Blog
Dama Nara, a synergy between elderly and youth program.
Modernization and development are determining a global increase in life expectancy. This trend may cause problems. Not only to countries’ governments (e.g. exploding pension budget, straining welfare system) but also to elderly themselves. One of such challenges is to keep up their psychological well-being, which is decreasing because of lacking social life and ways to contribute to an ever-changing society. Besides, this situation is due not to economic factors (e.g. income), but rather to a generalized mindset that can hinder seniors’ inclusion in society.
OUR RESEARCH
Objective
Foster opportunities for intergenerational learning
Boost youngsters’ empathy, respect, and social responsibility concerning older generations
Improve local youth work by involving seniors with their experience and skills
Re-integrate older generations into the societies by involving them in activities together with youth; thus, increasing their well-being and sense of belonging.
Project Summary
Dama Nara is a combination of two different words, Dama taken from Sanskrit which means house and Nara in Celtic origin means happiness. Therefore, Dama.Nara means house of happiness. We established this project in July 2020 located in Gianyar Province, Bali. Specifically, our project location is in one local village known as Purnadesa, Siangan Village, Gianyar Regency, Bali.
Our ideas project created to be involved in the CSII program. Dama.nara is a member of the Act Global Organization. The primary purpose of its establishment was to foster opportunities for inter generational learning activities. The wide-ranging services that we provide are community development, cultural exchange, educational, & bonding between elders and youth through several activities. Our values of trust, responsibility, integrity and partnership working encourage everything we do.
Together, we hope from this project we could create a synergy through several activities contributed by elderly and youth.
Project leader by Trisna Darma Putri and it’s fully supported by Act Global team.
What We Do
Dama Nara is a project connecting youth and elderly through several activities based on local traditional activity combined with modern technology learning. In this project, we do a cultural exchange and preserve tradition within programs.
Geography Characteristic
Our project is located in a village with a scenic rice field view, jungle, river, and well known for its art craft.
Demography Overview
The population in the village consists of more than 200 householder families and more than 50 elderly live in the village, and the majority of the elderly still work as farmers.
PROJECT ACTIVITIES REPORT
Cultural Exchange
In Bali, offerings are inseparable from Balinese culture. Type of offering contains different forms and colours, offerings are present at every religious practice in Bali and it’s a central part of life. The Balinese provide offerings in appreciation of resources such as water, air, crops, and more elements for the continuity of life.
In Balinese society, women play a major role when it comes to offerings. That’s why Balinese women are often the busiest during ceremonies. Nowadays, most people buy offerings in the local market and rarely try to make their own offerings. The traditions of making offerings, known as mejejaitan, slowly fade away from society, especially in the youth generation. In this project, we as youth gain cultural experience while preserving the tradition from the elders as the experts.
Modern Technology Learning
Mostly, the elderly don’t use modern technology such as smartphones to contact their family. Since youths in the village life and work abroad in the cruise ship. Therefore, we offer a solution that could help them to use smartphones for using features like video calls, messages, taking pictures, and many more.
Create Bonding between Elderly and Youth
We connect youth and elderly to learn from each other and gain a strong relationship. The activities are about agriculture, history, and how both generations preserve the environment together. Some examples of our programs are cooking traditional food using the traditional method with Dadong (grandmothers). As seen in the photo below, we cooked traditional food with Dadong using traditional tools of cooking such as alu (pestle), firewood, and traditional stove.
Another activity that we held to gain bonding between youth and the elders is farming and gardening together. In this activity, the youth coincide help and learn to plant rice, picking the crops, and cultivate them.
Every important event in human life is always followed by a particular ceremony, for example, there are Balinese ceremonies for birth, puberty, maturity, marriage or death, then there are ceremonies on important holidays in the village, everyone helping each other to prepare from the beginning to the end of the ceremony. Without exception, start from the younger generation to the elder generation.
RISKS & ISSUES
There are several problems and challenges that the team faced during the programs running. Due to Covid-19 issues, our program was delayed and some programs were conducted with minimum participants. Hopefully, after Covid-19 issues ended, we could deliver and run our program effectively. Many of the elders are also facing obstacles in communicating due to language barriers and hearing problems. In the future, we will try to manage it by helping the youth learn and adapt to Balinese language.
SCHEDULES PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION
| 26/07/2020 – 31/07/2020 | Agriculture activities |
| 17/08/2020 – 18/08/2020 | Learn how to make traditional food |
| 10/09/2020 – 13/09/2020 | Preparing ceremony in village |
| 18/10/2020 – 23/10/2020 | Odalan (Balinese Ceremony) preparation |
| 24/12/2020 – 27/12/2020 | Teaching how to use smartphone |
| 12/01/2021 | Fact finding (interview with elderies) |
OUR CAMPAIGNS
An intergenerational initiative that fosters dialogue and collaboration in cultural learning, farming, and technology. We have been engaging with one village community across Bali to encourage them to join the project and ensure that the leaders of the community are fully on board with our concept.
FIND US ON :
To get to know more with our project activities, please kindly check us on Instagram : @dama.nara
Trisna Darma Putri (Project Leader), Mening Lestari ( Writer, Documentarian), Nona Au waling (Logistic & Management Team) , and it’s fully supported by Act Global team.
