Working in Transition Period

The return of a young man to his hometown after studying in a city becomes a challenge for him, because he will face challenges directly in the real life among society that is so different from the idealism built during the lecturing process. In fact, sometimes he experienced frustration and confusion about what he has to do in his hometown.

I also experienced this situation when I returned to my hometown, in Pugungraharjo village, after finishing my study in Yogyakarta. I am Redy Hartanto, from Pugungraharjo, a village in East Lampung regency, Lampung province.  The year of 2014 was the beginning of my adventure to Yogyakarta to study Theology at Marturia Theology College. During my study in the period of 2014-2019, I took part in several activities out of campus, one of which was Stube-HEMAT Yogyakarta. I have participated in several training programs, namely Entrepreneurship, Church and Politics, Conflict Management, Organic Agriculture, Cultural Heritage: From Local to World, Parenting Skills, Multicultural and Interfaith Dialogue, Learning from Failure: A Strategy, and even the opportunity to explore Sumba through Sumba Exploring program. These activities really broadened my horizons, along with the awareness that would be beneficial when I lived among society. I went through this long process until graduation in December 2019.

Two weeks after graduation I returned to my hometown with a dream of applying every knowledge and experience that I could with an expectation that it would benefit many people. But apparently, I am also still confused about what I should do first. Yes, I do have the goal of being a pastor, but the process of becoming a pastor is not a short time, it needs process and stages and I need a 'transition period' to prepare myself to be more mature. ‘What am I going to do now?’ This becomes a question within myself, and finally I sort out the experiences that I have found, including off-campus activities, one of them is entrepreneurship, about a valuable lesson in entrepreneurship training to take advantages the potency in the surrounding area. This is an idea to start a packaged coffee business because Lampung is the second largest coffee producer in Indonesia after South Sumatra province. Besides that, in my village, nobody sells premium quality coffee, most of the coffee on the market is made from a mixture of coffee beans and rice or corn. I focus on premium coffee as an opportunity to start because premium quality itself is a ready-to-use coffee product using grade 1 coffee beans and a proper roasting process so that each coffee bean has the right level of well-roasted. This is the maximum coffee character, a typical Lampung coffee taste when one drinks it. This premium coffee uses basic ingredients of Peaberry Robusta Lampung coffee and Robusta Single Origin Lampung coffee and it is packed in 100 grams and 150 grams pocket.

I experienced ups and downs in starting a business that use local potency, lost enthusiasm when there were no buyers, or the coffee stock ran out when there were sudden orders. In fact, the stock of coffee is not much to maintains, the quality of the coffee with maximum taste must not exceed than 3 months, otherwise the aroma and the taste will start decreasing. But my optimism revived when market orders came from outside the region. Actually this is part of my big dream to be an example for the young people in my village to build own businesses using local potency, and one of them is coffee. I fought for myself and proved it because I was in a village that tends to ask successful evidence and further others will follow. I am open to transfer enthusiasm and knowledge of coffee that has been running now by inviting young people who have a motivation for cooperation, training them to know the characteristics of good coffee beans, processing, doing product packaging and marketing.

Every young man who returns from the city after completing his study certainly has personal struggle and he should be smart to find what he should do in the 'transition period'. A broad knowledge is important when knowledge in campus is complemented by experiences gained outside of campus without forgetting the responsibilities as student. There I found a new alternative that I did not get in campus, and was finally useful when in my hometown. The ability to map local potency is a plus value for me when I become a church pastor, not only providing ‘spiritual food’ at the church services but also answering economic needs of the church members by developing local-potency-based businesses. This is a challenge for young people who are studying in city, complete their knowledge in campus with off-campus trainings that will enrich their experience as provision for living in the real community. (Redy Hartanto)