Promise. This is the word that sums up Project Sukacita for me. The team has done a great deal, but we can do so much more. The best thing is, we can do more.

This is the first Project Sukacita trip for me, but it has been a real eye opener. It was amazing seeing how the whole team, regardless of school or nationality, working together for one singular purpose.

Everyone out in their best for this project – SMU students translating with nary a word of complaint, NUS students tirelessly putting their medical knowledge to practice for the villagers. It would be a joy to see future batches of students forming closer bonds between the two schools and working as one singular project Sukacita.

This is the first Sukacita trip for me, but it has been a real eye opener. It was amazing seeing how the whole team, regardless of school or nationality, working together for one singular purpose. Everyone out in their best for this project – SMU students translating with nary a word of complaint, NUS students tirelessly putting their medical knowledge to practice for the villagers.

It would be a joy to see future batches of students forming closer bonds between the two schools and working as one singular project Sukacita.

I have seen firsthand the effort that the students put in, for the health and well-being of the villagers. My small team and I helped to create a medical examination work plan. And when we hit the snag of needing translations and other ways to adapt our book knowledge to practice in the village, the SMU students were always at the ready.

It was not easy to produce a serviceable screening workflow from scratch, but the excellent team made it work despite the odds being stacked against us. It helped too, that many of the students took with them their experience serving in other projects, helping to give Sukacita a head start when it is sorely needed.

I have also seen the foresight and vision of the team. As the old adage goes, we hope Sukacita was not only providing fish for the villagers, but we were able to teach the villagers to fish. We wanted Sukacita to become a sustainable medical project in the future, leaving the place better than when we found it.

And so it was especially heartening for me to find out that our students were actively working on using research methods to determine the best possible future direction for the project. From meticulously crafted questionnaires to large group brainstorming sessions, there were multiple avenues for us to tap our minds to come up with a future plan. It is my hope that we can eventually build Sukacita up to become a mature project, helping the villagers in a long term, sustainable manner.

To make any project a success, there has to be dedicated people with the resources to carry out their vision. And nowhere else have I seen the conviction the Tanoto Foundation has for this project. Even before we have come up with concrete plans, even before we have come up with tangible results, the Tanoto Foundation has always been behind this project and its students.

I have absolute confidence that with the continued support, the students will do their very best and endeavor to make the most out of this opportunity to help others.

All in all, I am confident that project Sukacita is just in its fledgling phase, but it will definitely grow to become an important project for the health and wellbeing of villagers. In its first iteration as a medical project, Sukacita has already shown burgeoning promise and there will surely be great things to follow.

I am grateful to have been a part of it and will be grateful all the same for future opportunities granted to me to help out. I sincerely wish project Sukacita all the best in the future and hope to see great things come of it.

Written by Adriel Seah, NUS Year 4 Medical Student.

Living in a big city and attending higher education is a blessing to students at Singapore Management University and National University of Singapore. Yet they do not forget to share their joy with the less fortunate people living in the rural areas.

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On 1- 14 May 2018 they ran the Project Sukacita (Project of Joy), an annual event that has been going on since 2012. The event was spearheaded by Tanoto Foundation’s scholarship recipients at SMU through community service activity in the rural areas in Riau Province.

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A total of 42 SMU and NUS students were seen to be enthusiastically participating in the activity. They visited the Child Care Center (TPA) in Desa Rantau Baru, Riau. They were seen playing and guiding the children to learn together.

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In one session, they also taught how to wash hands and brush teeth in an effort on learning about clean healthy life starting from early age. The participants also took turns to provide counseling on nutrition for the development of early age children.

During their visit to SMA (Senior High School) Mutiara Harapan, they shared their experiences and motivations in learning. At SD (Elementary School) Permata Rantau Baru, the SMU and NUS students donated books to the school and undertook tree planting activity with the students.

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Peak of the Project Sukacita event was marked by health examination activity for the children and parents involving five TPAs and one Kindergarden in Desa Rantau Baru, Riau. They set up three consultation desks, each attended by one NUS medical student and two doctors from the local community health center, as well as one doctor and two nurses from a local clinic.

This peak activity aimed to examine the health and hygiene statuses of the children. Meanwhile the parents received medical examinations for blood sugar, uric acid, and cholesterol.

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Nothing is more valuable in this life than bringing benefits to others. That is the motivation of SMU and NUS students in carrying out this activity. See you in Project Sukacita next year!

Since 2012, Tanoto Foundation has provided mentoring in the Asahan Region, North Sumatra. One of the parties that benefits from it is Sekolah Dasar Swasta/SDS (Private Elementary School) Muara Tiga, Rahuning, Asahan, North Sumatra.

Since the beginning, the school has received a lot of trainings to improve the school’s quality and components, starting from the teachers up to the facilities and infrastructure.

In early March 2018, SDS Muara Tiga had the opportunity to participate in a Quiz Competition (Lomba Cerdas Cermat) held by the Education Office on Kabupaten Asahan’s 72nd birthday. In this competition, SDS Muara Tiga, representing Kecamatan Rahuning, won the second place in the final stage.

This achievement of SDS Muara Tiga is also due to the Tanoto Foundation’s assistance. The concept abbreviated as “Mikir”/mengalami dan mengobservasi, interaksi, komunikasi, dan refleksi (experiencing and observing, interaction, communication, and reflection) that was applied by the Training Specialist of North Sumatera, Mr. Jepri Sipayung, M.Pd., has succeeded in improving the students’ competence in learning.

This learning concept is in line with the value of life-long learning applied by Founders of the Tanoto Foundation, Mr. Sukanto Tanoto and Mrs. Tinah Bingei Tanoto. Learning process that uses the “Mikir” concept will instill in the students the habit of continuous learning and self-capability improvement.

SDS Muara Tiga is proud to be able to apply these values, more so to be one of the excellent schools in Kabupaten Asahan.

Tanoto Foundation is committed to improve the quality of education through the provision of assistance to rural schools. To date, Tanoto Foundation has partnered with more than 506 schools in North Sumatra, Jambi and Riau.