God is always near and He
knows His children’s needs. The dream of three young Sumbanese girls, Vebiati
Lende, Kristiani Pedi and Naomi Mora Kalak to get to Yogyakarta, finally came
true. Yogyakarta on the Java island has become a magnet for young people across
Indonesia to come to this city. However, not many students have opportunity and
ability to realize their expectations to study in this city due to various
things, especially economics.
Exposure Program to
Stube-HEMAT Yogyakarta is one of Stube-HEMAT Sumba programs that gives Sumba
students opportunity, especially for those who have never been to Yogyakarta to
study and to do activities in Stube-HEMAT Yogyakarta for approximately three
weeks effective. The opportunity to visit other places, to interact with people
who have different cultural and language
backgrounds or have a different way of life will enrich participants to
understand humans and life.
Three young students who
had the opportunity to study in Yogyakarta were Vebiati Lende (Theology college of Sumba Christian Church); Naomi Mora Kalak (Terpadu
Theological College); and Kristiani Pedi
(church activist and leader of Sumba youth community). During the visit, they
explored Stube-HEMAT's vision and mission and concerned with young generation,
sharpen their critical abilities through journalism, discussion of Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) and homosexuality seminar. Regarding the SDGs, as a
global determination to achieve world development goals for human welfare and preservation
of nature with 17 indicators, Naomi was interested in a topic of clean water
availability because not every people in Sumba get clean water supply; Vebi
paid attention to stunting cases among Sumba children; and Kristiani focused on education because
Sumba still faces challenges for qualified teachers, schools distribution in
each district, and more educational opportunities for Sumba women.
As learning context of
Sumba which has agricultural area, they discussed vegetables, especially
mustard greens, cherry tomatoes, green lettuce, and fruit in Kuncup garden and
observed hydroponic and aquaponic farming systems in Indmira. These activities
continued with local food processing from black glutinous rice flour processed
into steamed bread, corn for pudding, pumpkin for steamed cake and breadfruit
for chips.
In addition, kruisteek or cross-stitching arts became one of the
topics to learn many kinds of handicrafts, enriched with batik that uses colet technique and ecoprint which uses
leaves to print motifs on fabric. Also, the art of stringing beads, muti, yarn,
wire and other accessories into necklaces, bracelets and headbands, which will
be marketed in Sumba, provided skills for them. Photography and its tricks such
as techniques, angle taking, speed and lighting, became their additional skills
to make a product branding. In addition, they joined Stube-HEMAT Yogyakarta
training on ‘Learning from Failure’ to open up participants' thoughts about failure
and how to make a life strategy, not to be easy to give up.
A visit to Borobudur
temple, experience of travelling by train, and a walk along philosophy axis of Yogyakarta
completed their understanding about living outside Sumba Island. At the end of
the program, they designed a follow-up what will be done on Sumba, such as
sharing experience and knowledge with friends in Stube-HEMAT Sumba, producing
handicrafts, processing local food into marketable food and giving motivation
to church youth to optimize bare land by growing vegetables. From Jogja for
Sumba, keep moving and dynamic! (TRU).
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