When SEEDS met Mrs. Yakeen in 2013, she was blind. Severe cataracts obstructed both eyes, but she was fearful of the surgery needed to restore vision. SEEDS partnered with a local foundation in Riau, Indonesia, and sent health workers to Mrs. Yakeen’s isolated village. For months, they encouraged her to give the healthcare system a chance, and she agreed to treatment for her left eye. It was a success. Mrs. Yakeen proudly declared to neighbors that she could see, and others followed her example. Several villagers sought cataract surgery and enjoyed new sight.

Mrs. Yakeen planned for the other eye surgery, but then developed active tuberculosis. Her struggle with the terrible disease lasted years, and she nearly lost her life. Mrs. Yakeen’s TB battle begins in the November 2023 edition of SEEDS News. Side effects from the tuberculosis medication and mistrust for modern healthcare caused her to stop treatment numerous times. SEEDS workers persisted in visiting her home through the years, gently encouraging her to take her medication. Finally, in July 2024, doctors declared Mrs. Yakeen TB-free! She was cured—but had unfinished business. In August, ten years after her left eye, Mrs. Yakeen’s right eye was healed. She has vision in both eyes.

The SEEDS vision is long-ranging. As long as it takes to strengthen and empower Southeast Asian communities through improved health, safety, education, and economic development, SEEDS will be there.

Education is Iterative

SEEDS partners with Yayasan Tunas Aksara (YTA) to promote literacy in Indonesia.  YTA operates a program called “Saya Suka Membaca” (SSM), meaning “I Like to Read”.  SSM was originally conceived as a teacher training program.  SSM staff designed and distributed their own contextualized curriculum, auxiliary materials, training, and mentoring, to elementary grade-1 teachers so that they could teach reading well throughout their teaching tenure.  Their goals for students were simple: (a) read fluently  (b) understand what was read  (c) enjoy reading.   

The SSM staff have continued to improve their practices according to the needs or challenges they encountered in the field, as good educators do. They streamlined processes, added new positions, made more books, corrected old ones, etc. In other words, YTA has reiterated SSM repeatedly since its inception.  YTA has built a spiral staircase, if you will.  Yet the big question is whether that spiral staircase performs as intended-Is SSM effective?  

The SSM team has worked hard to answer that question.  They developed a test to collect pre- and post-treatment data.  They are currently proposing to conduct a two-year research project that will examine: (a) quantitative baseline/endline data from all current participating schools (hopefully compared against equivalent non-treatment schools in similar districts); (b) qualitative data from SSM participants to better understand what underlies the quantitative data.  That data will be used to inform the next iteration of SSM. The desire to reiterate does not come from a vacuum.  The Indonesian government has recently prioritized 21^st century skills for its future workforce.  SSM plans to change with the times so that the next generation of Indonesian youth can (a) read fluently; (b) understand what was read; (c) enjoy reading; and (d) enter the working world with related 21^st century skills.  Here’s to climbing the spiral staircase

The Integrated Farming (IF) program is an initiative that is transforming the lives of marginalized communities in Riau, Indonesia. This farming program aims to implement a sustainable farming method focused on breeding ikan gabus (snakehead fish). The snakehead fish was chosen for its marketability. There is a significant public demand due to the health benefits, market price, and the fact that you can even breed it with limited space.  Communities can utilize their land for planting a variety of vegetables, including chilies, tomatoes, and other produce. The water from the fishponds is useful as fertilizer and as water for the plants.

The Integrated Farming Project does not only improve the communities’ economy; but it is also a platform for empowerment.  The communities that have partnered with Yayasan Pendar Pagi are trained and coached to set up the same farming concept to develop their surrounding land in marginalized communities. The goal is not just to assist several families but also to help communities grow their own sustainable farms.

This program is an effective way to help the communities reach their full potential. Through this program, farmers are encouraged to recognize their own potential and enable them to make the most of their available resources. They are encouraged to gather regularly to share and learn from each other as they engage in running their farming program. They are also encouraged to actively participate in finding solutions when facing problems in the implementation process. This empowerment program is all about helping the community become independent and become agents of change for the marginalized communities in Riau.

