The Story of Yemima, the Backbone of a Family Empowered through Farming

Yemima (34) graduated from a vocational school majoring in accounting in 2009. She aspired to become a police officer and took the test, but financial constraints made her back down. Her parents even wanted to sell the land to support her dream, but Yemima refused. She realised that the price of land was still low at the time and selling it meant risking losing their only home. In the end, she chose to return to the village and help her parents farm.

‘We don’t need to sell this land because we feel sorry for the younger siblings, and also if we sell it, where will we live,’ recalls Yemima, who at that time had a discussion with her parents.

Yemima is the eldest of four children, with two younger brothers and one younger sister who is currently a Youth Advisory Panel/YAP Plan Indonesia in Soe.

Yemima’s interest in the world of children led her to become a Plan Indonesia volunteer in 2014. She actively helped with activities with children in her village, partly because her sister was also a Sponsored Child from Plan Indonesia at that time.

Apart from volunteering, Yemima was also a PAUD teacher from 2009 to 2024. But over time, she decided to stop teaching to focus on farming and laying hens which are now managed with her family.

Join Green Skills Project and Youth-Led Agri-Food Project

The big step came in 2019 when Yemima joined the Green Skills Project, a horticultural farming programme that provided her with training in everything from land management to crop marketing. That passion continued in 2024 when she joined the Youth-Led Agri-Food Project (YLAF), an advanced project that focused on horticulture, layer farming and catfish farming. There, Yemima deepened her technical and leadership skills, including public speaking and livestock management.

The results are tangible. From the proceeds of her farming and livestock business, Yemima helps her younger siblings with their school snacks, and she has even been able to pay for her second sibling’s college tuition from the farm she manages. She is the backbone of the family, as her parents have grown old and are no longer able to farm. Yemima and her parents are currently building a permanent house, as they previously lived in a small, simple house.

Yemima said, ‘Thank you to Plan Indonesia because my family and I have been able to farm well and modernly. We have also been able to cultivate a larger area of land, because we cultivate with cultivator or hand tractor equipment from Plan. We also received other assistance such as; drip irrigation equipment and a water suction machine.’

Previously, Yemima’s farming business was still very traditional so the results were very small. However, in the end Yemima and her family have mastered all stages of horticultural farming, and now they have been engaged in laying hens for about six months, which is also supported by Plan Indonesia.

Writer: Agus Haru │Editor: Moudy Alfiana │Photo: Plan Indonesia/Agus Haru