday, I collect plastic from houses, trash cans, and schools. Me and my mom make a place in the garage to recycle plastic into bags, umbrellas, flowers, hats, framewalls, then we sell it. … I am scared to hear news about plastic polluting the ocean, even the fish we eat has microplastic! I don’t want children become sick because eating fish with microplastic. I feel so sad to hear news about many sea animals die because they trapped in plastic…’
This interesting message was how we were first introduced to an interesting nine-year-old girl from Bangka Island, near Sumatra.
Angela Josephine won the Novakid Stories contest and received a year’s worth of free English lessons from our school. We decided to learn more about this young lady, who sews clothes made from plastic and is working on environmental projects.
Upscaling — a new word in the world of fashion
Upcycling is not a new idea; the word is even in dictionaries. It means turning rubbish and things that are not needed into something new and useful.
Angela Josephine and her mom collecting plastic on the beach.
Angela Josephine turns plastic rubbish into creative dresses, bags and hats. Her friends and family wear clothes made from her pellets. She even sells some things, though she doesn’t make much money from it — it takes a month or two to make one of her exclusive dresses.
‘We will speak the same language’
Angela Josephine has already won first prize at a fashion show at her school for one of her designs, and now she has ambitious new plans. She wants to improve her English so she can host an international YouTube vlog on recycling, green living and sustainable consumption.
By drawing attention to plastic recycling and upcycling, Angela Josephine also hopes to encourage her viewers to treat nature with respect. After all, it is so easy to sort rubbish, or at least to put a cola bottle in the bin, rather than leaving it on the beach.
In future, she hopes to think up outfits as creative as those of her favourite designers, Vivienne Westwood and Vera Wang. And she dreams of one day building a big modern waste recycling and management centre in her city.
Novakid supports its young talented students and helps them achieve their dreams and make a difference! Recently we shared a story about Kartal Biljanli, Netflix actor from Turkey, and a story about Shun Sasaki, young Japanese guide for foreigners at the Atomic Bomb Dome in the Peace Memorial Park.
Read more about Novakid’s talented students here.
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Wow Angela! I am so proud of you and honored to be your teacher. You are such an inspiration to the rest of us ♥
Thank you miss Danielle for always teaching Angela so enthusiastic, energetic, excited, fun, and amazing learning method. Angela is able to speak english confidently and fluently now. You are the one who i will thank for in the future.
My dearest Angela. I knew you were amazing when I first met you but this puts you on a whole other level! I am so proud of your hard work and better yet proud of your mum to have raised such a remarkable young lady. You are going to achieve big things in your life. I am certain of it!