Five years ago I started to teach an English Conversation class for children in a village in South Thailand during their summer holidays. A local friend invited me to teach her children and their friends from the community in her house. The children enjoyed coming as they didn’t have much else to do except playing with their friends. I used objects and pictures to teach them English words in an informal, playful way. Most of these children don’t have the opportunity to study with a private tutor. I enjoy helping them. Some said that their grade in English class at school improved.

For the last two years it wasn’t allowed or encouraged to teach groups in communities due to the Covid situation. On May 17 many schools in Thailand will open again. The students are ready to go to school again after a long time of online learning. So my friend said now we could start an English conversation class with the children again. In the time after the fasting month of Ramadan ended and before school starts, my SEEDS colleague and I went twice to the village to teach the children. They were waiting with expectancy. On the second day more than 20 children came, ready to learn. Most of them are primary school age, some younger and some older.

My colleague and I used pictures to teach them action words. We played some activities and taught them songs that use these words. The local host served snacks and drinks in the break. The children seemed to enjoy the lesson and asked afterwards when we will come again. They are ready to have a regular English Conversation class. So we plan to start going to this village weekly. We trust it will help the children not to be afraid of talking with foreigners and to gain confidence in speaking English. This can help them in the future.

While a large percentage of the world’s youth have returned to school and social activities, schools in Thailand have remained online for the past two years.  There are signs that change may be coming, however.  Youth in underprivileged sections of the capital city are eagerly anticipating the opportunity to play football again soon.  After two years of quiet and empty football fields, signs of life are starting to appear.  

Over the past three months, SEEDs members in Thailand have brought together a group of local football coaches to kick off a new season of youth sports as the pandemic winds down.   

The past two years have had a generally negative effect on youth cognitively, emotionally, socially, and physically.  More than ever, youth need the opportunity to learn life skills and develop the character traits that will assist them when dealing with challenging seasons of life in an urban environment.   When youth are part of a safe and healthy football team, they will also grow in decision making skills, goal setting, self-confidence, and leadership.  

The local futsal network that SEEDS organized several years ago has been working behind the scenes to launch its seventh annual futsal league this May.  Six neighborhoods are contributing valuable assets such as their relational connections, football equipment, places, and skills to make the league possible without charging a fee.   During the 5 week futsal league, boys 13 years and younger will practice with their teams during the week, and come together to compete every Sunday afternoon.  

Everyone involved is eager to experience the challenge, the thrill, and the reward of competition again, something they have been looking forward to a long time.  

Twenty months have passed since one of our SEEDS worker had to abruptly leave South Sulawesi (Indonesia) where one of SEEDS’ partners, Hasanuddin University, is located. On his flight back to Indonesia at the beginning of December 2021, our SEEDS worker wondered how the project of developing a curriculum in Digital and Embedded System Design based on FPGA technology has evolved in his absence.

While waiting in Germany for his work visas to be issued, our SEEDS worker continued to teach classes online (cf. story in the news archive for September 2020). One of his students showed a big interest in learning more about embedded system design. Therefore, this student, in the absence of our SEEDS worker, decided on his own to begin a project for his thesis in the field of motor control based on FPGA implementation technology. It was a good opportunity to watch from a distance on how this student navigated through the various challenges of working on this project by applying all that he had learned. Communication during that time was mainly about giving positive feedback on his progress and asking questions that lead to new discoveries on overcoming difficulties.

Upon the return of our SEEDS worker at Hasanuddin University the student was in the final stage of finishing his project. Assisted by our SEEDS worker’s colleague the student had set up his project with all the necessary equipment. So far results had been satisfactory but there was one challenge left to assure that the quality of one of the signals that he measured was sufficient. He tried many ways to overcome the “noise” that he observed but nothing worked out. The complexity of this problem made it difficult for our SEEDS worker to give input from afar. However, his return to Indonesia was very timely. Together they analyzed the problem and as a result the student started to understand how to apply an important principle of building embedded systems that he missed before.

