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Spread the Kindness


“George up, George down. Up, up, up, down down”, sang Edi. 

George muttered, “Rrrrrrr……”, before Edi laid down on his back. 

Edi relaxes for a bit, it’s 10,000 feet above the sea. The plane then navigates amidst the resting sky, reflecting the golden light and traversing through the dancing clouds, automatically adjusting to the wind and altitude.

Honestly speaking, George’s not his colleague though, it’s actually a term used commonly for an autopilot machine. 

Autopilot: responding automatically to the circumstances coming before us. Now imagine, if we were to be George, how many circumstances have we passed in autopilot mode? Perhaps a slang we always use when meeting our friends. Perhaps we act tough in front of the public. To put our hands properly when talking to people as not to stand awkwardly. We’ve all been there. Yet, the responses we do are becoming even more firm as a “right” response as time goes.

“It’s a habit, and it’s helping us in our life!”
True. But it’s more about pondering. Does George, the autopilot machine, enjoys the view up above, or does Edi the pilot is the one who enjoys it? 

Life is moving forward so fast. Sometimes we forget that we have the right to “rest”.
We are the pilot of ourselves, and we can treat ourselves gently. A pilot has to be aware of his own tools and crafts, just like how we can become aware of how we have wired ourselves and turn George-y. 

There are views up above to enjoy when we understand that we are Edi after all. We have the right to surface as who we really are. If the view up there is good, rejoice. If the weather’s bad, withstand. The view can’t be enjoyed through reports of numbers. Of safe or danger. Of fight or flight.

Sociopreneur Indonesia (SociopreneurID) designed Empathy Project (EP) to accelerate the development of Responsible Ecosystem (RE) by inviting all entities representing the Academics, Business, Government, and Society (ABGS) to collaborate and producing solutions to various challenges around them, particularly in Indonesia. EP started from a humble beginning as a university club focusing on teaching creativity to children through several standalone programs in 2013. Throughout working with many stakeholders and our effort in addressing increasingly complex issues, our mission has evolved into Developing Responsible Ecosystem. It was in 2018 that our club was registered as a social enterprise, namely Sociopreneur Indonesia.

On October 2018, we initiated our first Empathy Project at Sembulang Village, Batam, involving 200 children and youths, 100 local people from the communities, 30 volunteers, 50 educators, 3 local SMEs and 30 scholarship recipients from all around Indonesia. Empathy Project becomes a model of achieving Responsible Ecosystem through collaboration and has thereafter been conducted 3 times a year at different areas in Indonesia.

Our first edition of History Maker examines Empathy Project, particularly Empathy Project 2019, from a scientific point-of-view. Specifically, our examination includes theoretical, process-wise, output, and 4 specific studies.

Sociopreneur Indonesia (SociopreneurID) merancang Empathy Project (EP) untuk mengakselerasi terciptanya Responsible Ecosystem (RE) dengan mengajak seluruh entitas akademisi, bisnis, pemerintah dan masyarakat atau dikenal dengan ABGS (Academia, Business, Government, and Society) berkolaborasi menjadi bagian solusi berbagai tantangan yang ada di sekitar, khususnya Indonesia. EP dimulai dengan berbagai program mandiri pada tahun 2013 yang sejalan dengan perkembangan dan semakin kompleksnya tantangan yang dihadapi menjadikan SociopreneurID merancang model pendekatan baru dengan mengintegrasikan program-program mandiri pada tahun 2018.

Pada bulan Oktober 2018 bertempat di desa Sembulang, Batam, diselenggarakan program integrasi EP pertama kali dan melibatkan 200 anak-anak dan remaja, 100 masyarakat lokal, 30 relawan, 50 pendidik, tiga usaha mikro dan 30 penerima beasiswa yang datang dari berbagai tempat di Indonesia. Model EP ini menjadi awal dari pendekatan baru percepatan terciptanya RE di Indonesia yang secara reguler diselenggarakan setidaknya 3 (tiga) kali setahun di berbagai tempat di Indonesia.

Majalah History Maker (HM) edisi perdana ini disusun dengan mengangkat analisis dari EP 2019 yang dimulai dari pendekatan teoretis, proses, luaran dan 4 studi spesifik.

Well, it’s the millennials thing, isn’t it?”

Before I went to the office this morning, I called my dad to let him know I’ve been doing fine and I am preparing myself for the next project. “Thank goodness, then.” From his voice, I can sense that he is relieved to hear the news. My dad then asked me about how my weekend went. I told him about meeting my two high school friends. Both of them were busy keeping up with job vacancies, just like every fresh graduate would do once they’ve got the degree. My dad continued to ask me about how my other friends are doing. Where are they and what are they doing now?

I told him about some friends who started to have a job earlier than me. It’s quite questionable that they decided to quit their job so soon. Sparked with curiosity, my dad then asked, “What happened to them? Why would they quit their job?” Reasons I’ve gathered from their stories were quite simple, like, “Well, I don’t think the culture of the company matches my personality,” or “I got bored, the job descriptions were not like what I’ve imagined,” another reason like, “The job was boring, so I decided to find new experience and new ambience,” some even went, “I want to have a lot of working experience so companies would go after me.”

