Young Successor of Barns of Life

Give me ten youth
Certainly I’ll rock the world
(Soekarno)

That night, young people who are members of Padepokan Kyai Suluh were gathering. They called their fellow villagers who were sailing in the waters of South Sulawesi. Laughter with nostalgia was coloring that long-distance call. This atmosphere implies ironic fact that the young of the village have to go to sea for the fortunes of their life. Leaving the village to make a living is a common situation which occurs in the village of Dlimas. Some young people have also become commuters who work outside Klaten in the cities nearby such as in Yogyakarta, Boyolali, Salatiga, Solo. This phenomenon occurs almost equally in the villages of Indonesia which indicates that the villages are no longer promising places to survive.

In fact, according to population statistics data in 2010, young people reached 34.47%, or nearly 82 million of the total 237 million population of Indonesia (BPS, 2010). Those in this category are at the age range between 15-34 years, and counted as the labor force. Of the total amount, nearly half of it is in rural areas. As looking at the demographic figures, the presence of young people in the village actually has significant role as a driving force. Similarly, what happens in urban areas, although close to the heart of the city, but not all of young people are absorbed as workers. Consequently, many are unemployed and without any purposeful activity they are also vulnerable entangled into practices that lead to social problems. Such as drugs, fighting between groups, gambling or unsafe sexual relationship. On the one hand, the spirit and energy of young people that is very potential is sometimes used by various interests of power playing in a region.

Based on the experience of implementing CreativeNet program in each community, the young become a spearhead in carrying out all creative ideas. They are eager to work, cooperate, pouring their thoughts, finding solutions together. In other words, when young people acquire egalitarian expression space in which their dreams and ideas are appreciated then so many positive things can be done.

Ironically, within the scope of the village, young people are often considered to be a group that do not need to be involved in decision making. This often makes young people apathetic and they have no concern for the problems that occur in the surrounding. Educational orientation which only gave birth to the “robots” supporting the interests of capital have deaden the creative power that exists in young people that make some of them do not have courage to dream.

The existence of communities in kampungs and villages such as Sanggar Anak Kampung Indonesia, Padepokan Kyai Suluh, Sanggar Lare Mentes, GPP08, Komunitas Cemara, Radio Komunitas Lintas Merapi become important as a space of expression to reignite the power of imagination, creativity is actually inherent in the soul of the young. Patronage is needed to instill values, confidence, dreams, expectations, and practices. This often happens in some places, when the patrons leave, the motive power is gone. But as long as the patronage model is based on togetherness and giving young people the opportunity to perform, then there will always be seeds to grow to regenerate in the future.

One thing that is interesting from a creative approach is the communities are busy at work of creating in which the process of harmonization between the mind and the heart is going on. This creative bustle stimulates the community to see the issue of their villages that seem not to be able to change with new perspectives. In Flores, for instance, with the given training to produce a video, young people were encouraged to recognize their village that unwittingly formed awareness in themselves. The skill of using video was finally recognized by the older generation, so that they were prompted to enter the spaces of customs and government on the grounds of documentation. But by entering the spaces, they gradually understood the decision-making process, and ultimately could contribute in the meetings that were previously never followed.

Bravely, it could be concluded that when young people are given space of expression so the dying “barns” are able to be brought to life in various forms. However this time, the hardest task is to provide space for them to become a driving force of change in their own villages. And 8 communities in Jogjakarta, Klaten, and Bandung have pioneered it through the road full of steep that is the road to peace in the path of culture. (Ade Tanesia)