Through our newsletter we like to keep you informed of the (recent) developments within the projects in Indonesia and our activities in the Netherlands.
APRIL 2023 – number 30
This is the first newsletter of 2023. In Indonesia, as in The Netherlands, COVID-19 regulations have been eased. COVID-19 is now defined as endemic and people are required to wear facemasks in public spaces. Hopefully, Janny and Willemien are able to travel to Indonesia to visit the various projects in person as they have scheduled to do so this Spring. Last time they visited Indonesia was just before corona struck. When they do travel, we will of course send out a news letter to report about these visits. We also do hope to organize an Indonesie (Indonesia) day this Fall.
We do apologize for the fact that SRI’s website has sometimes been offline these past few months. There were some issues with our provider, which now seem to be solved according to our provider.
JAVA
The little shop of the women’s cooperation Lidia with home made products.
Women’s cooperation Lidia in Solo reported good news these past few months; they had their annual meeting on international Women’s day (March 8), which was attended by 175 members! Recently, Lidia has set up their own shop for the products their members produce themselves. Janny and Willemien will definitely visit this shop.
This year, SRI will also finance Lidia’s training sessions. A 3-day seminar is planned on the subject ‘women’s resource development’. Other training sessions to be scheduled will focus on gaining expertise and skills.
After COVID-19, schools have adapted their rosters; pupils now attend lessons from Monday to Friday. Pre-corona, pupils attended lessons on Saturday as well. This means that we can meet up with the school children and our contact on Saturday.
The women’s group Kembang Wangi in Musuk is busy growing and packaging their products for sale as ecofriendly as possible. Janny and Willemien are definitely going to visit these women as well..
A new women’s cooperation has been founded in Jumantono, Karanganyar district in Central Java. This women’s cooperation has been named Sangu Gesang and has already organized their first meeting. Willemien partly attended this meeting (online). The members are impoverished and live nearby a textile industry waste dumpsite. They try to find things they can reuse/ recycle. These women now receive guidance in doing this in a safe and ecological manner. We are looking forward to meet this women personally and evaluate their situation.
BALI
We will visit the Seva Karuna school in Central Bali for the first time since it was founded. We are very eager to see their school’s work.
We will also visit Sjaki-Tari-Us and might join a group during their day program. We are a bit anxious as we were not able to contact some people, particularly in Bali, these last 4 years. These people have no access to a phone or internet, but we are planning to visit them at their addresses and hope to find them all in good health.
One of the children from Seva Karuna with a Ogoh ogoh.
We are content that we were able to keep in contact with many of our SRI projects and clients. This way we were able to keep up with their progress and situation. But we are really looking forward to actual, personal meetings and we do realize that the situation in the kampong and cities will be different compared to pre-COVID-19. We will also miss some people who have passed away in recent years, some due to a corona.
Note:
Perhaps unnecessarily, we would like to point out again that all travel and boarding expenses of Janny and Willemien during their annual trip to Indonesia are completely covered by Janny and Willemien themselves. They think this normal and have always acted accordingly. Since some people asked questions about these expenses, we thought it best to repeat again that all expenses are covered by Janny and Willemien and are not paid by SRI.