“They worked in a short period, Dad. Perhaps they haven’t found what they’re looking for.” My dad laughed. “Well, it’s the millennials thing, isn’t it?” What my dad meant was not the whole millennials (I don’t want to generalize the context here), but he meant the people at my age who always seek for the instant and practical things, people who were born in what-it-seem-to-be a rushing era, who tend to think that there isn’t enough time. Suddenly, a question popped in my mind. A question about how was it like when my father was still working.

“Dad, how did you manage to work in one place for decades?”

“30 years, to be exact,” he cut.

“Well, maybe because I was taught a lot about loyalty. My principle is to be loyal to what we have and always be grateful. Because if we always look for what’s ‘above’ us, we’ll never feel enough. That’s why, sometimes, we need to see what’s ‘below’ us. We’ll notice that there are people who might not be as lucky as we are.”

That was a thoughtful statement. It felt like I was being warned about how to live. Not to mention, as a fresh graduate I have thought once or twice about leaving my current job and work in another company for some time. The mindset was to ‘gain experience in many places.’ There were times I feel bored at work and the feeling could be a trigger to quit the job. But Dad — with his working experiences in the same place for 30 years — made me wonder, “Have you ever feel bored or tired at work, Dad?”

“Bored…yes, there must be a time or two that I felt bored at work, but notice that this is not about like and dislike. We have to love what we have, just enjoy whatever we have in hands. Always have in mind that this is a part of our journey. I used to have tricks on how to enjoy the work by finding something specific that I could focus on. Something that not everyone is capable of doing because by being able to work on something specific will be your ‘selling point’.” I must say I am amazed by his answer. It sounds simple but I barely see the practice of it these days.

Then he continued his answer, “…moreover, if we don’t have a professional working experience yet, we might as well be told to do random things at work. That’s natural. I mean, we can’t only be doing the thing that we love, there will be times we have to do something we barely like. We shouldn’t give up at times like that.” My dad has shown me a glimpse about what I’m about to deal in the ‘real world’ as a fresh graduate — who still has a little knowledge about surviving in workplaces, who are still tracing their path, dealing with their egos, and still have to learn so many things. My dad also added if a person constantly moves from one job to another it will be hard for that person to find his specification, things that he can master in.

Though, my dad keeps reminding me perhaps the working culture is already different then and now. There should be a generation gap from his era and my era. Back in his era, everything seemed to be more conventional, everything has its own rules. Today, the work culture is more flexible to reduce stress.

However, there is one thing that stays: work ethics. It includes how someone communicates, hospitality, time management, dedication, and loyalty. There are probably more of the work ethics I haven’t mentioned, but the point is we must be equipped with work ethics no matter what we are doing right now. It’s an important component to have aside from skills or capabilities to be a professional. Well, back to my dad. I got one more thing to ask him: what makes him so loyal then? He then answered, “I am loyal not because of the renowned workplace, or because of the facilities that I got, or other incentives.”

“I like to consider myself as ‘loyal to my profession.’ I think it’s important to set our goal, understand what we want to achieve in life. By that, we won’t choose the wrong job. If the goal has been set, whatever comes our way, we’ll be loyal.” I realized that perhaps some of us haven’t set our life goal, that’s why loyalty is rarely found in our current working culture. Sometimes, to find what we want in life, we waste our time moving from one place to another. Most of the time, that doesn’t seem to bring any positive impacts to ourselves. If seeking for a lot of working experiences is the reason why a lot of people quit their job, then what I learn is that it is not about how many experiences a person can get, but how easy a person walks away from their responsibilities.

By : Clarissa Amadhea

https://medium.com/sociopreneurid/fleas-nature-of-work-a2844f54346b

Dessy Aliandrina; Definta Ria Astuti; Heru Wijayanto

I-Site idea emerged from a gap in online information available about West Sumatra, Indonesia. The province has 4.96 Million residents who own a unique culture based on a matrilineal system. The unique culture is exposed on horn-shaped roof of traditional house, culinary (e.g., rendang, curry), and artworks (e.g., songket, sulaman). Furthermore, its geographic features offer a land of scenic beauty with lakes, mountains, and tropical forests. However, existing online information available about West Sumatra does not integrate. Users are very likely to browse different keywords to gather and collect information about West Sumatra. Thus, I-Site is designed to provide internet and mobile users with tourism information in one portal. Differing from existing tourism website, I-Site does not only provide information for tourists to plan their trips, but also invite the tourists and a crowd of people to become contributors of the Pages. So, crowdsourcing is applied for I-Site. Crowdsourcing is one of the uniqueness of I-Site. It will result in comprehensive contents related to West Sumatra tourism as I-Site is developed by a large crowd of people – from amateurs to experts – and partnering with companies and business owners. The contributors will receive recognition and/or monetary benefits. Similarly, companies and business owners will benefit from their ads in I-Site, which will be accessed by visitors from around the world who are interested in visiting West Sumatra. In sum, I-Site accommodates the needs of a wide range of stakeholders directly and, indirectly, increasing number of tourists to West Sumatra and, in turn, boosts local economy.

