With just a balloon, recyclables, straws, and wooden skewers, can you build an air-powered car that can travel at least two meters? 

This was a recent design challenge given to a group of students at a STEM day camp in Bangkok.  After exploring physics principles through hands-on activities, the students were given these materials plus a hot glue gun, tape, paper, and pencil.  Each team designed, tested, and improved their vehicle until it could meet the challenge.

SEEDS members in Thailand recently hosted several science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) day camps like this one in low-income and underprivileged segments of the city as a means to inspire youth from these backgrounds toward STEM career opportunities.  

Students learned by exploring, investigating, and asking questions related to an interesting topic or real-world problem.  Next they worked in teams to develop something, test it, improve it, and present it to an audience.   

The participants of the club gained confidence, teamwork skills, and opportunities they would not have had otherwise.  It also increased their motivation to study the STEM subjects in school with more intentionality and enthusiasm.  These outcomes will in turn contribute toward future economic benefits for them and their families, in line with SEEDS objectives.

There is no doubt that the current generation of young people has a global perspective. Among them Generation Z who are finishing higher education and starting to enter the market place with its enthusiasm, idealism and new ideas to make a meaningful contribution in this global world.

One of our SEEDS educational consultants works in partnership with the Hasanuddin University in Makassar (Indonesia) where he comes alongside students and hopes to not only equip them in terms of expertise and knowledge but also in terms of getting ready for the global challenges of our days.

Recently our SEEDS educational consultant hosted two Master students from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany for a two-month long voluntary internship placement. They both received a warm and enthusiastic welcome from lecturers and students of their respective departments and soon started to work on the projects that were assigned to them.

The purpose was to provide an exchange of thoughts and expertise in a cross-cultural setting for both the German students and the Indonesian student body of the technical faculty. Besides interactions on campus, they also went together camping in the mountains or visiting a secluded island. It has provided worthwhile opportunities to grow in mutual understanding as they shared their dreams and perspectives on life. Far from being exhaustive, these cross-cultural encounters will help the movers and leaders of tomorrow to tackle growing global concerns in appreciation of each other’s cultural roots.

As a side-effect, our SEEDS consultant- who works as a lecturer at the Department of Electrical Engineering-was also able to update his knowledge in newer platform technologies for “Embedded Systems”. One of the two German students, who was about to graduate from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany) in the fields of mechatronics, helped by transferring a research project to a FPGA-System-On-Chip platform. This will give a push for enlarging the scope of research projects and investigating additional concepts.

Helping the children have dreams is one of my prime motivations in preparing some fun and active English learning activities for them. One of the children’s unspoken dreams is to help uplift the economic status of their families. Getting an education is just one of many steps towards getting a better job and realizing their dreams. So, we encourage them to communicate well in English, and let them feel that learning is fun.

Since May 2022, we have been offering an English program every Saturday in one community. Many children came from different grade levels. We group them together at the start of the class, sing songs and play games related to the lesson, then separate them into three groups according to their age. I handle the younger kids around kindergarten. Another SEEDS volunteer works with the older kids in grades five and six. Another volunteer helps the middle-aged kids. They enjoy it so much-especially the singing part-that they keep coming back,. One time, when we arrived at the house where we taught them, they started greeting us with a song. They sing the goodbye song as they leave while waiting for us outside the house so they can say goodbye more. After a few months, religious classes began in the community. Some of the kids were not able to come to the English program anymore due to a conflicting time schedule. However, a sizable number of them were able to attend.

Among the kids that have kept coming, two are able to read and write, so we prepare a conversation lesson for them. Sometimes, we let these two kids act as teachers and help other kids. In this way, they might be encouraged to become teachers in the future. Seeing them learning and enjoying motivates me to do more for them.

One of SEEDS’ goals is to partner with educational institutions to help develop students who will later become community leaders that work to uplift their surrounding communities.  One of our SEEDS educators, Joshua Pong, was asked to speak at an educational conference held by the International Program of Science Education at Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia in Bandung.   

