“If I had taken the scholarship, I would have saved myself. Now things have been different since those kids are saved (from learning loss),” said I Gede Andika Wira Teja in a Zoom meeting that night. He cherished the decision he took back in March 2020 when the pandemic hit the world.
Nicknamed Dika, he was scheduled to take a master’s degree in the United Kingdom but had chosen to continue Kredibali instead. His love for kids in Pemuteran the village where he was born had encouraged him to do something useful by equipping them with a significant skill for their future.
Kredibali is short for Kreasi Edukasi Bahasa dan Literasi Lingkungan. As the name suggests, the program provides language (bahasa) and environmental (lingkungan) education that are considered urgently important after mapping what local kids are really in need of.
Opportunity during the pandemic
When the pandemic hit the world, including Bali, students of SD (elementary) and SMP (junior) were forced to learn at home. Unluckily, not all students in Pemuteran had the privilege of studying online with convenience. That’s what Kredibali is concerned about.
Hundreds of students in the village are economically underprivileged and they find it difficult to access online learning due to unaffordable Internet data plans. Dika then decided to teach them English to help them gain competence, especially to be able to communicate with foreigners coming to their village as tourists.
Since the program is given free of charge, Kredibali had to select eligible kids which resulted in 220 students whom he taught himself. The program is for children whose parents are recipients of social aid from the government as well as tourism workers seriously affected by the pandemic.
The first class began on 9 May 2020 while the coronavirus was beginning to rage. Provided in basic, intermediate, and advanced levels, Kredibali aimed at helping local students with their English and avoided them from potentially dropping out of school.
Before the program was approved, Dika had to speak up in a paruman meeting of the village council. He feared that if immediate actions were not taken, kids in Pemuteran would join their parents in fishing or farming while neglecting their studies due to the absence of an online learning facility.
“In the meeting, I presented the data based on my discovery and volunteered myself to teach English to kids. Villagers mostly appreciate what I suggested.”
I Gede Andika Wira Teja
Some were concerned about the PPKM that restricted people from doing activities outdoors. Social distancing was normal back then. Therefore the village hall with large space was agreed to be where kids would study. Local authorities and youth organizations alike joined hand in hand to support the program.
While villagers provided great support, their enthusiasm to send their kids was even greater. Dika was shocked to see more and more kids coming to participate in the program without it being advertised. He honestly didn’t anticipate the number of the students.
Choosing Kredibali over a scholarship
He was hoping to run the program until September 2020 when he would leave for the UK for the scholarship. However, his genuine interest in the future of the kids in Pemuteran had kept him from leaving. The coronavirus attack was at a peak in August and September 2020 and he made up his mind to give up the chance of studying abroad.
His decision was opposed by many, including his parents. He assured them that it was the best decision since he believed there would be plenty of opportunity for him to study abroad as compared to the kids’ rare chance to study online during the pandemic.
It was indeed a perfect decision. Kids in Pemuteran have improved significantly in English after studying at Kredibali. This will lead to ample opportunity for them in the future. As far as Dika was concerned, the drastically accelerated acquisition is a true blessing that will not parallel any material profit.
Kredibali nurtures young minds
What happened to I Gusti Ayu Putu Sri Kertiasih Wulantari is one of the successful stories that Dika would be immensely grateful for choosing Kredibali over the scholarship. Known as Wulan among her friends, this 15-year-old girl has gained massive confidence owing to her English skills which increased drastically after studying at Kredibali.
Not only is she capable of communicating in English with foreign tourists coming to Pemuteran, but also won second place in an English speech contest held by SMA Negeri 2 Gerokgak, Buleleng Regency back in June 2020. This is an incredible achievement for her as compared to students in other parts of Bali such as Denpasar, Badung, or Gianyar who are used to speaking in English with foreigners.
