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LINC: Linking Individuals, Knowledge and Cultures: Indonesian – American Exchange Program
What is LINC? LINC is a two-way exchange program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, created specifically so that Indonesian and American teens could meet and learn more about each other, one another’s nations and cultures LINC will promote mutual understanding between the people of Indonesia and the United States. Programmatic activities introduce Indonesian and U.S. students to the principles of civil society and youth leadership as they are practiced in the both countries. Interactive workshops will highlight how the roles and responsibilities of citizens within a democracy bring well-being to the population.
Who will participate? Ten high school students ages 15-17 from the Indonesian provinces of West Sumatra, Banten, Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Lombok and ten of their peers from the U.S. The American youths will represent a wide spectrum of experiences: urban, rural, and suburban settings and Native American reservations.
When? Students who are selected from Indonesia went to the East Coast of the United State this July (2006). For the two weeks they will participated in workshops, lived in homestay situations and learned more about the USA. Later, the teens will meet their American counterparts at the Global Youth Village camp where they will join campers from around the USA and many other nations. Later in 2006, American youths will visit the homes, schools and communities of their Indonesian counterparts.
 Where? Indonesian students will visit Washington D.C. and Philadelphia in addition to attending the Global Youth Village in Southern Virginia with American students (http://www.globalyouthvillage.org/). American students will visit with their counterparts in Sumatra, Java and Lombok.
Why? LINC is first and foremost an exchange program. That is, a program created to foster greater understanding and respect between individuals from different cultures and nations. It is also anticipated that LINC will foster a group of young men and women who understand the importance of civic participation, and who have skills to carry out projects that will enhance their own lives and the lives of others in the surrounding schools and communities.
U.S Youth Trip in Indonesia
by Adsina Fibra
Twenty high school students (10 from Indonesia and 10 from the U.S.) were selected to participate in this wonderful two-way exchange. In July 2006, the students met and learned together at the Global Youth Village in Virginia. From 26th November- 15 th December 2006, U.S. students travelled to the homes and schools of their Indonesian counterparts to learn about the culture and government of Indonesia.
On Monday night, 27 th December, the U.S students arrived in Padang , the capital and largest city of West Sumatra and spent one night here. On the next morning, they participated in discussion on History of Indonesia with Prof. Dr. Azmi and Dr. Siti Fatimah, lecture from Padang State University and had a chance to talk about foreign services with Thomas E Daley, the Deputy Consul of U.S Consulate General-Medan office. They visited SMAN Negeri 1 Padang, the best state high school in West Sumatra where they had lunch together with the students and talked about teen life in each country. Here their LINC pal, Jodi, hosted them. After that the group continued their journey to Bukittinggi, a town in the West Sumateran highland, around 90 km by road from Padang . They arrived in the evening, and went bed early to recover from their travel.
They spent three days in Bukittinggi. Here, they learned about Indonesian education system including visiting one of the oldest Islamic Boarding Schools in Indonesia, Sumatera Thawalib Parabek. Their LINC pal, Siska hosted them with a welcome dance performance and the whole school was waiting in a line on the gate to greeting their Americans guests. Together with 15 students from Siska's school, the U.S students went to Koto Gadang , a silversmith village, Lobang Jepang, the Japanese Cave and Fort de Kock the Colonial Dutch Fort and Pandai Sikek , the silk weaving craftsmen's village. From the bus, they saw vast green padi rice fields, being worked by hand and by farmers with water buffalos. On the last day, the students from the school openly expressed their sadness, some of the girls cried when they have to say good bye to their new Americans friends. Here in West Sumatra, they also had a chance to learn the matrilineal culture of Minangkabau people when visiting Istana Pagaruyung , the Minangkabau Traditional Palace.