Joshua spoke on the primary concepts behind qualitative research as well as its importance to educational research as a whole.  Put simply, quantitative research only indicates a relationship between two things but rarely explains why the relationship under examination does or does not exist.  Qualitative research is a wonderful tool to help explain the why of quantitative research.  It also makes for good storytelling.

The 1.5 hours were filled with emotional stories that helped the students understand research subjects as individuals.  Post-story group discussions focused on finding themes within the stories and discussing what could be learned from each.  They also practiced a bit of their own qualitative research thinking about why there are so many more male rideshare drivers than female rideshare drivers.  A good time was had by most (if not all) and the time was soon over.

We hope that, going forward, this new body of undergraduate education researchers will look to understand the “whys” of their research results as they seek to improve the world of Indonesian education. 

Most of life has returned back to normal in West Sumatra. Students are back on campus and are going to in-person lessons.

The library that our SEEDS worker has in her home has been popular. Children read books and do educational games that will increase their abilities in logical thinking and hand-eye coordination. They enjoy making drawings from posters of plants and animals and then proudly display their work on the wall in the library. One day, three boys diligently finished a puzzle, even after all their friends had left, showing their dedication to complete the task. Adults and children are able to check-out books to take home to read.

They also have opportunity to study English which will help them in their classes and in their future lives. Learning English from a native speaker can help them to have more opportunities in the future.

One young girl who has difficulty with her memory comes often and receives focused personalized attention. Her mother is very happy that the girl is able to spend time at the library.

English Zone (EZ) re-opened after the pandemic on June 11, 2022. This fresh new start is also a celebration of the EZ’s move to a new location in Pekanbaru, Indonesia, and also the new EZ coordinator’s first big project.

The event was well attended by old and new members. The seasoned members came and shared memorable stories of their experiences, and new folks had first-hand experience of what we do in EZ. That night we had a cultural presentation, food, and some games. For some it has been their first time to engage with an English native speaker.

There were around 28 members during June to September 2022. There were some university students from a nearby university and a handful of working young adults who joined us during this season. Some members did not extend their membership as they returned to their hometown after finishing their studies, whilst others stopped due to their work schedule. There are still some folk who are still continuing even now.

The English Zone is a community where members can build their English communicating skills. Members use English as they hang out in a cafe, or do some sports together. This has helped them to build their confidence to speak English with anybody. The EZ gives a safe space for members to share their opinions regardless of their language proficiency. Some members realize their progress as they continue to join in with our daily activities.

We celebrate some of our members’ milestones. One member got an internship opportunity to Istanbul for 2023. Another has a chance to continue to study his PhD in Japan. They have shared that- as well as their own efforts of learning English-EZ has been a supportive community that has helped them to move forward to achieve their goals and even beyond.

SEEDS partner, Indonesian non-profit foundation Pendar Pagi, shares SEEDS’ commitment to help alleviate poverty in Southeast Asia through journeying with and equipping local people in the Riau province of Indonesia with applicable life skills.  One opportunity that is currently being developed is to come alongside poorer families in one of the province’s regencies and developing their potential and capacity for raising fish and aquaponic vegetables.  Although there are already fish farming businesses in this region, the integrated farming skills training program aims to assist families that are not able to afford the capital nor have the expertise to set up their own fish farms.

Currently program volunteers are researching local varieties of fish that are easy to raise, have a good market price, and require minimal space for farming.  Alongside this, several different types of vegetables are being investigated for growing in the fish pond water, deriving the necessary nutrient from the fish waste in the water.

Local people are not the only ones who will benefit from this initiative.  The program’s volunteers are all students interning during their final stages of study.  One volunteer with a background in fisheries has a heart to help those living in rural areas but without access to training to help improve their economic situation and quality of life.  Several other volunteer interns have expressed their vision of helping people in remote areas in the future.  For each one of these individuals, the experience of researching effective solutions to address poverty-related problems, coming alongside local poor families to journey with them in applying these solutions, and evaluating the success of these efforts are all invaluable in fulfilling their expressed dream of helping others. 

