Taking opportunity for learning and educating (Participant’s reflection on Communication Skills training 2020 batch 3)

My first encounter with Stube-HEMAT in Bengkulu happened spontaneously, when my colleague invited me to attend a discussion on "51 Years of Bengkulu: Its Development and Progress in the Economics" organized by Multiplication program of Stube-HEMAT in Bengkulu. It caught my attention as an economics student. The discussion revealed various economic problems occurred in Bengkulu and one point that I presented there was the economy condition of indigenous people in Bengkulu are not prosperous than the migrants because they tend to get money quickly by selling their land to the migrants, slowly but sure they lose their land. This was the beginning of my involvement with Multipicatioin program of Stube HEMAT in Bengkulu

I am Linda Titiwijayanti, from Argamakmur district, North Bengkulu regency and now studying Economics, in Accounting study program at Bengkulu State University. Besides studying economics and farming, I love books and pens, preferring to listen, to discuss and to express ideas through writing rather than giving speeches on the street. Through writing, we can still be democratic and express aspirations, right?

I am currently active as a writing contributor in Simple-B.online, managed by Yohanes Dian Alpasa, S.Si and Yedija Manullang, who had joined Stube-HEMAT earlier than me. The latest activity that I participated in was Communication Skills program held by Stube HEMAT Yogyakarta, which was done for eight days of mentoring in small groups with two other participants from Gunungkidul and Klaten facilitated by Trustha Rembaka and Putri Laoli. I learned good communication techniques from how to talk, eye contact, dramatization and also strategies to build confidence and promotion. At the end of the training, each participant made a video as a result of the training. During the training I realized that speaking in front of camera is more difficult than speaking directly in front of audience, because I am more confident if no camera, but from the training material and practice I was able to overcome my fear of camera.

My video campaigned to decrease the high number of early marriages in Bengkulu which is on the 10th rank in Indonesia based on the data of the National Statistic Bureau 2018. By getting married early, they put aside education which is very important to improve the quality of Indonesian Human Resources. I faced difficulties in the process of making the video, such as finding the right time, because I also had to do homework, help my parents in vegetable fields, while I had to practice the scripts several times. Even, I have to anticipate my free time and energy for the recording process, that was only at dusk. At the end, I was so satisfied with the results. Please watch the link https://youtu.be/NkA5CutSQNw

From the video, I got good responses from friends who watched it. They were entertained and the important poin was they educated. It was an impressive thing for me being able to convey a positive message both through video and writing. Wait for my next video. Thank you Stube HEMAT. May the spirit of work flow to all of us! (Linda Titiwijayanti).