“Who wants to be a photographer in the futureee…?”
Those children were silent in confusion.
What is a photographer?
Sunday October 15th, Odesa Indonesia Foundation invited Stefano Romano, an Italian photographer to be a guest tutor at an English course in Cisanggarung village, Cimenyan.
Kang Stef, that’s how he preferred to be called, was drown in children activities on Sunday, October 15th 2017 at Odesa Indonesia office in Cisaggarung village, Cikadut, Cimenyan, Bandung. At first, the children were awkward with the “surprise” tutor. It was understandable, since many of them never met a foreigner before. But the ice was slowly broken and the laughter was in the air. It was because Stef was very good at making the situation comfortable in minutes with his warm words.
Stef came to explain what photographer is in short. After that, the children saw and discussed the book called “Kampungku Indonesia”, which was a photography book by Stef that tells a story of Indonesian villages and people with hundreds of mesmerizing photographs.
The purpose of Odesa Indonesia English Course is to open the children’s imagination, to make them see how big the world is. It doesn’t focus on English speaking fluency but more on the effort of character building. That is why the introduction to profession is taught, in order to avoid them to have a limited imagination.
During one year of the process of this knowledge teaching, the children already have many new options of profession, such as doctor, flight attendant, college professor, journalist, farm instructor, etc. With Stef coming, another profession is added to their list.
Character building is closely associated with the effort of enriching knowledge and social skill. Stef’s visit is not something extraordinary for big cities citizens. But for village children who go to Odesa Indonesia English Course, it has a different value. We are stepping into the important effort of making the children used to meet people from different part of the world without feeling inferior to them. When engaged in conversation, look at their eyes, don’t look down. When in a discussion, dare to ask questions. As the competition is getting fiercer and harder in the world, the main asset is not to feel inferior. Be friends with citizens of the world.
Becoming the citizen of the world does not mean forgetting the village. Because as Stef said it, village is the soul of Indonesia. (Budhiana Kartawijaya) #stefanoromano #fotografer (Translated by Gita, Portalkata Indonesia)
