I actually work here too

I just realized I haven’t really been saying much about my job at PKBI. This may be because my job was pretty vague in the beginning with the delay of Ramadan but I am now pretty settled in to the NGO’s activities and am finding my own niche. My most useful role as an American and native English speaker really is helping build capacity among my staff through teaching them English (two classes per week), translating documents, and daily issues where the need to know English becomes a challenge. I also get to join in many activities outside the office. The big thing this week is a free movie filming we are holding at the local movie theater with four documentaries that highlight women’s issues such as human trafficking and domestic workers abroad. We are inviting local officials, NGO activists, community groups, students and the general public to get involved in a dialogue about these issues facing Indonesian society.

I have also been trying to get involved in the HIV/AIDS scene here. The other NGO I work with, SIKOK, only recently lost its HIV/AIDS support/advocacy program due to funding issues and wants to start something back up. So the other night I went to a meeting with local activists and people living with HIV/AIDS where they are working to develop a new organization to carry out support and advocacy activities. I also went with one of our staff members the other day when he gave a talk on the subject at sexual health conference for people from around the province. I will definitely be following the developments but it may follow the same sloooow progress as most projects do in this country’s lax work atmosphere.

Something that is more related to SIKOK’s activities than to Planned Parenthood, but also something I am extremely interested in, is the upcoming gubernatorial elections to be held next March. Sumi and I are planning to carry out some sort of survey on their attitudes and understanding of the electoral process by women and young people here. This is with the plan of carrying out voter education programs once we get the results. With the elections just heating up, we are working to develop a project proposal to get funds from the local government. They other day we had an extremely interesting meeting with the head of the Provincial Electoral Oversight Committee to discuss our plans and he was extremely supportive and passionate about the need for Indonesia to get away from “money politics.” I love paying attention to the campaign posters around the city and even in the villages already to learn about the candidates and the different postures they are taking on. I am so excited to be here for a big election since I arrived in Indonesia just after the presidential and parliamentary elections.