ConnectEd Students Visit the Alcatel-Lucent Office in Jakarta

On 17th of February, for the first time since ConnectEd has started in Indonesia, the students of YABIM visited the Alcatel-Lucent office in Jakarta to interact with Frederic Chapelard (Board Member of the Alcatel-Lucent Foundation), Bobby Rasyidin (President Director of Alcatel-Lucent Indonesia), Dodi A. Aziz (HR Director of Alcatel-Lucent Indonesia), Allison Dahl (Program Officer – World Education) and Edy Dwi Hartono (Project Officer – World Education).

Allison Dahl and Edy Dwi Hartono started the event by sharing updates on ConnectEd activities in Indonesia. The students joined at 12:15 pm and the interaction continued in the Communications lounge. Bobby and Fred shared their life and career success stories and how hard they struggled to reach their dreams and professional success. The students were very much inspired with their journeys, and amazed watching Fred speak fluently in Bahasa Indonesia.

Bobby highlighted to the participants how important is to do everything the best we can do, with good intention and high spirit. Fred encouraged the students to be brave, to try everything that can shape their future, with good plans and structure, to do everything they like and also like everything they do. Being successful can be a long road and the journey to get there is a wonderful learning experience.

Allison spoke about the great results ConnectEd is achieving in Indonesia; she said the participants and the Alcatel-Lucent volunteers are doing great things together and she looks forward to hear about the future progress of the youth. The students who have been awarded scholarships and are currently studying in several universities majoring psychology, sociology and accounting were afterwards introduced and had the chance to share their thoughts and stories with the speakers.

During the Q&A session, the students asked various questions to Fred, Allison and Bobby:

1. Question for Bobby: “While struggling for your future, did you fight for yourself and also for others?”
2. Question for Allison: “What are the missions of World Education, what is the relation with ConnectEd Indonesia, and why did you choose YABIM to implement the program?”
3. Question for Fred: “You left France when you were 16 to get experiences in USA while your parents did not approved it at the first time, and your friends though you were ‘crazy’. How did you deal with it?”
4. Question for Fred: “Why does Alcatel-Lucent have ConnectEd program?”
5. Question for World Education (answered by Edy): “Is there any chance to get other scholarship abroad?”

After the lunch break, Dodi took the students for an office tour to show the daily business activities in Alcatel-Lucent Indonesia. During the tour, besides becoming familiar with what Alcatel-Lucent Indonesia is doing and what are our products and services, the students also received knowledge on every department’s function and what kind of education they must have to be able to work in the department they are interested in.

We were delighted to welcome the students in our office in Jakarta and we look forward to interacting with them again and hear more about their progress.

More about ConnectEd:

Under ConnectEd Indonesia, we partnered with local NGO Yayasan Bina Insan Mandiri (YABIM) to support disadvantaged youth from around the Depok area of greater Jakarta. The student population includes street children, migrants, and children who have dropped out of school in the past year. Young people participating in the program receive school scholarships, tutoring, and coaching to help them pass national exams, as well as workplace preparedness training and leadership training to improve civic engagement and empower young people to help themselves and their communities. In particular, the program has a strong focus on increasing access to and training for both students and teachers in information communication technology (ICT) skills. Facility with these technologies will enhance the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom and also provide youth with the skills they need to succeed in the job market.

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