IO – @america, the cultural center of the Embassy of the United States, is presenting an interesting program, with a wonderful Indonesian lady who has successfully achieved great things for her society on a talk show program on Wednesday, January 29, 2020.
This event, which is supported by STT Kalvary, Etnika and @america, is also intended to commemorate the 7th anniversary of the Cinderella Indonesia Foundation. Lusia Efriani Kiroyan, Founder of YCI, held a book launching event “Cinderella Indonesia: Life Changing Journey in America” and also Kick Off Batik Girl Asean 2020. The event held at @america, is in the form of a talkshow divided into 2 sessions; in the first session Lusia explained her motivation to write a Cinderella Indonesia book in English, and she also dedicated all the results from this book to support the activities of the Cinderella Indonesia Foundation.
Lusia told her story about attending the International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) with the hope that many young people would be inspired by her story of how she struggled in realizing her dream of studying in America and also building a Cinderella From Indonesia Center in Batam, which she dedicates to helping poor women and children students. In session one, Lusia was accompanied by Mrs. Dhani Sarwono (President of the ASEAN Women’s Circle & Spouse of the Indonesian Ambassador to ASEAN). She shared how she was moved to support all activities of the Cinderella Indonesia Foundation and also gave advice to the younger generation, especially for young women growing into independence.
The first session was concluded by a Contact Psychologist who is also Celebrity, Roslina Verauli, M.Psi.Psi. In this session Vera conveyed her views on getting to know Lusia and also explained how the psychological aspects of Cinderella’s fairytale that could have a negative impact on the younger generation: she says there needs to be an update of Cinderella’s story that is more in line with ‘Zaman Now’. By drawing the same conclusion that women should become individuals who have skills, are independent and can also benefit their surroundings.
The program then continued with the 2nd session of the Talkshow, the Batik Girl Asean 2020 Kick off. The second session was opened by the first resource person, Heera SKV (President of IWFCI Indonesia). Heera explained how she had joined the Batik Girl program in 2015 at the Pondok Bambu Detention Center in Jakarta, to the continued activities of the 2019 Batik Girl at the Women’s Detention in Denpasar Bali.
Heera and Lusia also took the initiative in helping other Indonesian women in the collaborative program “Indonesian Women Work”, an online platform used to help women make money whenever and wherever they are. Then, the second speaker was Sharifah Fazzelen, Founder of The Organic Room Singapore; she supported the Batik Girl Asean 2020 program with 1000 boxes of Batik Girl that were environmentally-friendly and using ink safe for children. The last speaker was Irwan Junaidy, Director of The R&D Studio (Malaysia). Irwan explained Batik Girl Animation and collaboration plans with the Batik Girl Asean 2020 program. The talkshow was moderated by Imung Hikmah (Foster & Bridge Indonesia).
Following the talkshow, the program continued with a question and answer session and at the end of the event a symbolic Batik Girl Doll was given to the President’s Special Staff for the social sector Angkie Yudistia (IVLP alumni) and also representatives from several Asean Countries. This is a form of the start of the Batik Girl Asean 2020 program, which will empower 500 women-assisted citizens in 5 prisons in Indonesia to make special dolls for children with cancer and disabilities throughout ASEAN. This coincides with the launching of the book Cinderella Indonesia: The Life Changing in USA. This book can be purchased online at the website: wwww.cinderellaindonesia.com or through Amazon. com. (OHW)