One small motion at Kamumu

Central Sulawesi

The offering of a poor widow is the highest concept of sharing, because she shared from her shortcoming. Something similar might be a closer to what is done by a Stube-HEMAT ex-activist in Yogyakarta. He currently shares his little time and English knowledge for children in Kamumu village, North Luwuk district, Banggai Regency, Central Sulawesi.

His concern on soft skills, especially communication skills, encourages him to do something useful. Every afternoon after working, located in his former parents' kiosk, he becomes busy teaching dozens of children. They mingle, fulfill the small space. The small eyes of these students seem to glow, showing their thirst for knowledge, realizing that they has no English lessons at their schools.

Alternative Education Understanding

Stenly’s teaching method is slightly different from English lessons or English classes at school, this is the form of alternative education methods he got in Stube training a few years ago. He looks so comfortable to make those children free to choose what objects they want to learn. He divides student into two groups, grade 1, 2 and 3 or small classes scheduled for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at 5-6 pm, while higher classes (4, 5 and 6) are welcome to take lessons at 6-7 pm at the same day.

The enthusiasm of students is unstoppable, they admit that the teaching methods are very different from schools. Ido, one of the participants said, "We are happy that the lesson is easy to understand, because we were taught how to write, how to read and the meaning at the same time. I am happy to have a group, to discuss and to stand doing assignments in English".

This activity is free of charge, however the children initiative deserves a thumb up, they agree to collect Rp 2.000, to buy a small blackboard and markers. Finally some fund amount of Rp 44.000 was collected.

Reading Community Pioneering

This English afternoon class is a lighter of Stenly's dream to have a reading group. Until this article is released, this English afternoon class had been running for one month.

Currently, besides focusing on the lessons, the participants are also trained to sing ‘Give Thanks’ by one of the teaching staff, Tri Lagurue (Stube-HEMAT Yogyakarta ex-activist in 2017). This song will be sung in thanksgiving day at Bukit Sion Congregation of Kamumu on October 14, 2018.

Hopefully this soft skill will be useful for the future of Kamumu village children. The Lord Jesus may bless our service. (SRB).