Author: Emy Maro

The Alor Seaweed Forum or FoRLa, which was born in 2007, did not really resonate with Alor residents. Only a few residents and seaweed farmers in the assisted villages knew of FoRLa's existence. FoRLa has become a seaweed house that provides a lot of assistance to farmers in mentoring, quality improvement and capital support to strengthen inter-village farmer networks. FoRLa also assists seaweed farmers in providing information on cultivation techniques. In addition, it also facilitates seeds when farmers experience difficulties.

This year, unbeknownst to us, FoRLa was registered by our coworker Nur Ahyani in a "Semangat Astra Terpadu Untuk Indonesia" or SATU Indonesia event. In April 2015 we got a call from Jakarta, that FoRLa was verified for the group registered in the SATU Indonesia event.

On August 5, we got a call from the SATU Indonesia committee telling us that we were in the top 24. The initial feeling was normal, but when the committee told us that there would be a committee coming to visit us to have a close look at all FoRLa activities, I realized that this must be something extraordinary. Plans are going well, the team will arrive on August 9.

Visit to Alor
On August 9, on behalf of FoRLa Alor, I met with the organizers who turned out to be friends from Tempo Jakarta. There were Pak Dian, Kak Lina, Mas Andi and Mas Alfan. From the results of our conversation, I finally found out that out of 2071 registered participants, FoRLa entered the top 24 to be verified.

The next day from August 10 to 11, the coverage of FoRLa activities started from the FoRLa office for interviews with FoRLa administrators, continued to the field in Wahing, Aimoli and Alaang, Pante Deere to see cultivation activities, interviews with FoRLa assisted farmers, and met and interviewed the Regent of Alor as the local government. The activity of digging up in-depth information about FoRLa was carried out by Tempo's friends. Such as, what will be done with FoRLa, how it will impact them, and what is needed next from FoRLa. All things can be asked, but it can be seen from the picture that there is no distance between FoRLa and its assisted members. The activity finished on September 12, the committee's journey at FoRLa has been recorded.

Long Journey to Jakarta
On September 17, we heard that FoRLa had made it into the top 12 and had been asked to travel to Jakarta for the presentation judging. We felt very excited. However, we got the bad news that all the airplane tickets were full, and we had to leave with a young chaperone.

With great difficulty we took care of everything. With the help of Nur Ahyani and WWF-Indonesia, the travel costs were covered by bringing a youth motivator from Kayang on a motorboat outside of regular hours to Kupang. Finally, the trip to Kupang went smoothly. While in Kupang, Mas Tardi from WWF-Indonesia helped us to travel until we reached Jakarta. Monday, September 21 at 18:30, we arrived at Soekarno Hatta Airport Jakarta and were welcomed by the organizers with unlimited food and drink.

The next day the judging started. The opening was opened by Mr. Yulian Warman as the Head of Public Relations Division, and the welcome speech by Mr. Faslil Djalal who introduced all the participants who made it through to the top 12. From the meeting, we finally knew that there were two categories of activities, namely individual and group categories.

Living with FoRLa
The FoRLa presentation that started at 16:00 was very interesting with discussions. Afterwards, we were given the opportunity to have dinner with the judges and the entire committee. We feel lucky to have this blessing. Even if we didn't win in the end, we were already proud.

On September 23-24, we returned home. During the Jakarta-Kupang-Alor trip, we reflected and smiled, touched to have come this far. On October 1, a friend informed us about SATU Indonesia. After we checked the information, we found out that FoRLa had not won. We had tried, the jury had chosen the result. That's not a problem for us. We got appreciation for getting this far. It was like a breath of fresh air for our sweat. Above all, we believe God has a plan for FoRLa in the future.

Since we are just a handful of people trying our hardest to be there for them, we work without asking for anything in return. For us our greatest reward is when we see farmers smiling. Because we don't work to be champions but we work with our hearts to cultivate seaweed in Alor.