Partner Story: For the Becoming Informative Community

Someone says the older a bamboo, the harder the branch is. It is similar to Joni Oja (68), a spiritual coach of Were III Village, Ngada Regency, and head of the school committee that the older he is, the more enthusiastic he is in changing society's habits.

Joni started getting to know Wahana Visi Indonesia (WVI) when he attended a nutrition garden training. With high enthusiasm and concern for the community, Joni began to voluntarily share his knowledge with the community. This started Joni's journey to becoming a WVI partner to become a nutrition garden facilitator for other villages.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the government and institutions created programs to prevent the spread of Covid-19. WVI also responded to this. WVI also sees the impact of Covid-19 on those who are most vulnerable that are children.

WVI trains the community to become facilitators so that they can return to the village and share information with other people. The information can slowly change behavior, especially the pattern of educating parents to children during a pandemic. One of the facilitators who was trained was Joni Oja.

His spirit continues today. He asks permission from the parish priest to socialize Covid-19 materials and parenting with love issues to the congregation weekly.

“I enjoy learning new things, and I will participate in any type of training. I have a reason because seeing that our society is still far from being exposed to information. Their behavior is still indifferent, so this motivates me to learn a lot, and I can share it with the community so that we are also not left behind." Joni explained the reason behind this good intention.

According to him, after joining as a WVI partner and providing outreach to the community, Joni saw that there had been changes. Especially in the community's desire to establish a nutrition garden.

"Indeed, not all people plant, but from the family nutrition garden, it is sufficient to fulfill nutritious food, such as fruit and vegetables, especially infants. At the posyandu they often provide PMT (providing additional food. Ed) from vegetables and fruit that they grow themselves,” said Joni.

The violence of children that often occurs in this village has also decreased. Joni continues, all of the children are now in school.

Miran Keli (26) village's health worker is one of the beneficiaries of what Joni is doing. “Mr. Joni often invited me to socialize at church or in the community. He also shares about Covid-19 and is very related to health so he asked me to help explain the impact if someone was attacked by Covid-19. He is a very passionate person, and he does it on his initiative. Because I see this is good, I am also happy to be able to help him so that all of our people can avoid Covid-19 by adopting healthy living habits," she explained.

The fruit is said to be delicious and sweet when it is tasted. Love is said to be beautiful when it is taste. People's behavior changes because of seeing the good things we give. That's Joni Oja who has a great love for his people. If we are tired, complaining, and not strong with our work, look at God on every side, then we will be strong with His abundant grace.

Written by: Laurensius Viktor Gua, Field Facilitator of Nagekeo Ngada Program Area Wahana Visi Indonesia