VOA标准英语2010-Indonesian Village Tours Help Small Indus

In villages still recovering from an earthquake four years ago, the International Organization for Migration¹ is helping² promote small businesses and trying to build wider support for the effort in villages like Kebon.

Sara Schonhardt | Kebon, Indonesia 14 April 2010

 A woman uses a batik tool to write wax onto fabric³ at the IOM workshop she shares with other textile-makers from Kebon, Central Java, 4 April 2010

Against a backdrop of emerald palm leaves, Suminah Sukardi plunges⁴ multi-colored cloth into a steaming cauldron. Moments later she slaps the fabric down on concrete and squeezes out the water with her toes. It is the final step in the complex production of batik, a technique that uses wax to create elaborate designs on fabric.

Suminah showed the process to visitors during a recent tour led by the International Organization for Migration, which provides job training to 18 villages in Central Java. The tours highlight three traditional industries - silver working, batik dyeing and weaving.

Diana Setiawati with the IOM explains the objective of the tours, which began six months ago.

"One is promoting the village itself, and two we are trying to also open the mindset of the emencees [beneficiaries], we are assisting there," she said. "…They start to understand, if there is a Japanese tourist that comes here they would prefer to have this color and then European tourists come here and they prefer this color."

In addition to familiarizing craft workers with their buyers, the IOM helps them reach a larger market. So far the tours are the main way they can display and sell their work, but a restaurant in nearby Yogjakarta has started selling some products.

The village was among those devastated⁵ by a 2006 earthquake that destroyed homes and local industry.

For months after the disaster, cloth was hard to find. Batik-maker Daliyem says she could only afford low-quality material typically used to wrap bodies before burial. Despite a lack of experience, she tried selling the batik herself rather than going through a supplier, but sales were poor and she feared the market for batik was disappearing.

She says she wondered "Where are the buyers?". Whatever she made she still had at the end of the day and, she says, she wondered, do people want batik or not? That was a big question.

One of the members of the batik cooperative stirs fabric in boiling water to prepare it for dyeing, Kebon Central Java, 4 April 2010

With training and support from the IOM, these women have improved the quality of their products. They say they benefit from using natural dyes, which makes their batik more environmentally friendly. UNESCO's recognition last year of batik as part of Indonesia's intangible cultural heritage has also improved its allure⁶.

Daliyem says she is happy people are paying attention to her craft. She says her products can be more advanced now that she is skilled, and when people come to visit it can lift the craft up more. But, she says, the main thing she feels about her work now is pride.

The IOM chose the villages it is assisting based on their poverty level and the extent of earthquake damage they suffered. The villages produced handicrafts before the quake, but the IOM helped them develop their skills into a revenue earner.

Many of the women in Kebon worked as laborers⁷ and handed their products over to suppliers. Their pay was about $50 a month. With the IOM program they operate under a profit-sharing system.

Suminah, who is 56, has been making batik since she was a child. She says she can make as much as $150 a month as part of the cooperative, which has opened her eyes to a world outside Kebon. She says the cooperative increases her knowledge and her acquaintances. Her point of view is growing and so is her income.

The IOM's Setiawati says the women are ready to expand their business, but the big concern is how they will market their products without the IOM's assistance. The IOM program, which is paid for by earthquake recovery funds for Java, ends in May.

"For now it's like a honeymoon," she said. "People come and see their products and IOM facilitated them to go to an expo in Jakarta and they made like 10 million rupiah in four days … but they also need to understand how they can allocate⁸ that for their own promotion⁹ activities."

To build long-term support for the crafts workers, the IOM is strengthening ties between these small industries and the government and is turning to companies that invest in corporate¹⁰ social responsibility. But Setiawati says more time is needed. The IOM has applied¹¹ to have its contract extended to July 2011.  

At a recent World Bank forum¹² in Washington, Setiawati spoke¹³ about how the lessons from the IOM's experience in Yogyakarta could be applied to other places, such as Haiti.

"Jogja actually has been seen as a successful model for a reconstruction¹⁴ program because the government is very open, the government is very assertive¹⁵ and they are very easily approachable to work with," she said. "The community here is also having a good motivation and spirit to rebuild their lives. They are not only focusing on receiving money, money, money, but they also understand that they have potential within themselves to rebuild their lives."

She says the products still need polishing to be of export quality, but the women are ambitious and continue to display their own designs with pride and energy.

 

1 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

4 plunges   

n.跳进，投入vt.使投入，使插入，使陷入vi.投入，跳进，陷入v.颠簸( plunge的第三人称单数 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• Even before he plunges into his program, he has his audience in his pocket. 他的节目甚至还没有出场，就已控制住了观众。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• 'Monseigneur, he precipitated himself over the hill-side, head first, as a person plunges into the river.' “大人，他头冲下跳下山坡去了，像往河里跳一样。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

5 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

6 allure   

n.诱惑力，魅力；vt.诱惑，引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• The window displays allure customers to buy goods.橱窗陈列品吸引顾客购买货物。
• The book has a certain allure for which it is hard to find a reason.这本书有一种难以解释的魅力。

7 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

8 allocate   

vt.分配，分派；把…拨给；把…划归

参考例句：

• You must allocate the money carefully.你们必须谨慎地分配钱。
• They will allocate fund for housing.他们将拨出经费建房。

9 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

10 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

11 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

12 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

13 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

14 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

15 assertive   

adj.果断的，自信的，有冲劲的

参考例句：

• She always speaks an assertive tone.她总是以果断的语气说话。
• China appears to have become more assertive in the waters off its coastline over recent years.在近些年，中国显示出对远方海洋的自信。