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Irianti at the blackboard - only 17, she is helping younger children to stay at school.
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"Learning is not a difficult thing. Now we can learn everywhere and learn from what we have."
My name is Irianti Kossay, 17, first child of three siblings. I live with my parents and my brothers, Boas Kossay, 7, and Kristian Kossay, 2, in a village in Baliem valley, in the hinterland of Papua province, Indonesia.
The majority of people, including my family, living in the valley surrounded by mountains and green forests come from Dani Valley ethnic group.
My father, Alex Kossay, works as an elementary school teacher and my mother, Martina Kossay, plants sweet potato - known in local language as hipere - at the field. My brother and I often help my mother harvest the hipere to eat. Hipere is main food for most people living in the mountainous area in Papua.
When I was in elementary school, I did not attend school frequently although the school was close to my house. My friends and I preferred to play in the field, forest or river. Luckily, my parents kept reminding me to go to school.
"What will you be in the future if you are lazy to go to school?" said my parents. I admit that at the time I did not know what my dream was. What was in my mind was playing and spending times with my friends.
I was actively involved in World Vision activities in 2006, when I was selected as a facilitator in an education empowerment program known as honai's children study club. Honai is a traditional house for Dani people. Honai's child study club is an education empowerment program for children aged below five or six years.
World Vision facilitated eight facilitators, including myself, with training for trainer (TOT) for a week before the appointment. During the training, I understood that under-six years is crucial age for children because their potentials, such as cognitive, affection and motoric, could be optimally developed.
We also learned how to encourage children to improve their hygiene, learned about children rights and learned how to make teaching modules. Although I have not fully understood what the importance of closely assisting children, I love to help sharing the values to the children.
My strong will to learn has motivated me to keep on being involved in the teaching learning activities in honai. Honai is interesting because it means that teaching and learning can happen anywhere. It is easy to make. I know that the teaching and learning activities in honai use a local approach - local games, song, dance, and educational game tools easily found here.
I am beginning to know what I really want in my life: to be a teacher. I am lucky that World Vision selected me to be a facilitator at honai's children study club in Wosi, Kurulu. I facilitate children to learn on Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Although I often return home late due to infrequent public transport, I am happy to have a chance to help Papua children develop themselves.
Actively involving in honai's children study club does not influence my achievement at school. I still make good grades in class. Because of the good achievement, I get scholarship. My parents and I are very proud of the scholarship.
Since I was appointed at the honai's children study club, I was more often asked to join in World Vision activities. I was once asked to join National Children Worker Conference (NCWC) in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia.
Months later, some of my friends and I were asked to share our knowledge in facilitating children education to peer educators in Poso, Central Sulawesi province. Here, I talked about how to facilitate the education of children at an early age.
When World Vision held a children's forum in Wamena on May 3-4, 2006, I was also involved in the activity. During the forum, we invited representatives of local government, education office, and demography office.
This dialogue between children and government officials even brought local governmental policy change: The local government increased budget for education and eliminated fee of birth certificate issuance for children.
All the activities increase my belief that we don't need to go far to learn. We can learn from what we have. Honai is not only a place to live but it can also be a place to learn and to empower Papua children, especially those who live in remote places.
The kindness of my sponsor (and thousands of other sponsors and donators), who channel help through World Vision, has made all these possible. I would like to express my gratitude to my sponsor for helping me get closer to my dream. |
