Susy Katipana lifts NTT's poor<\/p>\n
P.J. Leo, The Jakarta Post, Kupang, Nusa Tenggara Timur<\/p>\n
Susy MD Katipana did not get the honorific title Pendekar Dari
\nTimur (The Heroine from the East) for nothing. Through her
\nYayasan Womintra (Women in Transition Foundation), she literally
\nbrings light to many villages in East Nusa Tenggara.<\/p>\n
\"NTT's geography and topography and the people's low
\npurchasing power have put electricity out of reach for most
\nvillagers. Womintra finds a solution to bring electricity to
\nvillages by using solar power,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Once electricity enters a village, life begins to change and
\nvillagers have greater opportunities to improve their standards
\nof living, she contended.<\/p>\n
Born in Kupang 50 years ago, Susy has dedicated most of her
\nadult life for the betterment of villagers' living standards. Her
\nparticular attention is on women and children and in 2000 Kartini
\nwomen's magazine gave her the title Pendekar Dari Timur in
\nrecognition of her work.<\/p>\n
In 2000 she received the ASEAN Best Executive Award for her
\nrole in development programs. During an assignment with The
\nUnited Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Susy was awarded the
\nPresidential Citation from UNICEF-New York for her outstanding
\ncontribution and dedication to women and children in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
But it is through Yayasan Womintra that Susy is best known by
\nthe people in NTT. The Kupang-based foundation focuses on
\nempowering village communities in cooperation with international
\nand local social institutions, the NTT administration and the
\nOffice of the State Minister for the Acceleration of Development
\nin Eastern Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Susy and her staff at Womintra focus on efforts to improve the
\nliving standards of village communities. In NTT, village life
\nmeans poverty, a condition wherein children lead a hardscrabble
\nexistence. In the province, children help with various chores,
\nsuch as fetching water or collecting firewood. It takes great
\neffort to lift the villagers out of such a situation.<\/p>\n
Susy's concern for and involvement in empowering villagers
\nwere a legacy of her parents' social activities. Raised in a
\nfamily who are devoted to the welfare of others, Susy began her
\nsocial activities as a teacher at Nusa Cendana University in
\nKupang in 1978.<\/p>\n
The fourth of 13 siblings, Susy always told her students that
\nbeing a teacher or educator was not restricted to the classroom.<\/p>\n
\"A teacher or educator can be anywhere,\" said Susy, who
\naspired to be a teacher even as a child.<\/p>\n
A graduate of the Bandung Teachers Training Institute (IKIP),
\nSusy loves rural life so much she often takes her urban students
\nto villages, for which she often hears people sneer, \"What kind
\nof scholar takes university students to villages.\"<\/p>\n
Susy spent five years dedicating her life to the teaching
\nprofession before she focused on her social activities.<\/p>\n
Susy's interest in the lives of rural people became even
\nstronger upon her return from studying in Calcutta, India, in
\n1985, when she was working for CARE International. During her
\nspare time she volunteered for three months at Mother Teresa's,
\nchurches and convalescent homes where she helped feed disabled
\nchildren and dying people.<\/p>\n
\"It was an amazing experience for me to be able to meet Mother
\nTeresa and to see how she organized work to help the castaway,
\nthe dying and disabled,\" she recalled. \"I never dreamed of seeing
\nMother Teresa. I first knew about Mother Teresa when I was in
\nJava through books, TV and radio. NTT then did not have access to
\nthat kind of information.\"<\/p>\n
Her parents were her role model.<\/p>\n
\"I watched how my mother, an active social worker at church,
\nfound joy through her work by providing books on health and
\nexplaining the meaning of healthy living to the population. This
\nshe did for 20 years until her eyes betrayed her. And my father,
\ntoo, who devoted his life for those people who were sidelined.
\nFather always told us to serve others no matter where we are,\"
\nsaid Susy.<\/p>\n
Inspired by her parents' special devotion to the socially
\ndisabled, Susy, who majored in infant and maternal health, then
\nset up in 1978, the Yayasan Jacob (Jacob Foundation). The
\nfoundation helped rehabilitate and provide facilities for
\ndisabled children in the province as well as assistance in
\nfinding schools that could accommodate their physical and mental
\nneeds.<\/p>\n
\"There is a general lack of awareness of the importance of
\nhygiene and routine health checkups. Pregnant mothers and infants
\ndo not have routine health checkups and all these have resulted
\nin the high birth rate of disabled children. This in turn hampers
\nefforts to create a productive and high quality future
\ngeneration,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Her social activities then took her to various international
\nnon-governmental organizations (NGOs), including with CARE
\nInternational, CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency),
\nJICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency), GTZ (Deutsche
\nGesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit) and UNICEF.<\/p>\n
She was UNICEF's chief representative for NTT and East Timor
\nuntil the latter voted for independence in 1999.<\/p>\n
It was while she was working for UNICEF that Susy met her
\nfuture husband, Clauss Dauselt, a German who was stationed in
\nKupang for a German-Indonesia bilateral program.<\/p>\n
\"We met often to discuss various programs and often Clauss
\nwould accompany me on my field work. I grew fond of him and felt
\nwe had a lot of things in common,\" she said with a smile.<\/p>\n
In 1997, she changed Yayasan Jacob into Yayasan Womintra
\n(Women in Transition Foundation). Womintra's activities extend
\nbeyond NTT and reach many other parts of eastern Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Susy changed Yayasan Jacob into Womintra because she saw a lot
\nof violence, not just physical, but also psychological violence
\nagainst women. Besides, there were many government programs aimed
\nat helping women, but they mostly focused on the physical
\naspects. For example, NTT has a high maternal and infant
\nmortality rates, second in Indonesia after neighboring West Nusa
\nTenggara, but government programs do not address the problem.<\/p>\n
\"Yayasan Womintra tries to involve women in every aspect of
\ndevelopment,\" said the mother of one child. \"Despite greater
\nwomen's involvement, men remain dominant in every area of
\ndevelopment due to the traditional approach. In NTT, women remain
\nin second position when it comes to decision-making.\"<\/p>\n
\"There have been demands for women to occupy positions in the
\nexecutive body, but as soon as they get there, they don't get
\nenough support,\" said Susy, a recipient of the Women
\nInternational Award 2000 for Community Development Program
\nDesign.<\/p>\n
\"Take President Megawati Soekarnoputri. We all know
\nher opponents accepted her as president only when the state was
\nin a critical situation. Ever since, they have not given her fair
\ncredit for her work,\" she added.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/susy-katipana-lifts-ntts-poor-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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