Indonesia

The following article is taken from the January/February 1977 issue of Asian Action, the newsletter of the Asian Cultural. Forum on Development (ACFOD), Room 201, 399/1 Soi Siri, Si/om Road, Bangkok, Thailand.

It was long ago that lbu Emmy learnt from her mother how to use herbs for medicinal purposes. She added to this  knowledge by constantly learning more and more from experience. She has practiced her skills in 'naturopathy' for years and is also a water diviner as well as a practitioner of 'radiesthesia'. Using a piece of metal she can detect which organ in a person's body is unhealthy and what kind of herbal treatment could be of help. The number of people who come to her for diagnosis and treatment just shows how effective her cures are.

 Most of what lbu Emmy inherited from her family in buildings is being used for different kinds of welfare activities. There is the twice a week clinic and the Taman Gizi (Nutrition programme) which attracts about 50 children and their mothers for simple health check-ups like weighing, measuring, etc. and for instruction in child care. Those children who are seriously malnourished are kept in the Taman Gizi for a few days or weeks for intensive care and better nourishment.

Two young women who have been trained by lbu Emmy have started a Taman Gizi cum kindergarten in two neighbouring communities.

Herbal Garden

lbu Emmy has developed an interesting herbal garden which is used for the production of herbs and also for educational purposes. Hundreds of young women have been trained here in the use of simple herbs for all kinds of ailments. The herbs are processed into medicines; weighed and packed for sale elsewhere. This work provides employment to many young women. The medicines are sold at nominal prices to those who can afford to pay, and given free to those who are too poor to buy them. The same principle applies to the services provided through the clinic. The money received from the clinic, and from the sale of medicines and other articles that are produced, is used to finance other activities like the kindergarten and nutrition programmes.

lbu Emmy has also written some simple books in Bahasa Indonesia about herbs and their uses. These books are of tremendous help to those who receive training from her and who later practice herbal medicine in their own communities.

Training of Young Women

In the early years the training was informal and not at all institutionalised. Through her constant contact with the surrounding communities she spotted young intelligent women who were in need of some kind of practical training in order to earn additional money to supplement the meagre incomes of their families. She arranged for these young women to be trained in sewing, child-care, herbal medicine, baking biscuits, home gardening, typing, soap making, food preservation, etc.

Kursus Sosial Ekonomy Desa

lbu Emmy also operated as a one-person employment agency using her family contacts to find jobs for the girls or helping them with loans and advice to start various home-craft activities. 

Gradually this informal training developed into a regular three or four month training programme called Kursus Sosial Ekonomy Desa (KSED) . KSED began in 1968 in Semarang, which is her home town. Later on she shifted KSED as well as herself to Bandugan which is closer to rural life and where her family had some property that could be used for various activities.

The training, as it is organized at present, is integrated to include practical skills like gardening, use of herbal medicine, leadership, group dynamics, group formation and community organization. The participants are involved, to a great extent, in the running of the institution. The trainees have an elected self-government to decide on how to organize different activities like cleaning of rooms, washing dishes and clothes; the emphasis being on a collective self-help approach. 

Two hours are spent every day working in the home garden where they receive practical training in agriculture. They grow different kinds of vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers. 

KSED plans to have a poultry farm not only to provide eggs and chicken but also the necessary raw-material (chicken droppings) for a bio-gas plant. This will be their first venture in 'village technology'.

There are three full time persons on the staff, including a young man trained in agriculture. lbu Emmy has left the running of this place to the full timers so that she can concentrate on the other activities. She however, takes a few classes a week on herbal.medicine.

KSED tries to draw on the expertise of other organizations, so that it can offer the best and most to its trainees. Yayasan Dian Desa is helping with the setting up of the poultry farm and the bio-gas plant. Sister Elly of the Medical Missions and Sister Emanuel who is trained in communication and mass media, visit Bandugan from time to time to teach nutrition and communications respectively. 

It is hoped that the participants of these courses will not only benefit themselves and their families but also function
as development cadres in their communities. That they will have a lot to offer to their communities after completing this course is beyond doubt.

An Agent of Change

lbu Emmy has already done much as an agent of change. By not allowing her work to become over institutionalized she has been able to sustain both a sense of involvement and enthusiasm on the part of the participants and full-timers. She could have easily allowed herself to become the Head of a big formal institution, but has preferred to retain her own and the institution's flexibility, spontaneity, warmth and above all effectiveness to perform an important village level development task. What lbu Emmy and her friends are doing is indeed inspiring. Slowly, but surely they are moving forward, learning from their experiences and through the cadres trained in KSED, they are trying to help the village folk to solve as many of their own problems as they can.

The lesson to be learnt at Bandugan may be how development work may expand by avoiding the pit-falls of formal and heartless methods of work. And lbu Emmy and her friends will also have to face the problem of spreading their network to cover more villages and people without stifling the zeal and spirit of the organization. 

ACFOD has been greatly disturbed to learn of an unfortunate series of events that has affected KSED.

On15 November 1976, as we learn, all the employees of KSED were expelled without due process and its small training centre dismantled. 

Even lbu Emmy, who initially set up the project has apparently been helpless. The local organizers of KSED, two women, have begun to publish a series of bulletins on the events that took place and on their present plight. At the time of writing, it is still difficult to ascertain the background and causes of this unfortunate episode.