(JP/Ricky Yudhistira)" height="400" width="600" border="0">(JP/Ricky Yudhistira)

It’s not too difficult to find youths with good public speaking skills in big cities like Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang and Surabaya. There’s nothing special about seeing many of them master techniques on how to express themselves, either in formal or informal discussions.

However, it is quite the opposite when youths exhibiting similar skills are found in remote areas, far from the hustle and bustle of the big cities. The youths, mostly from the secondary and senior high school levels, do not only speak well, but also express their ideas convincingly.

These youths are members of the Nias Children Forum (Forani), an organization designed to promote child rights in Nias, Indonesia’s westernmost island.

At a time when many youths – not to mention adults -- in big cities shy away from speaking in public, Forani’s youths are able to explain their organization’s activities clearly and coherently.

“One of Forani’s main programs is to help disseminate the importance of education among families and the community,” Forani chairperson Juveltin Telaumbanua said during a recent media visit in Gunungsitoli, the biggest and oldest town in Nias.

Explaining the achievements of Forani, which was set up on May 27, 2012 with membership of 85, Juveltin disclosed a great deal about the organization’s history, objectives and challenges.

Sweet creations: Young girls prepare dough to make cakes and snacks in Dahana village. The skills help them getting side incomes by selling their products. (JP/ Hyginus Hardoyo)
Other programs included the nurturing of creativity and talent among youths through various activities, ranging from training on leadership to courses on reproductive health, said Juveltin, a second grader in a local vocational school whose steady voice seemed to go beyond her petite body posture.        

“The ultimate aim of such activities is to help stimulate children’s love of local culture,” she said, adding that other activities included, among other things, cooking, tailoring, gardening and filmmaking. One of the short films produced by the Forani youths was entitled Kemiskinan tidak Menghalangi Mimpiku (Poverty doesn’t hinder my dream).

Juveltin’s introduction was followed by the screening of the film, depicting a student from a poor family who received cash from his classmates as he could not afford to pay his tuition fees. The assistance meant a lot to the student, who later continued his studies to realize his dream - something many children have in an area that lags behind other regions in the country in terms of development.

Leusirulita Hulu, a Forani member from Dahana village in North Nias regency, said she, together with 10 of her female friends, was trying to make side income through cooking under the guidance of NGO Wahana Visi Indonesia.

Through trial and error, youths from the village whose parents worked mostly as rubber farmers can now make cakes and other snacks, including bolu, onde-onde and rainbow cakes.

“We sell our products at nearby food stalls,” said Leusirulita, also the chairperson of the local Forani chapter.

The money to buy ingredients was taken from member collections amounting to Rp 5,000 per month each, she said, explaining that the recipe for the delicacies was partly downloaded from the Internet.

As a student of the Open University majoring in Indonesian, Leusirulita said she strived to expand her collective small-scale business. Her target was to cooperate with local government-funded village business units to expand the marketing of the products.

In Loloana’a village in the same regency, Forani members specialized in beauty treatment. A group of female adolescents was seen putting makeup on their friends. One of them, Asnita Dawolo, claimed she could make money from her skills, by making up her own mother and a number of neighbors, especially at special events like weddings or other ceremonies. “The money is not much, but it gives me satisfaction,” she said.

(JP/Ricky Yudhistira)

It'€™s not too difficult to find youths with good public speaking skills in big cities like Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang and Surabaya. There'€™s nothing special about seeing many of them master techniques on how to express themselves, either in formal or informal discussions.

However, it is quite the opposite when youths exhibiting similar skills are found in remote areas, far from the hustle and bustle of the big cities. The youths, mostly from the secondary and senior high school levels, do not only speak well, but also express their ideas convincingly.

These youths are members of the Nias Children Forum (Forani), an organization designed to promote child rights in Nias, Indonesia'€™s westernmost island.

At a time when many youths '€“ not to mention adults -- in big cities shy away from speaking in public, Forani'€™s youths are able to explain their organization'€™s activities clearly and coherently.

'€œOne of Forani'€™s main programs is to help disseminate the importance of education among families and the community,'€ Forani chairperson Juveltin Telaumbanua said during a recent media visit in Gunungsitoli, the biggest and oldest town in Nias.

Explaining the achievements of Forani, which was set up on May 27, 2012 with membership of 85, Juveltin disclosed a great deal about the organization'€™s history, objectives and challenges.

Sweet creations: Young girls prepare dough to make cakes and snacks in Dahana village. The skills help them getting side incomes by selling their products. (JP/ Hyginus Hardoyo)
Other programs included the nurturing of creativity and talent among youths through various activities, ranging from training on leadership to courses on reproductive health, said Juveltin, a second grader in a local vocational school whose steady voice seemed to go beyond her petite body posture.        

