Melody and Harmony of Change from Papua

With the right platform, every child can recognise their potential and maximise it. Therefore, the Children's Forum is an important platform that must be available in every village, sub-district and district in Indonesia. The Children's Forum opens up space for participation and development of children's potential that was previously unavailable. Through the Children's Forum, the community can also see how children can transform into leaders and agents of change in their neighbourhoods.  

WVI's Pegunungan Tengah operational office in Papua in collaboration with several partners has successfully established a Children's Forum in the assisted village. With proper assistance from the Children's Forum facilitators, the members have successfully organised National Children's Day celebrations, soccer matches, leadership training, and the radio programme LABEWA (Lagu dan Belajarnya Anak Wamena) broadcast on Radio Republik Indonesia. The Children's Forum has proven successful in exploring the potential of children in Pegunungan Tengah, and even discovering new potential.  

Seeing this, one of the churches in Pegunungan Tengah also took the role of conducting another development, namely, music training. Hopefully, this training can also increase youth involvement in church activities. The church already has a music studio but trainers and musical instruments are not available.   

Thanks to the support of sponsors and donors channelled through WVI, the music studio at the Church was repaired. The trainers and musical instruments were equipped. The church also organised a regular schedule for music training. With this arrangement, the children can be more actively involved in useful activities while performing worship services in the Church.  

"The church is supposed to have full musical instruments but due to lack of human resources, only me and the pastor play music, and that's just the keyboard," admits Herlince, one of the vicars. "But thanks to this programme, the children have access to musical instruments, such as drums, guitars, and flutes, as well as a place to learn. Although they had never seen, let alone played, a musical instrument before, after five practices, there was an encouraging change," she added. Herlince also feels that this music training can start the regeneration of new ministers in the Church.  

Currently, 120 girls and 97 boys can regularly practice music at the Church. WVI and the Church also encourage parents to actively support their children who are involved in this activity. Parental support means a lot so that children in Pegunungan Tengah can avoid negative activities. It would be more beneficial if parents direct their children to participate in the activities of the Children's Forum.  

Thanks to your support, children in Pegunungan Tengah can now explore new potentials and sing beautiful melodies. Let's walk together with WVI and bring hope to many children in Indonesia. 

Author: Earlene (Product and Retention Executive) dan WVI operational team members in Pegunungan Tengah 

Editor: Mariana Kurniawati (Communication Executive)