In partnership with SEEDS, local charity Yayasan Pendar Pagi runs a community centre in a densely populated inner-city area. One of the projects coming out of this has been a futsal training program for teenagers and young men that has been growing steadily for three years now. A challenge in poorer communities is a lack of constructive activities for young people to engage with, and many bored youngsters experiment with drugs and get involved in gangs. With constricted living spaces, narrow streets, and no communal facilities, many jump at the opportunity to use a futsal court nearby!

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A few years ago the first contacts were made between SEEDS and a health care college. This health care college has a strong focus on community health care. Every year their students need to do an internship in a community that is underdeveloped. They develop a program that can improve the health situation in isolated villages.

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Universities in Southeast Asia are under tremendous pressure to network and collaborate at an international level, and the state Islamic University in Riau, Indonesia (UIN SUSKA) is no exception.

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Last year new SEEDS workers began a number of small projects focused on Sports and English teaching in southern Thailand. Over the last 6 – 8 months we have been teaching English and running sports programs in local communities, schools and government institutions. We are only at stage 2 of these projects and we desire to grow both projects, but there have been some very interesting developments.

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In January the English Zone run by SEEDS’ partner charity Yayasan Pendar Pagi (YPP) received a group of seven Australian visitors, students from Melbourne and Sydney. Their visit left deep impressions at the English Zone community as one can hear now whenever Australian guests drop in: “Oh, you are from ‘Straya’!” they say, confidently.

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The amount of Chinese investment in Indonesia has grown greatly in the past 10 years since the signing of the Free Trade Agreements between China and ASEAN leaders. In South Sulawesi, Indonesia, many Chinese-funded projects have started up. Top level universities in China now welcome foreign students and some offer scholarships. With the growing number of job openings, business opportunities and advanced study options it is apparent that learning the Chinese language can be an advantage in one’s effort to achieve success in life and ensure a prosperous future.

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SEEDs members in Bangkok continue to invest in local leaders and local initiatives that develop sports programs for young people. Recently a futsal league was held in partnership with a six-member local work team. Six neighborhoods competed in two age brackets, U12 and U15.

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Eye problems are a very common problem in the Riau villages where SEEDS workers are working alongside national nurses. Men and women work long hours in the field and their eyes are not protected against the sun. Roads are usually very dusty and the water is not very clean. These are all risks for potential eye irritation or damage. By giving health education we explain the risks of using dirty water and working in the full sun with eyes unprotected.

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It’s not an easy job to distil five years of research about poverty in fishing communities into a ‘coffee table’ booklet! But that’s precisely what a SEEDS worker is trying to do. Although there has been considerable success publishing the research in high quality scientific journals, which gives the work credibility, most local decision makers and practitioners who are at the coal face of poverty reduction simply don’t have the time or the inclination to read such publications.

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Since the start of the AEC (Asian Economic Community) at the end of 2015 the students at the English Resource Centre in Pekanbaru, run by SEEDS employees, feel increased pressure to improve their English speaking skills.

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