Photojournalism Indonesia by Tricia Timmermans photographer and writer with Photo-J Inc. VICTORIA BC

Link to black and white images of Yogyakarta pre-schoolers

In February 2000, I travelled to Java, Indonesia. The following is based on an article written for Every Child, the magazine of the Australian Early Childhood Association Inc.

Nignig, preparing for a creative workshop in Kalibawang, an outlying desa near Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Nignig is a staff member at the Institute for Women and Children's Studies and Development or Lembaga Studi dan Pengembangan Perempuan dan Anak (LSPPA) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia's second largest city, located in south central Java.


Comical figurines, once tubs of play dough, filled trays, and prompted some lively discussion with Pipin, an LSPPA facilitator.



Following the creative workshop, the children watched a cartoon on gender equity. They were amused by the concept that, yes, girls could fix trucks too.

Sofi Thomson, pictured below playing with the Kalibawang children, is a volunteer with Australian Volunteers International. Until early 2001, she was working at LSPPA as an Early Childhood Education consultant.			Nignig and the children discuss the film. In a traditional Indonesian school, the teacher would have been standing and the kids would have been sitting straight-backed in hard seats, straining to maintain attention. Instead, the parents and educators in Kalibawang witnessed a new kind of teaching atmosphere, one where the children felt comfortable with their teacher, where work was play, and where laughter ruled.
Images and Text © Tricia Timmermans