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| Sharing about "Software Engineer" at KIJP – photo credit: Josef Wattimena |
KIJP - stands for Komunitas Inspirasi Jelajah Pulau (Inspiration Community of Island Hoppers) - is a movement of groups of professionals who care about education in Kepulauan Seribu, Jakarta. This movement is derived from Kelas Inspirasi, where professionals joined to share about their professions to elementary students from low-income families. In addition, KIJP also try to contribute in the environment and society where the students live through educational campaign activities.
Sunday morning, October 11th, 2015, 194 volunteers of KIJP batch 4 gathered in Dermaga Ancol to go to the island they were assigned to. We spread to 13 elementary schools in 9 different islands in Kepulauan Seribu: Tidung, Payung, Untung Jawa, Pari, Lancang, Panggang, Pramuka, Kelapa, and Harapan. We brought our own tools and materials to motivate and teach the students about our professions. Some groups also brought several boxes of books for the school libraries.
Just before noon, my group arrived at Panggang island where we spent two days to volunteer. Panggang is the densest island in Kepulauan Seribu, around 400 people/hectare. The infrastructure was not as good as in the other island, such as Pramuka or Tidung, because Panggang is not a tourism destination so the local goverment care less about it. There are only two elementary schools there: SDN Panggang 01 & 03, with total 434 students in both schools. My group is the second batch of KIJP who volunteer there. The kids are always cute, although some of them are very naughty – they might have more energy to express due to the limited open space for them to play at. The characters of most kids are quite tough because of the way their parents educate them at home. That makes one of the biggest challenges for the volunteers to teach at school.
In the first day, we held mini festival in the school for kids and their parents. We had a series of traditional games where kids could participate and collect badges when they won the games. For parents, initially we prepared for three classes: entrepreneurial class, and environmental class, and make-up class. Unfortunately, the local residents were not that enthusiastic about our classes. The number of participants were not as good as we expected, but the show must go on. We learned that as a voluntary program we have to be fun in educating both kids and parents.
Second day, we started our activities in the school with national ceremony. The headmaster introduced us to the students and they were so enthusiastic about us since the volunteers from previous batch had already made a good impression to the kids and the teachers. Our group consists of various professions, such as engineers, bankers, entrepreneurs, photographers, foreign linguists, MC, medical doctor, lawyer, researcher, psychologist, make-up artist, HR experts, etc. We prepared everything by ourselves. We all have different backgrounds, but we have the same "mind frequency", and moreover we have the same mission: to contribute a bit for a better education in Indonesia.
We went back to Jakarta on the third day. It was tiring, yet so much fun. We were all happy, although we could only take a shower with brine (sea water) – because they didn't have fresh water in Panggang. We felt enriched, although we spent our own money to join this movement.
In the end, we believe that there are still many good people out there who care about those kids' education and want to contribute something. And although we only spent a little time there, we really hope that those kids will be motivated to achieve their dreams. For a better Indonesia.
P.S. For further information about KIJP, especially KIJP Batch 4 in Panggang island, you can read our electronic book on kijp.anggriawan.net
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
– Eleanor Roosevelt
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