Provide Skills for Indonesian Unemployed Youth

Last March, YUM’s projects in Cipanas, West Java welcomed students from the United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA) for their Project Week. The UWCSEA School has collaborated with YUM since 2011 sponsoring several education programs supporting disadvantage students in Cipanas. For three days in March, four students spent their time engaging with the children that they supported and participated in YUM’s activities.

Mr. Cecep’s English class had the opportunity to practice their English with these students. They started by introducing themselves and continued with questions & answers session, which our students found very interesting. They were quite shy at the beginning but as time went by they became more confident. Mr. Cecep continued to encourage his students to be more active. The sessions continued with a lesson about making words from random letters. The UWCSEA students helped the VTC students with their pronunciation. The students were happy and enjoyed every moment in the class.

This visit not only gives VTC students a beautiful and memorable experience but also built their confidence. Being able to practice their English with native speakers was an added value to their lesson. Ajeng, a VTC student, said that she never imagined before that she could directly meet and speak with a foreigner in her life. This experience has motivated her to learn more and study harder to make her dreams come true.

We are truly thankful for your generous support to the YUM Vocational Training Centre. With your donation we are able to provide qualified tutor like Mr. Cecep who is not only teaching but also encouraging the students to be more confident and to be more active in pursuing their future.

A few days ago I visited YUM's community center in Cipanas, Indonesia, a town a few hours outside of Jakarta. I spent the whole day (from 6AM to 6PM!) with YUM staff and community members and came away from the day energized and inspired. Prior to 2009 the YUM's community center used to be an orphanage; however, in 2009, YUM held a community stakeholder meeting and there they identified the need for a facility centered on family services. The focus on family, community, and youth development was present in all aspects of my day at the community center. YUM's work in the community is quite impressive and it is important in my reflections of my day with YUM to note that the work they do is challenging. At one point, my tour guides mentioned that reading rates are low in the community. It was a challenge to get students to attend the newly built library, so they needed to be creative. They held events and opportunities besides reading to draw the community in. Eventually, they were able to encourage students to use the library to read and change the culture around literacy in the community.

I also visited YUM's Vocational Training Center on my tour. The unemployment rate for youth in Cipanas is over 60%.  YUM's early childhood programs will likely lower that in the future; however, while there is work being done to change unemployment for future youth, there needs to be programming done to assist the youth in the community today as well.

The VTC is YUM's way to address young adult poverty today. They offer computer training classes, English language classes, and sewing and fabric materials classes. These vocational programs offer youth skills that are applicable in the job market and community. Moreover, they are skills that give youth the opportunity to improve their community. I was encouraged by the people and tutors I met who work in the vocational training center. I strongly believe that community centered programs are the best way to address local problems (especially when government support is not around), and YUM's programs are a model for how a community can come together in a local and sustainable way to support the development of kids from the cradle to their careers.