An Initiator Starts from Ourselves

A Reflection of Exploring Sumba Program

Sunday, June 22, 2014 was the day of my new experience, the first time I step my feet on land of East Sumba and saw the condition of the people in eastern part of Indonesia. I found that Sumbanese were friendly, they smiled sweetly anytime when they met someone new. I stayed with Yulius Anawaru’s family, one of Stube-HEMAT Sumba team in Waingapu.

In the beginning of my activities in Sumba, I attended Stube-HEMAT Sumba coordination and explained my programs that would be done in Sumba. It was a semester holiday for students, so it’s rather hard for Stube HEMAT Sumba activists to gather students as most of them came home to their own villages.  So, although  a few days passed in Sumba, I had not found yet an idea how to run my program. I began disappointed, because the Stube-HEMAT Sumba team did not provide a breakthrough in a situation like this. "Might it be the topic that I want to share was unimportant for them?" a pang of thought came into my mind.

Facing these conditions, I kept thinking to find a way out and took an initiative to gather some student activists which stayed in Waingapu. Fortunately, some students, Yonatan Yoga, Abner Liwar, Yulius Dundu Tay, Dani and Harris wanted to share in one discussion forum. This situation taught me that the great motivator to do something is ourselves. I really thanked to Stube-HEMAT Sumba activists who were willing to stay and accompanied me roaming Sumba for one month.

One week before my return to Yogyakarta, I got a chance to visit Mbatakapidu, a village that had sufferred from food insecurity but now it becomes a food-self-sufficiency village, even it becomes a reference village for a comparative study among villages outside Sumba island. The achievements cannot be separated from Yacob Tanda, a figure with big spirit to make changes in his village. He did it to make use his retirement days. From Yacob Tanda, I studied and pondered again that this life is actually a gift from God and later we should be responsible with our life before God when God called us home to the heaven. Yacob Tanda also advised me, "During this life, give the best to make a good impact for our surrounding, and it starts from ourselves".

The program of Exploring Stube-HEMAT Sumba will always remind me the function of self motivator and bringing a positive impact even beyond what we have imagined. It becomes my challenge! (HRG)