Broadening Network in the BfdW Alumni Meeting

In February 2020, the Multiplicator of Stube-HEMAT in Bengkulu was invited to attend the BfdW (Brot Fuer Die Welt) alumni meeting, a donor institution from the Lutheran churches, Germany, which provides educational scholarships to students in Indonesia and other countries in the world. This meeting aims in establishing communication between BfdW and alumnus who have received scholarships and find out what the alumni do after they had graduated. The meeting was held in Yogyakarta, on February 7-10, 2020 and the main activity took place at the Duta Wacana Christian University with ‘Hunger for Justice’ as the main theme, which was adapted from the theme of BfdW's 60th anniversary. This theme has a noble desire and hopes that each alumni continues to work in his/her field to fight for and provide justice wherever they live.

The alumni were asked to prepare material, which was delivered both in the seminar or in a panel and parallel discussions. Many of them have worked as pastors, lecturers, and social workers. The majority of participants have a postgraduate (S2/S3) education and focus on their respective fields of science and research which the materials were delivered in English. For the Multipicator of Stube HEMAT in Bengkulu, this event was very memorable and useful because it enables the Multiplicator to meet with experts and scientists who have experiences in their fields, such as Dr. Ferry Kawur, an expert in Bioscience and lecturer in Health Sciences, Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga. He explained the development of bioscience understanding and its dynamics in Indonesia. At the end of the presentation, Dr. Ferry gave four books of his writing that can be studied further.

When presenting the presentation as a Multiplicator of Stube HEMAT in Bengkulu and an alumnus of Theology in UKDW, the multiplicator shared the activities done in Bengkulu and the dynamics of the community. This is the difference between academics and social workers, which have their way of serving the community. Bengkulu was claimed as the poorest province in Sumatera, which the majority of the population works as farmers, while the manufacturing industry has not developed much. The access in and out of stuff commodity is still relatively minimum. Three years of service in Bengkulu made multiplicators understand more the reality of life. Currently, Bengkulu education facilities continue to develop, infrastructures grow, and health facilities expanded, while access to bank credit is widely opened. But these efforts did not automatically solve the problems that hit young people, such as the high number of drug cases among them and increasing cases of intolerance.

The Multiplication of Stube-HEMAT presents the interaction dynamic of Bengkulu students and young people. Twice a month they meet together as students and local youth to discuss actual problems, weekly meetings for Bible study, and once a month arrange a discussion with a lecturer for Bengkulu students.

The meeting with other BfdW alumni certainly increased the enthusiasm of service because the lecturers, pastors, and social workers were possible to work together in dealing with social problems in the community. The seminar meetings that facilitate alumni to meet are very important to get new insight, knowledge, and experience in the empowerment works. Thank you to Stube-HEMAT Yogyakarta and BfdW, hopefully, this opens a chance for more networks to learn and do activities together. (YDA).