I Act, I Learn, and I Can

My name is Fajarudin. I am 16 years old. Now, I'm a first year student of State Madrasah Aliyan (MAN) in Pusungi village, Ampana Tete sub-district, Tojo Una-Una district, Central Sulawesi.

I grow up in a modest family. My father works as corn farmer every day in the garden together with my mother. I am the second child of four siblings in my family. We live in Tete B village, a beautiful village near Tete B and Uebutung Beach. I usually play with my friends and look for shells along those beaches.

One day, I was invited by my friend to join in Basic Leadership Training (LDK) conducted by Wahana Visi Indonesia, a partner of World Vision, (WVI) Touna in Ulubongka. From this leadership training, together with my friends, I established Ampana Tete Child Self-Support Group (KSA) and held the similar programs for the children in our ages.

To establish this group, we were assisted by facilitators from WVI Touna in making proposal, arranging the schedule, looking for sponsors, meeting and cooperating with partners, and others. First, I doubted myself when I was asked to have coordination with the related departments because I was not good in speaking. But, the Social Department in Tojo Una-una district kept encourage us to have direct coordination with related departments without any further assistance by WVI.

We started to visit some offices, companies, and even the Regent of Touna. Actually, it was not easy to pass through this process. There were so many obstacles that we had to face particularly related to time that we had. We could only started our activity after going home from school for about 1.30 p.m. every day.

My most memorable experience was when we gave a proposal to a copra exporter company, P.T. Saraswati. We met the security guard first then he brought us to the company treasurer who could only speak in English. Fortunately, there was another employee who translated his conversation and he donated us Rp. 200.000 for our event. From this experience, I wonder that if I could speak English well, we would get bigger donation. After that incident, I promised myself to study hard especially English.

There were many questions in our head about LDK. Why did WVI ask us to make proposal, to raise funds, and to be involved in any planning activity? Why didn't WVI make proposal, give donation and plan the activity to help us?

In the end, we realized that we have been taught and prepared to be the next future leader. Now, we want to make significant change in our village, we want to be heard by elder people, and appreciated by them.

*Written by Fajarudin (Ampana Tete child forum), assited by Lisa Hernawati Yohana, Economic Development Coordinator, Wahana Visi Indonesia at Touna operational office