On 1 st Dec, they flew to Yogyakarta in Java Island, the only province in Indonesia that is still formally governed by a pre-colonial Sultan . The 10 Indonesian and 10 Americans happily reunited in a mini conference. They gave presentations on follow-on projects that they had done in schools or in their communities. When they all were in Global Youth Village, they created follow-on project proposals and each received a $50 mini grant. Through this project participants experienced and learned all phases of project planning: such as, developing and implementing an action plan, gaining approval of school or local government officials, monitoring progress; adjusting plans as needed, monitoring a budget, publicizing the event or project, evaluating results and presenting it.
All of them had successfully completed their projects. Their projects were varied, and included helping unfortunate people (orphanages, abandon kids and poor people), recycling programs, environmental beautification projects, and also held seminars or discussions to improve popular awareness of current issues and educate their peers to be active citizens. One American student named Kaitlyn Maier, did fund rising to help an Indonesian student's project of establishing a new library. Besides doing the fund rising, Kaitlyn also explained about Indonesia to the people that came, because they have a very little information about Indonesia. Through this project, she really linked the two countries.
In Yogyakarta, students had a 4.am morning tour to the famous Borobudur Ninth Century Temple, and then had a tour of the Sultan Palace . They also worked on community service at a Muhammadiyah High School, which was damaged by the big earthquake in May 2006. Together they painted the school gate, clean up the class rooms and the park. Their visit also helped some of the students to recover from the trauma; this Americans students visit had motivated them to continue their study and giving them a new hope that someday they will be able to visit other countries like the American students did. That evening, the group all wore batik dress and had a nice Javanese dinner together with Mary E. Polley, Public Affairs Officers of the U.S Consulate General-Surabaya Office.
On 4 th Dec, the U.S group flew to Lombok Island, a beautiful island in West Nusa Tenggara province. They spent the first morning there teaching English classes at M.A. Nurul Haramain, an Islamic boarding school in Lombok, the school of another Indonesian LINC student, Qorry. In the afternoon, they were also teaching M.A Nurul Hakim, the school of another LINC student, Harun. For the 45 minute classes, the Indonesian students were enthusiastic about learning from the teen teachers. When the class finished, they were crowding to the Americans to take a picture together and exchanging addresses. It was celebrity-like atmosphere.
Three speakers, Paolo Campillo the General Manager of Sheraton Hotel, Howard Singleton the Owner of the Office Restaurant, and Lalu Wiramaya, the Tourism and Cultural Officer came to the LINC Discussion and presented their perspectives and experiences on tourism and local society in Lombok. Besides that, the group had a nice time snorkeling in Gili Trawangan Island, having beach barbeque at the Office Restaurant and visiting a Sasak Village.
The last destination of the U.S Group was Jakarta, the capital and largest city of Indonesia . Located on the northwest coast of the island of Java , one of the most populous cities in the world. They had a short stay with host families from Al Izhar Islamic High School. They learned about Indonesian family and life, which they discovered not very different from the Americans'. They experienced meeting extended families were trapped in horrible traffic jams and learned about teen life in the metropolis.
During their stay in Jakarta, they learned about democracy and media. They visited the University of Indonesia, the Jakarta Post Newspaper Company, Metro TV, an Islamic NGO that works on poverty named Dompet Dhuafa Republika , historical monuments, and government offices. The introduction about Democracy and Government System in Indonesia were given by Kevin O'Rourke, the Head of Reformasi Magazine, and Shadli Komara, a CCE Consultant.
On the same day, Andi Matalatta, the Head of Golkar Party faction and six of its members welcomed the group at DPR-MPR RI , the House of Representative and the Parliament House. The Americans students seemed very interested in politics and they had a lot of questions such as how many percentages of women in the parliament, current affairs government policies, voting the electoral system, agenda for improving democracy in Indonesia, how they felt about democracy nowadays, and how many factions and members were in parliament. Last but not least, they had a chance to meet and talk about their Indonesia experiences at the U.S Embassy, with the U. S Ambassador, B. Lynn Pascoe, a Cultural Affairs officer Donna Welton, Assistant CAO Nayda Bean, and all of Public Affairs Staff who were incredibly supportive and made this trip possible.