Within the last year, one SEEDS consultant in south Thailand has made the change from community development projects to educational involvement within a local university. This is a new development and many details are yet to be confirmed, but the goal of educational development through the new role at the local university is the main focus. So far it has been achieved through English language instruction for undergraduate students, which will be extended to postgraduate students and staff later. Another way to be involved in education is by collaborating with research projects and seminars within the university. This will be focused on various issues (including social, cultural, and educational issues) and will bring together local researchers, as well as lecturers and staff from the university. It is hoped that such initiatives will help benefit understanding and education levels throughout the university and beyond.

In 2023 SEEDS partner Yayasan Tunas Aksara (YTA) trained over 200 teachers across Indonesia as part of its Saya Suka Membaca (“I Love Reading”) program. One of YTA’s areas of focus is Nusa Tenggara Timur Province (NTT), where more than half of primary school children read below the expected standard.

YTA has a longstanding partnership with the local education department of NTT, and in recent years has trained more than 50 teachers from local primary schools on the island of Timor.

In July 2024, a team of YTA trainers held a three-day training event in the city of Kupang for 19 teachers from preschools in remote areas on the islands of Timor, Rote, and Sabu Raijua.

YTA trainer Tina Djulete said, “Children who learn to read fluently and with understanding at an early stage in their education, and who love to learn, will receive great benefits throughout their years at school and for the rest of their lives.”

Equipped with practical training, high-quality curriculum and reading materials, these teachers are now ready to return to their villages and serve their communities through education, creating better opportunities for the next generation.

You can learn more about the work of Yayasan Tunas Aksara and the Saya Suka Membaca program on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@sayasukamembaca or at www.sayasukamembaca.org.

“I am sorry it’s so disgusting” foreign tourists are told before they visit the famous Air Manis beach on the outskirts of Padang, West Sumatra. The beach is famous as the site of the legendary figure Malin Kundang who had a rags-to-riches story but who was ashamed of his mother. On his return home, she cursed him and he was turned into a pile of rocks which visitors go to see. Ironically, Air Manis means ‘sweet water’ but today the sea is littered with plastic bags that are swept on to the beach by every wave. Local residents protest that the plastic washes up from other parts of the city. Yet, along with the ‘Malin Kundang t-shirts’, stallholders sell drinks, snacks and fresh fruit – every one of them supplied in a single use plastic (SUP) bag!

For many domestic tourists, the plastic is just normal life, they see through the waste and aren’t aware that it doesn’t have to be that way. In an attempt to change the narrative, the Perahu Nusantara Foundation has been working with stallholders to see them commit to stop using SUP. The Foundation has been receiving donations of old material and employed a local woman who has sewn more than 3000 resuable bags with the strapline “Air Manis is cool without single use plastic”. This initiative is raising awareness that SUP is unnecessary and bad for the environment. Coupled with Perahu Nusantara Foundation’s educational awareness program among the young people of Air Manis, step by step we hope to see local people looking after their beautiful natural environment.

Last summer holiday, we organized a Chinese cultural exchange program between a group of students from Taiwan University and those from a university in southern Thailand, studying Chinese.

The Taiwanese students prepared various activities to showcase Taiwan and its rich culture. These included games to familiarize everyone with Taiwan’s provinces and cuisine, writing spring couplets, and sampling Taiwanese snacks.

Despite meeting for the first time and hailing from different countries, within a few hours, they formed bonds of friendship. The local students even extended invitations to explore the vibrant student life in southern Thailand together, further enriching their exchange experience.

Let’s see the feedback from the Taiwanese students :

Student one :-  In fact, we are the ones being received. The Thai students care for us in all aspects of life, and we experience the most authentic acceptance and relationship building.

Student two :-  After contacting students from southern Thailand, I realized that we are actually not very different. We like similar things and have very similar living habits. I even think they are more beautiful than people from my own country-Easy to get along with. Being in the south really opened my eyes. After returning to Taiwan, I am more willing to communicate with people from different countries and cultures.

Student three : – can feel that they are happy to introduce us to things they like or are famous in the local area. They will also receive us warmly and want to give us the best things. We are really happy and feel loved. Through this cultural exchange, I saw that they have a lot of rich imagination and creativity in a limited environment. There are many ideas that I have never imagined. I am very grateful for this exchange trip, which allowed me to expand my horizons.:- After contacting students from southern Thailand, I realized that we are actually not very different. We like similar things and have very similar living habits. I even think they are more beautiful than people from my own country-Easy to get along with. Being in the south really opened my eyes. After returning to Taiwan, I am more willing to communicate with people from different countries and cultures.

