The PIONEER 2025 program finally concluded on Saturday, September 20, 2025, with Dunung Srawung: Connecting, Understanding, and Sharing with the Local Community located in Omah Lamiri, Dusun Salakan, Sleman.
After being introduced to the campus and immersed in local culture on the first and second day, this third and final day of PIONEER offered UGM international students an opportunity to engage themselves in traditional Javanese village life, while also building a meaningful interaction with the Yogyakarta local community.
The day began with a fun paper boat race, which also served as an ice-breaking moment for all the participants. Afterwards, the students joined an integrated farming session guided by the Kelompok Wanita Tani (Women Farmers Group) Barokah Makmur Salakan. In the community garden managed by the group, the students learned about sustainable farming practices and harvested fresh produce, including vegetables, fruits, and eggs.
Following the farming session, the participants continued the day to a cooking activity, also guided by the Women Farmers Group and some of the local community members. Using the ingredients they had gathered, the participants prepared a variety of traditional Indonesian dishes and drinks such as lemper, oseng kates, lotis, sayur lembayung, tumis kangkung, and es teh krampul.
Not only learning about farm-to-table practices from the integrated farming and cooking session, but both the students and local community members also had the opportunity to learn more about the local economic development from Mr. Raeef Al-Tamimi, UGM international lecturer from Yemen who is currently teaching in the Department of Economics and Business, Vocational College.
In his sharing session, Mr. Raeef highlighted the importance of community engagement in developing the local economy. “Aside from saving your income, you can consider investing some of it into something that will benefit the whole community, like opening a shop, for example. That way, everyone will contribute together to the local economy development,” he explained.
Some of the students expressed their impression regarding the event. “The community people here are so welcoming, so nice,” said Barau Shedrach Gimba, UGM international student from Nigeria who will be studying in Graduate School UGM under Kemitraan Negara Berkembang (KNB) scholarship. “The food is also wonderful. I had a very great lunch and a great time here.”
Similar to Shedrach, Stella Apostolou from Greece also expressed similar sentiment. “I feel very included here. Today has enriched me culturally, to understand Indonesian and Javanese culture better. The ibu-ibu here are so sweet,” she said.
Stella, who is currently studying as an exchange student in the Faculty of Psychology UGM, added: “My favorite part is when we have to pick the fruits, vegetables, and eggs in the garden!”
This closing event encapsulated PIONEER’s mission to create meaningful cross-cultural engagement. Hopefully, this event will leave the students with lasting memories and new friendships that extend beyond the campus.
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