08/06/2026
After the SI SEAP conference in Malaysia, three Australian Soroptimists; Lorna Mead, Catherine Evans and Astrida Upitis, visited Soroptimist sisters in Jakarta. The aims were to learn about Indonesian projects, share ideas for collaboration and strengthen friendship links.
The Australian visitors were warmly welcomed by all three SI Jakarta clubs: Jakarta, Kemang and Kebayon Baru.
On the first day, we were privileged to visit a project providing nutritious food to elderly folk in central Jakarta and seeing what a difference this made (SI Jakarta). Next we visited Dr Suharti Sutar, Secretary General, Ministry of Education, who is also a member of SI Kemang. We discussed gender in Indonesian education which provided interesting insights into the country’s education system.
The following day we visited a high school in Cibubur where SI Kemang is supporting young women with an online English learning program as well as face to face mentoring.
A ‘show and tell’ workshop was held on the third day where clubs presented, in more detail, different aspects of their efforts to help women and girls. SI Kebayon Baru arranged a video link with women in West Papua where the club is supporting leadership development.
The workshop ended with some ideas for future collaboration and support from Australian clubs.
A huge thank you to Isla Winarto (SI Jakarta) for arranging the program visit and hosting a pot luck dinner for all the clubs at her place. Also to SI Jakarta President, Tjandra Kerton, for her support and sponsoring our transport. A great visit, hopefully to be repeated with more members from the region visiting in the future.