Pemuteran is a village in Buleleng flanked by hills and the sea. It is one of the famous tourist destinations in Bali for diving and snorkeling. Located on the northern coast of Bali, exactly on the Singaraja-Gilimanuk route, you can get to the spot by a three-hour drive from Denpasar, the capital of Bali.
Before the coronavirus attacked, Pemuteran was home to foreign tourists who wished to enjoy tranquility and aquatic tourism. Villas and homestays can be found all over the place. English skills are therefore undeniably vital to helping locals communicate with foreign visitors. Wulan spoke to Bisnis, giggling:
“I’m now confident to have a long chat with foreigners, unlike my previous encounter in which I simply said hello!”
I Gusti Ayu Putu Sri Kertiasih
She is certain that her English skills will lead her to a bright future. Even though her parents are farmers with low incomes, Wulan wouldn’t allow herself to drop out of school. Gerokgak where Wulan lives is one of the subdistricts with a fairly high school dropout rate in Buleleng. The school dropout rates are credited to educational access and the environment.
Wulan thanked Kredibali a lot for having opened up her mind. She thought of migrating to another area once she got the opportunity–something she’d never imagined before joining Kredibali.
“Wulan is one of the students that makes me delighted.”
I Gede Andika Wira Teja
Creative solutions Kredibali offers
Wulan’s mother couldn’t be happier to know that with English skills her daughter will be able to pursue higher education unlike herself. With kids educated by Kredibali, she believes Pemuteran will continue to host foreign tourists in the coming years.
What makes Kredibali even more favorable to the parents is that their kids can now do waste sorting. Yes, indeed. Instead of paying cash, children in the neighborhood must submit plastic from their household waste in exchange for an English class at Kredibali. That’s why the course is said to be free.
Before entering the classroom, students would have to place their plastic waste in the available cans accordingly with the help of the facilitator. While carrying and submitting the plastic indicates their determination to take the class thoroughly, sorting teaches them about waste management. This way they find out which waste are recyclable and which are not. More importantly, they are learning to care for the environment.
The sorted waste is then sent to a bank waste to be traded for rice. Kredibali works in conjunction with Plastic Exchange, a sustainability movement that aims at empowering communities to change their waste behavior through dignity-based exchange systems that result in cleaner, healthier environments. As for the rice collected, it is distributed to underprivileged elderly people in the area.
In this case, Kredibali has come out to deal with three issues. On one hand, kids in Pemuteran have conveniently free access to English learning to serve as mandatory skills that will help prepare their future. On the other hand, environmental awareness is being shaped by daily acts of waste management. Better still, students at Kredibali are developing their spirit of caring to help those unfortunate.
Legacy to advance villages in Bali
In honor of his brilliant idea, Kredibali was awarded the 13th SATU Indonesia Awards in 2021 from PT Astra International, Tbk. Dika is named a Selfless Fighter during the COVID-19 Pandemic. While being authentically grateful for the distinguished appreciation, Dika made it clear that is not his primary purpose. He argued that the original idea of Kredibali was to revive the village where his parents lived since the pandemic had been a severe blow to their tourism.
Kids in Pemuteran may not be able to generate economic income in the near future, but he is confident that local human resources are more than competent to deal with tourism issues. Kredibali will always be a partner to help them advance while finding another village to develop. That’s why the villages should rise to fame instead of the partner.
This principle has led Kredibali to expand its service area other than Pemuteran. When the community in the village has proven to use Kredibali’s pattern successfully or even modified it, Kredibali reached out to other villages including Puhu (in Gianyar) and Batur (in Bangli). Dika implied that volunteers exist mainly to forge the community’s mentality instead of continuously feeding them up. That way they will be able to survive by the local wisdom and treasures.
“Our mission is not to make us famous but to leave a legacy in a place.”
I Gede Andika Wira Teja
Dika concluded obviously hoping that Kredibali keeps strengthening the very foundation of local resources to welcome future challenges for villages in Bali. He is certain that many other young people in the archipelago can do the same to create a better future for Indonesia on the basis of caring and local values.
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