Currently volunteers are in the process of looking for local people who open to learning, not only how to raise fish and grow vegetables to help alleviate their economic situation, but also developing life skills and character that will point them to a better future.  So how do they find these kinds of people?  Volunteers go to village coffee stalls and drink lots of coffee or tea with folk as they ask questions and listen.  They show up at the local market, which is the social gathering place for the surrounding region, in order to interact with locals, hear their stories and invite them on this journey of growing life skills and character.  In conducting research and identifying candidate families for training, this program supports SEEDS overall aim by providing hope to poor families through the development of character and life skills that helps to improve not only their economic situation, but also their overall outlook for the future.     

Due to Covid-19 outbreaks in Thailand and up to 12 months of online learning, the football projects in south Thailand were not able to run for much of 2021 and early 2022. However, during the month of March 2022 (start of the summer holidays in Thailand) SEEDS workers were able to run a football camp for children and youth just outside of Hat Yai, in Songkhla province. This pilot project was made available for free due to our partnership with a local football stadium owner who wanted to help the children and youth in his community after a long lockdown.

The football camp was a resounding success, as we started with a small group of kids and then it ballooned to group over 30 kids each training session. The first group of kids must have enjoyed the camp so much that they invited all their friends! During the camp, the coaches were able to implement value-based coaching as we sought to improve physical fitness and skills, but also develop the character of the children and youth we worked with. Many of the children and youth who joined in the camp were from low income families and at-risk communities, so it was a privilege to invest in the lives of these kids during the camp. One highlight was to see how well the children played and behaved, during a series of friendlies matches toward the end of the camp. SEEDS workers are currently surveying areas and planning with local partners to identify the most needy areas to launch further football projects in. We hope to begin a few projects by September 2022 and to expand these projects step by step. Moving forward, this will be the cornerstone of our community development focus in Songkhla province.

The community development charity team were so glad to be back face-to-face in our focus urban poor community earlier this year.

We ran our six-week parenting course in both kindergartens between February and March. The team had great conversations with mums about the realities of bedtime routines when living in one room with a lot of noise and activity continuing through to late at night, about the impossibility of controlling snack intake in an extended family context, and about the importance of family meetings when conflict arises.

Afterwards the charity team had a lot of food for thought. This course is such a small beginning to the journey of becoming better parents. How can we really make the ideas we discuss there generate long-term change in family life? And importantly, how can we encourage the mums who attend these courses to go on to become agents of change, passing on what they have learnt to others?

Just at this time two new volunteers joined the team, both mums with young children themselves. Together they started regular intentional chats on the parenting WhatsApp groups we had previously set up, following up on some of the theory we had discussed during the course with practical tips and challenges.

In addition, the team decided to create an ‘empowerment partner’ role for mums who have completed the parenting course and are willing to run a concise version of it with a few friends and neighbours. A course guide and suite of supporting videos are currently being prepared.

It’s great to be back face-to-face, getting to grips with core issues, strengthening our empowerment approach and developing new ideas.

Anyone who has visited Indonesia will know that the country is plagued by a garbage problem. It is thrown into rivers, blocking drains and causing flooding. Single use plastic is burnt in neighbourhoods, filling the air with acrid smoke. Thousands of tons of kitchen waste, rotten fruit from wet markets and coconut husks are thrown into garbage containers where they are rapidly filling up the city dump. You walk down the street and inhale the smoke, you swim in the sea and fight with plastic bags and you watch people sort through the garbage containers searching for plastic that has a resale value. Sadly, after a while you stop seeing it in all its horror, you become numb to it.

So what can be done? There are solutions to some of these problems which SEEDS partner Yayasan Perahu Nusantara is advocating for:

Reduce single use plastic. Many parts of the world have a ban on plastic bags. Creating and enforcing regulations that ban single use plastic and incentivising environmentally friendly bags are the way forward.

Recycle. Plastics, cardboard, glass that have a resale/recycle value are already being collected by entrepreneurial men and women.

Organic waste. This needs to be separated at source and turned into compost, biogas, coconut husk mats and other products.

This is a massive problem that requires political will, commitment at the grass-roots and innovative solutions. Yayasan Perahu Nusantara has a part to play in mobilising communities and trialling innovation. Watch this space over the coming years for updates.