In about two months this student will graduate and can look back proudly to all that he has achieved. When this student receives his certificate our SEEDS worker will have a big smile on his face.

SEEDS partner Yayasan Tunas Aksara (YTA) has equipped 37 teachers from 20 schools in Timor, Eastern Indonesia, to teach reading effectively using its Saya Suka Membaca [I Love Reading] curriculum.

This partnership with the Indonesian Ministry of Education’s Program Organisasi Penggerak will see almost 1,000 children taught the foundations of literacy in a fun and engaging way.

An Urgent Need

Eastern Indonesia (NTT Province) has some of Indonesia’s lowest literacy rates, with 64% of children in primary grade 4 reading below the government’s targets. Low levels of basic skills affect the entire education system and the wider economy, so improving literacy is a key step to investing in the province’s future.

The program was launched in October 2021 with an event for head-teachers and administrators followed by 4 days of intensive, hands-on training for teachers. Covid-19 restrictions meant that most of the training was delivered by a local YTA team, with contributions from the Jakarta-based team via Zoom.

Teacher Testimony

The training was a great success, with teachers commenting on how engaging and active it was, and on the care shown by the YTA team. You can watch a brief video with a teacher testimony here:

A teacher using SSM in their classroom shared this with their mentor:

“Praise God, this is a child who I teach who couldn’t write at all. Since we’ve had lessons that are fun he works hard and is making good progress with his writing.”  

The current program runs until December 2021, but the government will extend it into 2022 if funding is available. 

If you’d like to learn more about the work of Yayasan Tunas Aksara directly, you can do so by going to our website https://www.sayasukamembaca.org/en/

One of the big challenges that SEEDS faces is to make a sustainable contribution. International development projects may seem fruitful and effective, but the real acid test is when the outside resources, both funding and personnel, stop flowing. At this point it becomes clear whether there has been genuine empowerment and lasting transformation, or not. Ensuring that development partners are self-funding is an important part of the development process. This is why a new café in West Sumatra is such an exciting venture. The café was started by a SEEDS partner, the Perahu Nusantara Foundation (YPN), to:

1. Model the business principles that YPN already teaches to groups of young men and women in coastal communities.
2. Provide employment. For example, the cook comes from a nearby fishing village. 
3. Provide a sustainable source of income. Profit from the café flows into the Foundation to support education, entrepreneurship and environmental projects in coastal communities.

Foundation staff are learning what it takes to establish a successful business. In the early months of opening they have had to contend with the twin challenges of too many customers and not enough staff, and a COVID pandemic which led to a ban on any customers! Starting a new business requires grit, a “can-do” spirit and tremendous resilience. This is just as true in the city as in remote coastal communities. 

So there are lots of encouragements with much learnt, but also continued challenges in order to make the work sustainable.

The quiet and empty football fields across the capital city are a constant reminder of the pandemic’s ongoing impact on young people.  The government’s pandemic restrictions over the past months have closed all schools nationwide and canceled all youth sports activities.  It has been difficult for many people to see beyond obstacles to opportunities.

SEEDs members in Thailand are still investing in local leaders and local initiatives to develop youth through sports during the pandemic.   Although the heart of sports training happens on the neighborhood field in-person, the wider network of coaches is an important place for training, for strengthening inter-neighborhood relationships, and for building excitement among teams. 

As the government imposed increasing restrictions during the pandemic, it became more and more difficult for coaches to see any hope of returning to the football pitch soon.   Therefore, over the past several months the local futsal network that SEEDS organized several years ago came together online to support one another, learn from others, and dream about the future.

At one such meeting, SEEDS members and coaches assembled online to learn from a local man with 20 years of coaching experience on the neighborhood level.   He shared about his own love for football, how he started his local team, and some of the challenges he faced over the years to keep it going.   After that, the participants spent over 30 minutes asking him questions related to challenges they had been facing before the pandemic.  The interaction among coaches and the learning atmosphere pointed toward a hopeful future for football on the neighborhood level. 

