“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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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In a quiet and secluded place in South Thailand, surrounded by locally grown lemons, cashew nuts, and paddy fields, stood a farmhouse owned by the head of the village. It was a haven for children seeking adventure and fun.

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The library is reaching into new communities as people from other neighborhoods visit and tell their friends about it. Last month a woman and her five daughters started coming to the library regularly and now they bring their friends with them. They play games and take books home to read.

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Untreated tuberculosis kills nearly half of its victims in five years. The other half is left to suffer disabling symptoms, spreading the disease to as many as fifteen more people every year. Loved ones in the family are often the first to be infected.

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A local Malay friend in South Thailand told me about her social project for the following Saturday. She likes helping people in need, even though she’s also not wealthy. Her plan was to visit 11 needy families in a district about 50 km away from town. She said compared to families in her own community, they are more needy. Then a thought came to my mind. We still had lots of donated second-hand-clothes at the foundation office. We wanted to give out most of them to needy families in a village near the office. But we could also give some of the clothes to these families.

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Cerdas Literasi or Smart Literacy (formerly known as I Love Reading) is one of the programs of a SEEDS’ partner, Pendar Pagi Foundation (YPP). Smart Literacy aims to assist communities, elementary schools and kindergartens to cultivate a culture of reading in children. This program equips teaching staff with child-friendly and effective training methods and teaching materials, like colourful picture books.

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