Dessy Aliandrina; Heru Wijayanto

Songket is a hand-woven craft from West Sumatra. It represents luxurious and social identity of Minangkabau people. Songket is typically used for special events; for example, wedding ceremony or ‘batagak gala’ – an occasion of crown ‘Datuk’ (a leader of a tribe) in Minangkabau. The uniqueness of Songket is reflected in its patterns that have multiple layers of meanings: 1) tasurek (surface/direct meanings), 2) tasirek (implicit meanings), and 3) tasuruak (hidden meanings). Recent studies have revealed that there are many unique patterns of Songket that have not been produced anymore because of their complexities in making. It certainly takes longer time to produce Songket with complex patterns and hence make it more unaffordable. The market demand has unfortunately changed the attitude of the craftwomen to preferably produce Songket with simple pattern. This situation is of course unfavorable as many patterns that have high cultural values start to disappear. In order to preserve Songket (as our cultural heritage) and its unique patterns, we aim to create an interactive map (which is accessible to public) that comprehensively reviews various songket patterns. It is our hope that the interactive map can help in promoting Songket by providing public with information on pattern meanings, materials used and traditional procedures in making them.

Dessy Aliandrina; Heru Wijayanto

Rumah Gadang, a traditional house of Minangkabau people, in West Sumatra has both historical and normative values. It represents social identity of Minangkabau people. In the last two decades, the number of Rumah Gadang has decreased significantly and in some areas of West Sumatra, the status of Rumah Gadang is quite worrisome. There have been dramatical changes in view of the function, form, construction, structure and spatial structure of these traditional houses. In the spirit of preserving Rumah Gadang as world cultural heritage, we aim to create an interactive map of Rumah Gadang in West Sumatra. The interactive map has several functions not only to identify numbers and provide identity of each Rumah Gadang, but also to share valuable information regarding their corresponding historical and normative values; for example, historical data, materials and designs, owners, function, etc. Through this interactive map, the previous, recent and future studies on Rumah Gadang can be easily accessed through internet web and hence helps to promote the values of Rumah Gadang, as one of the world cultural heritages.

Dessy Aliandrina

Keywords: social entrepreneurship, empathy, business

Life is full of contradictive situations. A student who has full access to education hates studying while another boy should walk 7 km everyday to reach his school in order to get an education. Modern society built more social networking to add friend-list, but becomes friend-less. The conditions and situations above are only examples of the world biggest threats today, which emerge the growth of social entrepreneurship. For example, Tree Planting Vacation Business emerged because people want to save the world from deforestation by taking vacation for planting trees, alternative energy business emerged to supply energy to people who have no access to it. However, the world of social entrepreneurship is not a linear process; it is a mess, complex, and unpredictable process. This study presents Social Entrepreneurship practices in Indonesia and the raise of awareness to build social entrepreneurship ecosystem amongst multiple stakeholders. Three cases of best-practices, from class project to international event, in University level will introduce in order to illustrate the needs to build ’empathy’ to society. The result shows the role of University in development of social entrepreneurship in Indonesia.

Dessy Aliandrina; Definta Ria Astuti

This study aims to investigate the implications of microfinance in West Sumatra to the borrowers’ quality of life. This research complements most studies on microfinance which are often focused on the lender’s perspectives instead of the borrower’s. The primary indicators used to identify the impact of microfinance to the people’s quality of life are accessibilities to education, foods and health.

Stevanus Chandra D; Dessy Aliandrina

Keywords: SDGs, social entrepreneurship, empathy, DMP

SDGs were established as an effort to build three pillars of development, which is social, economic, and environment. These pillars are present as a form to solve inequality, which is an impact that every social entrepreneur wants to achieve. For this reason, nurturing and fostering the growth of social entrepreneurship is essential to tackle inequalities. Here, empathy plays significant role in decision making processes (DMP) of a social entrepreneur to define solution for inequalities. This study aims to investigate the role of empathy in DMP of 6 social entrepreneurs that was resulted in built their social enterprises. By applying qualitative research approach, this study identified that empathy influenced in the whole DMP before a decision is taken.

Dessy Aliandrina; Definta Ria Astuti; Heru Wijayanto

A fast growing entrepreneurship spirit has emerged in the developing countries and becomes increasingly important subjects among the youths. Indeed, youth entrepreneurship is viewed as one essential study in entrepreneurship since it leads to positive impacts to the society. There have been many inspiring stories of youth entrepreneurs that successfully bring socio-economic benefits, such as promoting creativity, developing traits and inter-relationship and creating new jobs. Despite of its importance, study on youth entrepreneurship often has been overlook in Indonesia although there are vocational schools that educate their students to be entrepreneurs or skilled-workers. Unemployment issue still exists and remains challenges among the graduates of vocational schools. This study aims to develop a reasoned and logical understanding of the significances of vocational education and youth entrepreneurship in Indonesia.