We are trusting that meetings such as these will encourage and inspire local coaches to see not just obstacles in the current season, but new opportunities in the season to come.   We look forward to the day when sports fields such as this one come alive again.

Covid lockdown in Thailand meant for some people no work and income and therefore a lack of food. SEEDS workers wanted to help some needy families and communities by giving out food parcels with basic food items like rice, noodles, oil, fish sauce and fish cans. We contacted a community leader and asked him to give us a list of families in need at this time. He chose some villagers who are handicapped and others who lack income.

Neighbours at the office helped to order and pack the food items. The community leader asked the people to pick up the food parcels at his house. They were waiting when the SEEDS worker and local volunteers arrived. It was a special experience to work together with local volunteers in helping local people at this time of need. This can be the start of further activities in this community, building trust and strengthening relationships.

In another community, a local friend of a SEEDS worker who is a health volunteer distributed food parcels to needy families for us. Once we gave out lunch boxes to medical personnel who are working hard to treat Covid patients.

Besides money donations, people from abroad also donated masks for local people. We gave them out to health volunteers, who shared masks with villagers that don’t have the means to buy masks.

Local volunteers were so happy about the gifts received and enjoyed sharing them with others. It is a joy to give to others at a time of need. Even those who don’t have much themselves want to share what they have received with others.

The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted people of all economic levels and even in different generations.  For many Indonesian children and their parents, the past year and a half of schooling has been a struggle due to the pandemic requirement of learning online at home.  Many schools are ill equipped to teach in this manner, leaving parents to pick up the slack.  In October 2020, national partners with a local non-profit foundation initiated a child literacy program to help alleviate the pressure this situation has put on families.  Using the Saya Suka Membaca (or “I Like Reading”) curriculum, program volunteers encouraged kids aged 5 – 8 in not only acquiring adequate reading skills, but also enjoying reading for its own sake. 

National staff shared of one girl, Novi, who was in Grade 1, but still unable to read with confidence.  Her mother would shout at Novi to spur the girl on in her reading efforts, but to no avail.  Day by day, staff members would take turns gently teaching Novi the letters and their respective sounds.  Before long, Novi was sounding out words, and then reading full sentences.  Today, Novi is confidently reading books and loving it!  Our hope is to see more children like Novi experiencing the joy of reading and discovery, even during this time of pandemic restrictions. 

What are you doing every Saturday morning? There are some people, including University students, professors and even children, who wake up at 6am and go to clean the beaches every Saturday, early in the morning.

Today, I would like to introduce to you a meaningful project called Trash Hero, which is developed by a professor who teaches at the Faculty of Rubber and Polymer Science Technology in the University. This project aims at creating sustainable and community-based projects that remove existing waste and reduce future waste by inspiring long-term behavior change.

First, we will collect the trash from the beaches and then separate them into different categories, such as plastic bottles, plastic bottle lids, glass bottles, lighters and old slippers. We send the plastic bottle lids and old slippers to the lab of the university to make new slippers. This project can educate the public about creation care and make them aware of the problem of plastic pollution, when Thailand generates almost 2 million tons of plastic waste each year. Sometimes, there will be some special events, like collecting the trash during a marathon and zero waste camping, where so many like-minded people can gather and have a good time sharing.

The project also has some funding to hire some local people to help making the slippers, so this project can help the local people to get a job opportunity. I hope that, not only are the products are sold to different parts of Thailand, but also the value behind the project can be spread out. 

University classes in Sumatra have been online for three semesters now. Most students returned to their home villages and many who don’t have computers are joining Zoom discussions and doing assignments on their cell phones. The pandemic has disproportionally affected education for the lower classes who have less access to technology and who may lack good internet signals in remote areas. Many students are becoming lazier and it is challenging for instructors to keep them motivated to be diligent in their studies.

Our SEEDS workers, who are teaching, look forward to being back in the classroom and to helping the students catch up to where they need to be academically.