As a married young woman, the life of Tuti Kerans was expected to be similar to generations before her; after getting married, she would have children and try to support her family through different means. However, Tuti, or Kak Tuti as we will be referring to her, the partnership between her village and Du Anyam brought much more than expected. In fact, through her journey, we can take a look at how exactly Du Anyam empowering women in rural Indonesia. Moreover, we hope that her story will help empowering women in rural Indonesia, through its inspiration towards younger generations.
One of the main benefits from Du Anyam that Kak Tuti received was training in weaving. Though weaving is a skill that is widespread in the region, she had not learned it before, and thus could not rely on it for income. After Du Anyam began working with weavers, she was able to enroll in one of their training courses to learn how to weave herself. But Kak Tuti didn’t actually start her journey with Du Anyam learning to weave, she actually began as a weaving assistant, working to ensure that the delivery of goods and administrative tasks were taken care of.
Later motivated to weave, Kak Tuti began the process of becoming a skilled weaver through training in Du Anyam’s weaving center. Though difficult, she eventually moved her way up to become qualified enough to train other weavers in different communities in Indonesia. She has now trained seven different villages: Bubuatagamu Village, Lamawai Village, Balaweling II Village, Lamawohong Village, Dulijaya Village, Lamika Village, and Lemanu Village.
Her incredible achievements and quick growth have made her a leader in her generation of weavers. Her journey, though filled with many tests of patience and skill, is one that is inspiring and demonstrates a young person’s desire to take their future into their own hands and improve it. One of the main reasons that she’s stayed with Du Anyam is because she has seen the changes on the economic, social, and personal level that have occurred, and she hopes that similar to her, more young people will weave in the future to preserve the craft and help pass it down to the next generations.
Du Anyam was not only able to teach her how to weave, but due to the changing market patterns and trends, they also taught her new weaving patterns to expand her repertoire. Moreover, she has felt supported through the numerous programs that Du Anyam provides, such as scholarships, nutritious food packages, training, and educational programs. Her belief in the stability that Du Anyam brings to not only her life but so many others embodies the main goals of the organization to help empower weavers from all backgrounds.
It has been three years since Kak Tuti joined Du Anyam on August 4, 2019, and we are supportive of her journey and look forward to seeing what more she can achieve.