Morning Greetings 2: Young Activists in Sumba Island


The trip to visit multiplicators on two islands, Alor and Sumba, gave impression to the board members who had the opportunity to meet them. The followings are notes and impressions from Pdt. (Emeritus) Bambang Sumbodo, S.Th., M.Min after observing the local area and meeting personally.

Elisabeth Uru Ndaya, has graduated from English Education in Yogyakarta. His father is a gospel teacher (pastor assistant) in GKS (Sumbanese Christian Church), a small church in Tanatuku, Makamenggit, about 50 kms from Waingapu. After finishing her study in Yogya, she returned to her hometown to gather Sumbanese women to make Sumbanese weaving crafts. Her efforts to gather and empower women there were not easy, because of many obstacles and challenges, such as a husband forbade his wife to participate the training. Elis did extraordinary approach towards the husband who forbade his wife, she involved the church and the pastor for advice. Finally, everyone allowed their wives to join women activities of Stube HEMAT in their village.

Now they have learned to make Sumbanese tied weaving as well as coloring from plants and established training center for weaving. There is a mother who already have a gallery and earned money to support the domestic needs. When they practiced weaving their children also came along and sometimes they made a hassle, but on the other side they introduced their children about weaving, especially girls to love Sumbanese tied weaving which is starting to fade.

Elis is also an English teacher, so she was motivated to set up an English learning group for children, and she did all with wholehearted. The training on Sumbanese tied weaving was attended by 20 women. May God bless them to strengthen their families as well as the church, because they are actually the preacher of the good news. Keep fighting to face the challenge, Elis, Immanuel.





Yulius Rihi Anawaru, a forestry-graduated from a campus in Yogyakarta. We discussed a lot about Sumba and its young people. Yulius has done reforestation by planting thousand trees in his village. Then he received God's blessing, by working together to buy a boat to cultivate seaweed at  Warabadi beach, East Sumba. Yulius involves Andreas to supervise and maintain the boat and take care the seaweed, and from the seaweed Andreas sent his children to college. Praise God, the harvests are so satisfying. The children and teenagers were invited to go boating around the sea and to learn about sea and seaweed cultivation.




Apriyanto Hangga, studied Governance at Village Community Development Academy in Yogyakarta.  He has been a student activist since he was in Yogyakarta and now he mobilizes the community in Mbinudita, about 120 kms away from Waingapu, East Sumba to rebuild Parallel Elementary School which collapsed in 2019 because of hurricane. Through social media Yanto managed to raise sponsors to build elementary school building and mobilized the community to work together. The workers of the construction are from Nganjuk, East Java. The location of the building is on the top of a hill and surrounded by villages. This Parallel School brings school which are about 4 to 6 kms away closer to children on foot. After the establishment of the school, the children walked just 2-3 kms. This school is designed to be finished at the end of this year, and it is expected to be used when the pandemic ends. Currently, teachers visit students one by one from one house to another. Apriyanto also raises pigs, however virus has attacked pigs in Sumba and led thousands of pigs in Sumba died, including Apriyanto’s and his group's livestock. Together with Stube HEMAT, Apriyanto and several students discussed and learned how to overcome this virus.




Frans Fredi Kalikit Bara. Previously Frans was a candidate for Catholic priest, but he resigned because his parents asked him to continue the lineage of family. Now he is writing his thesis at Wirawacana Christian University, in Waingapu, East Sumba. Frans has ever invited to Yogyakarta to take part in Stube HEMAT Yogyakarta training, such as training on creative products, journalism, organic farming, and farming on dry land. It has been almost 5 years since then, now he is cultivating chilli, tomato, watermelon, mustard greens, cabbage, with very good results. Until now, the needs of agricultural products in Sumba are still supplied from outside of Sumba island, so he formed a group of young farmers to develop organic farming. They are assets of the nation in food fields, rice barns and other agricultural products.


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