'€œThe ultimate aim of such activities is to help stimulate children'€™s love of local culture,'€ she said, adding that other activities included, among other things, cooking, tailoring, gardening and filmmaking. One of the short films produced by the Forani youths was entitled Kemiskinan tidak Menghalangi Mimpiku (Poverty doesn'€™t hinder my dream).

Juveltin'€™s introduction was followed by the screening of the film, depicting a student from a poor family who received cash from his classmates as he could not afford to pay his tuition fees. The assistance meant a lot to the student, who later continued his studies to realize his dream - something many children have in an area that lags behind other regions in the country in terms of development.

Leusirulita Hulu, a Forani member from Dahana village in North Nias regency, said she, together with 10 of her female friends, was trying to make side income through cooking under the guidance of NGO Wahana Visi Indonesia.

Through trial and error, youths from the village whose parents worked mostly as rubber farmers can now make cakes and other snacks, including bolu, onde-onde and rainbow cakes.

'€œWe sell our products at nearby food stalls,'€ said Leusirulita, also the chairperson of the local Forani chapter.

The money to buy ingredients was taken from member collections amounting to Rp 5,000 per month each, she said, explaining that the recipe for the delicacies was partly downloaded from the Internet.

As a student of the Open University majoring in Indonesian, Leusirulita said she strived to expand her collective small-scale business. Her target was to cooperate with local government-funded village business units to expand the marketing of the products.

In Loloana'€™a village in the same regency, Forani members specialized in beauty treatment. A group of female adolescents was seen putting makeup on their friends. One of them, Asnita Dawolo, claimed she could make money from her skills, by making up her own mother and a number of neighbors, especially at special events like weddings or other ceremonies. '€œThe money is not much, but it gives me satisfaction,'€ she said.

Proud: Young girls prepare dough to make cakes and snacks in Dahana village. The skills help them getting side incomes by selling their products. (JP/ Hyginus Hardoyo)
In Ombolata Sisarahili village, Forani members joined the youth gardening group where they were trained how to grow organic vegetables in three locations. Mestariat Waruwu, the chairperson of the group, said the members were taught techniques on planting seedlings, using fertilizer and tending to the plants.

The main objective of the gardening activity was to give knowledge as to how to utilize empty spaces in the yards around their houses, she said. The result was very positive as could be seen from the fact that nearly 78 families in the village had now developed their own nutrition gardens. The vegetables they developed included chili, eggplants and beans.

'€œThe training in the group is usually carried out after school so as not to affect the students'€™ teaching and learning process,'€ said Mestariat.

'€œWe just managed to harvest chili amounting to five kilograms per week. We sold it at Rp 20,000 per kilogram, slightly lower than the market price,'€ Mestariat said, explaining their parents fully supported the gardening activity.

The parents were actively involved once a week in gardening, which attracted up to 70 students of the village to take part.

Those in the adjacent Sinarikhi village chose their specialization in tailoring. Through intensive training under the guidance of two teachers, a group of 10 young girls of the village now had the ability to make their own clothes.

Marselina Mendrofa, chairperson of the group, said that aside from making their clothes, the group members had started to receive orders to tailor school uniforms from nearby kindergartens and schools.

'€œOur training courses are held from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on every agreed day,'€ Marselina said, explaining that the timing was chosen to allow some of the members to go on foot for nearly one hour after school to the training site and allow them to go home before sunset.

All in all, youths joining the organization'€™s activities look like they will be able to progress as long as they are given chances. As is seen from their expressions, everyone seems willing to speak up to show what they'€™ve achieved.

'€œThe Nias youths have taken all the opportunities available to them,'€ said Meirudin Lase, child sponsorship management project coordinator at Wahana Visi Indonesia'€™s Nias office.

Forani has become a kind of means for them to articulate what they want, Meirudin said, adding that the situation on the island was completely different earlier, when their activities were accommodated only through scouting.

The youths'€™ enthusiasm has attracted attention from local administration officials, who have pledged to make the organization one of its strategic partners.

More than that, the youths in Nias have become some of the most active in the regions served by Wahana Visi, which specializes in promoting and improving child rights across Indonesia.

This is not a baseless claim, as Forani'€™s deputy chairperson, Restanti Waruwu, was chosen to represent Indonesia to attend the three-day European Development Days forum in Belgium in October last year.

In her capacity as an Indonesian youth envoy, Restanti, from Ononamolo I village in Nias, spoke confidently and aired contributions. This should be done not only by youths from Nias but also from across Indonesia, for global development planning at the international level.