Events

This event is jointly organised by Aidha, Migrating Out of Poverty Research Programme Consortium and Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore.

It takes time to build up big dreams in a small town: sometimes, it takes generations. Aidha, true to a namesake that means “that to which we aspire”, focuses on the futures of women. To this, the Asia Research Institute adds the aspirations of their children.

Join us for the Singapore film premiere of the warmly received short film “Mimpi Anak Desa” (“Small Town, Big Dreams”), which features the aspirations of young people from Ponorogo, Indonesia. Supported by remittances sent home by migrant parents, Miko and Nisa are hard on the heels of their goals of being an entrepreneur and a nurse.

The event also features “Ceria”, the story of Rista, a domestic worker who, after having worked in Singapore for 10 years, dreams big of building a community library back home in Indonesia – and turns this into a reality with a clear-eyed and steady purpose.

PROGRAMME

1.30pm – 1.45pm
Keynote Speech by Ms Jacqueline Loh, CEO of AIDHA, on the “multiplier effect” created by Aidha’s training programmes for migrant domestic workers

1.45pm – 2.10pm
Introduction and Screening of “Ceria” and “Small Town, Big Dreams” by the Asia Research Institute

2.10pm – 2.30pm
“To Become Successful” – Presentation on how parental migration influences children’s educational opportunities and aspirations
by Ms Khoo Choon Yen, Asia Research Institute

2.30pm – 2.45pm
Question and Answer Session

ABOUT THE FILMS

Ceria
Ristani Ningrum spent years in Singapore as a domestic worker, one of over 200, 000 women from the Southeast Asian region who migrate to Singapore to work. Part of her job involved reading to her employer’s son. Through this shared activity, she was inspired to start a children’s library, named Ceria, in her home village of Desa Bader, Indonesia.

Small Town, Big Dreams
Small Town, Big Dreams focuses on the impact of parental migration on young people’s aspirations in Ponorogo, Indonesia. Miko and Nisa are children of overseas labour migrants. Miko majors in business administration in the university while Nisa is pursuing a diploma in nursing at a private polytechnic. What dreams do they have for the future?

ABOUT THE RESEARCH PRESENTATION

‘To Become Successful’: How do Parents’ Migration Influence Children’s Educational Opportunities and Aspirations?
A Case Study of Migrant-sending Villages in Ponorogo, Indonesia
“My father/mother went overseas to look for money for our education”, is a common story we hear from children in Ponorogo, Indonesia. Based on a large-scale household survey and interviews, the presentation looks at the relationship between parent migration and children’s educational opportunities and aspirations. How important are remittances for children’s education? What are children and young people’s aspirations? Do children of migrants aspire to, and go to university? How can we better support migrants, children and the communities from which they come from?

Khoo Choon Yen is a Research Assistant in the Asian Migration Cluster at the Asia Research Institute, and a Masters Candidate in the Department of Geography, National University of Singapore. Her research interests include labour migration from/within Indonesia and Southeast Asia, gender and migration, youth aspirations and return migration. Her Masters thesis explores Indonesian young rural women’s aspirations and negotiation of adulthood within Indonesia’s educational context and feminised migration phenomenon. She has co-authored papers in Social & Cultural Geography, New Media & Society and Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

REGISTRATION

Entry is free. We would greatly appreciate if you click on the “Register” button above to RSVP.