Sports play a pivotal role in the development of youth, fostering physical, mental, and social growth. Engaging in sports activities not only promotes a healthy lifestyle but also instills discipline, teamwork, and perseverance. Through sports, adolescents learn to set and strive for goals, enhancing their self-confidence and resilience in the face of challenges. It teaches valuable lessons in sportsmanship, respect, and fair play, laying a foundation for responsible citizenship. Overall, sports provide a holistic platform for holistic development during this critical stage of adolescence.

SEEDs members in Thailand continue to invest in local leaders and local initiatives which will develop youth through futsal.  Futsal is a form of soccer (football) which is played on a short, hard-surface field.   Although the heart of sports training happens between coaches and players during practice, the wider network of teams is an important place for training in larger groups, for strengthening inter-neighborhood relationships, and for building excitement among teams. 

Recently, the local futsal network that SEEDS organized several years ago came together to host its eighth annual futsal league.  Eight neighborhoods contributed their assets of people, places, relationships, and skills to make the league possible.  Drawing on several years of experience, the SEEDS volunteers and local coaches worked together to create an ID card system to ensure that only registered players were allowed on the field.  This innovative solution helped boost trust between referees, coaches, and players.

During the one month futsal league, each team played five matches in a round-robin format to ensure that everyone, regardless of experience, had the opportunity to play the same number of times.  This league is not a team’s only opportunity to engage in competition during the year, but the youth have repeatedly commented that the league is their favorite competition of the year!

SEEDS partner, Pendar Pagi, runs an English club called English Zone to provide university students with the opportunity to improve their conversational English. English Zone currently offers weekly discussions led by native speakers. It is located less than four kilometers from University Riau, however, members have joined from a number of the local universities.

A survey of English Zone activities was conducted by our program’s coordinators late last year. Feedback from the members showed that the opportunities to interact with and learn from native speakers is highly valued. Recently, guests from Australia attended the weekly discussion. One of the guests, a Chinese Indonesian woman, has lived in Australia for the last ten years. Our guest was able to share with the members how she secured visas for the duration of her time in Australia, and how her English language progressed after moving to Australia. The club is currently liaising with recent high school graduates, from America and Singapore, that are in Pekanbaru on a gap-year program. For a long time, it has been tradition to hang the flag of the discussion facilitators in the meeting area. We currently have flags from Australia, USA, Philippines, South Africa, England, Guyana, Japan and Germany. We hope that more and more flags will be added to the collection.

In addition to guest speakers, SEEDS consultants also volunteer with English Zone by facilitating discussions. Discussion topics vary significantly from cultural celebrations, to ethics, personality traits and lifestyle. This allows members the opportunity to practice using language required for a variety of contexts and covering a broad range of topics. In addition to preparing discussion questions, consultants incorporate interactive activities including quizzes and games. This has helped members with more limited English to participate in the program. English Zone continues to evaluate its activities and adapt them to suit the preferences and needs of its members.

Dedicated SEEDS’ consultants have been working for many years with key partners in Southeast
Asia in the field of socio-economic development and education. But its number of consultants are
still small and so much more could be done as we desire to engage in effective partnerships in this
global world.

How can we then overcome the limitation in the area of available human resources? One of our
SEEDS educational consultants working in partnership with Hasanuddin University in Makassar
(Indonesia) has already had experience in hosting students from other countries as voluntary interns.
The purpose of these internships- as explained in the article “Investing into a New Generation of
Movers”-is to provide a cross-cultural exchange of thoughts and expertise.

The idea came to widen this internship program to graduates who already have made experience in
their respective field of work. Last year the SEEDS educational consultant mentioned above was on
a summer-long home leave. He used this time as an opportunity to share with his network of
professionals whether they would be willing to give 4-8 weeks to join in SEEDS’ efforts of
knowledge transfer from industry to universities.

The response was unexpectedly high. However, there was the remaining question as to whether the
employers of those interested would approve a longer leave. But why not ask? This is what one of
the professionals did and to his surprise his employer agreed. He will be on his way in May 2024 to
join our SEEDS educational consultant and help with projects at Hasanuddin University in the area
of security standards of autonomous systems.

SEEDS is excited about seeing this new way of working in effective partnerships through
professionals who are willing to give limited time to SEEDS’ various projects.