Tresya Serang is a 47-year-old woman, living together with her husband Heri Pesireron in Kaibobo. They have four children: Two daughters and two sons. All of them have left Kaibobo due to better educational conditions. They put their focus on health, fishing and economy or social management but since Kaibobo is not a place for them to have a future career, they will probably not come back. 

Tresya was born in 1970 in Ariate, a small town which - until 1950 - was first part of Kaibobo. Until 1983 she stayed there but left then to Ambon for junior and senior high school. She stayed in Ambon for 16 years and could see what proper education can offer you. During this time, she got married and she started studying Biology, which she then had to stop.

When Tresya and Heri, her husband, moved back to Kaibobo, they felt welcome right away. Also, because of their own foundation which had a huge impact after coming back to Kaibobo. The Foundation, called Yayasan Sosial Kasih Ibu Abadi focuses on social issues. With their foundation they could build a kindergarten in Kaibobo, set up English classes, provided food for poor and elderly. Tresya became the headmaster of the Kindergarten and after a while she was asked to teach English in the village. An offered possibility which she definitely had to take advantage of. In 2005 she started with her bachelor degree in theology and became an official national teacher of Indonesia before moving to Kaibobo again. Both, Tresya and Heri, could feel how grateful Kaibobo`s community was and never had the feeling of making a mistake by coming back to Kaibobo.
A big social problem in Maluku is the poor and the squalor. Therefore, they tried to solve the problem and created a partnership with Jamsostek, which is a social insurance for private sector workers in Indonesia. What they do is providing accomondation or money to people, especially children, who live in miserable conditions. Tresya collects the data of Kaibobo`s villagers and tries to get support to help her community. But not only her community, she also puts her focus on other villages as Tihulale or Lohia Tala.

Tresya chose her job as a teacher because she loves spending time with children, seeing them progress and helping them to live a life of happiness and joy. Due to the work with her foundation, she has learnt how to see the world through poor children`s perspectives. She could experience what it means for a child to go through emotion like anger, sorrow and pain every single day. She started to feel the children’s grief which motivated her even more to work as a teacher. A teacher who shows children how important education is, how important it is to have fun while learning. And to let them know that there are so many different choices out there when being educated.

 

“Education is the main key for children to step out of poverty and every child deserves to experience the glory which life has to offer.” – Tresya Serang

Therefore, her wish for Kaibobo is finding more teachers to educate the amazing children in this village. The only problem she sees in getting teachers to Kibobo is their isolation. People nowadays would rather stay in cities where they have more possibilities and where they are not as isolated. But she also thinks, that the road which was recently built will help Kaibobo a lot when it comes to education.

 

“Even though Kaibobo is maybe off the beaten track, it is also a hidden jam. A paradise full of love and kindness. Full of appreciation and willingness to learn.” – Tresya Serang

But seeing the children recently around the village, trying to talk in English with us and surrounded by this sparkle of gratefulness gives Tresya hope and confidence that their situation will soon be changed. According to her, having the Wonderful Maluku Team in Kaibobo has already brought a huge positive impact and she hopes that this was just the beginning for a glamorous new era for Kaibobos. She has now more trust, that travelers could find their way to Kaibobo and share their culture. Tresya does not give money a huge value to improve the life circumstances in Kaibobo because it is the experience and love that makes life worthwhile.

 

“In this world, there is no perfection. There will always be the rich but also the poor. All we can do is share whatever we have to create equality since sharing is caring.” - Treysa Serang