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Indonesian Youth Trip in US
by Adsina Fibra
On the first ten days of our U.S. trip, we stayed with host families in Roanoke, Virginia. During the day all participants did activities together and during the evenings and on the weekends they spent their time with their host families “Staying with the host family was one of my best experiences,” said most of the participants. We went canoeing, played put-put, bowled, tried new American foods, went hiking, fishing, watched movies, went shopping, went sightseeing and cooked Indonesian food. Indonesian students were surprised by their host families hospitality. Even though they only stayed a very short time, some of them called their host parents mama and papa, and their kids my sister and my brother.
When we were at the workshops, Legacy staff taught us about many subjects such as democracy, the education sector, media literacy, poverty, government system in the U.S, and how to be a businessman. We also visited local public and private high schools, Roanoke College, the local TV station, Roanoke Daily Newspaper, the City Council, and the Mayor's office. We did a community service at the RAM House, a place where we served food for homeless people.
There was one day where the students were by themselves without an escort. They were divided into pairs. On that day, they went shadowing a professional from the Roanoke area. They went to the American Red Cross, Head Start (an NGO that provides child care for children from low incomes families), Northwest Neighbourhood Environment organization, the Circuit Court, and then two students had the opportunity to meet Miss Virginia 2006, when they were shadowing a photographer for at the Roanoke Times Newspaper. Their duty on this day was watching directly the daily operation of each NGO or institution, observing the professional's job, learning about some issues in the local society, and being independent.
For the next ten days, we stayed at the Global Youth Village. It is a summer camp that is managed by Legacy International. At this camp, they met the U.S. LINC youth, learned about leadership, planed their follow-on projects, met other youth from all over the world and had loads of fun. Daily activities included LINC workshops in the morning, action teams with all youth in the afternoon, siesta time ( it is a free time where they can chose one activity like swimming, basketball, wall climbing, soccer, art studio, music, pottery, painting etc), and then in the evening the activity was cultural and sharing night. Indonesian LINC youth presented a cultural performance. They presented a traditional fashion show, which was followed by all participants doing the Saman Dance from Aceh, the Indang dance by Jodi from West Sumatra, the Ngebaksakeun dance by Nanda from Banten. Later they showed a slide show about their provinces, showing traditional games, a quiz about Indonesia and a play taken from Javanese folklore called Dewi Sri (the Goddess of Padi Rice). They closed they cultural presentation by asking the GYV audience to do Indonesian traditional dance together. It was a very merry presentation. All the youth at GYV were very excited watching the Indonesian cultural performance and they were enthusiastic in learning some of the dances and games after the performances. The Indonesian students learned and practiced the Saman Dance in just 5 days during their tight workshop schedule, and they were presented it successfully.
On the last week of their U.S visit, they stayed in a hotel in Washington D.C. They learned how to use the subway for the first time. They had a chance to visit many kinds of Museums like the Native American Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Air and Space Museum, the Smithsonian Museum, and the Holocaust Museum and war memorial monuments. The Indonesian students were impressed that all Museums were free and well managed. They saw many tourists with various international backgrounds in D.C. The Holocaust Museum was unforgettable, because they've never seen the facts about the genocide during Hitler's time.
They also had a chance to enter the Lincoln Monument, the U.S Capitol and the Supreme Court. They had an interesting discussion with Thomas B. Cochran, Ph.D the director of Nuclear Program at the Natural Resources Defence Council, regarding the nuclear disarmament treaty and nuclear power as an alternative resource for electric plants. They had an inside tour and interviewed at the VOA (Voice of America). Last but not least, they had a chance to talk to Mr. Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat, the Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia at the Indonesia Embassy. On the last evening in D.C, they had the wonderful experience of cruising on the Potomac River.
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