Kathleen Purnama

Accion Inspira
Jul 19
8 min read

The Redefiner of This Generation

Writer: Keisha J. D. Luib

Editor: AIIF Staff Editorial

The melodious “Run the World” song from Dayglow, alongside the powerful lyric of “I-I-I-I wanna run the world” sinks in as this immensely describes the spectacular Redefiner of this Generation, aiming to create a global impact in our society. Introducing Kathleen Purnama, a 19-year old leader from Jakarta, Indonesia, who has founded an initiative that offers free STEM, economic, environmental, and ESL education to marginalised communities in Indonesia to expand across countries and support over 100 countries with more than 3.400 study supplies. Her work and dedication has demonstrated a perfect epitome of compassion, equity, and grassroots change.

Her Project Establishment & The Source of Inspiration for Social Work

Her inspiring project Redefining World was first established during the post-pandemic period due to the concern of lack of educational opportunities for marginalized communities in Jakarta, Indonesia. By acknowledging the significance of education as a pathway towards success and a better livelihood, her project offers educational resources rooted in the aspects of STEM, environment, economics and English as a Second Language (ESL) to bring out the utmost potential from underprivileged communities for them to obtain equal chances in the field of education.

Stepping Stones to the Path of Success : Insightful Ideas For Her Project

As Kathleen stated in our interview, when they first established Redefining World, they concentrated on a very small-scale community of street vendors to provide them a source of economic and business education in order to assist them thrive and attempt on product expansions, especially after the daunting and dreaded occurrence of the Covid-19 pandemic that shuts down plenty of small business and street vendors.

With their several visits and educational mentoring, they begin expanding their initiatives to help marginalised kids who are unable to attend school or who does not have an equal access to broaden their horizons and knowledge by supplying them with free educational resources ranging from magazines, children’s books, learning booklets and school supplies.

“Evident Impacts are Definitely Shown!” : Impacts Displayed to Her and The Marginalized Communities

With over 100 marginalised kids obtaining educational resources and their supplication of educational supplies to these communities which reached over 3,400, this initiative being placed has played a prominent role due to the fact that this helped underprivileged kids who are unable to enjoy quality education, academic resources and an opportunity to implement long-term knowledge. As time flies by fast, their work has helped empower communities with learning opportunities and has made them witness how every kid shows their enthusiasm in learning from learning advanced level mathematics to utilising their creativity and innovation in crafting origamis.

Abundant Activities and Programmes Offered in Her Project For These Eager Individuals

Evaluating the influence of Redefining World illustrated in the society, they offered free learning sessions which focused on the four major components in their project, which has been previously mentioned, by providing free booklets and materials. In addition to that, they also have student tutors who assist each kids in grasping the content of the materials and they help with activities and practice such as math-based worksheets, poster making, origami crafts and et cetera. In each session, they carry out the distribution of notebooks and stationeries as well as snacks and meals to deliver a sense of delight to the younger community.

Apart from the area of academics, they also offer extra resources to enrich children’s literacy rate and their interest for reading by giving out books written by their content writing team. What makes this even better is all of their expenses were covered through their donations and fundraising.

To add the cherry on the top with these motivating actions carried out by their organisation, they conducted a partnership with Rachel House, a non-governmental organization providing free palliative care for children with cancer and HIV in Jakarta. In this collaboration, they plan to fundraise money to help marginalized kids get access to treatment and medication plus distribute academic magazines to some of Rachel House’s patients as part of our mission to reach all communities with education.

The Greatest Achievement at Heart : “National Newspaper, Redefining World”

Mentioned by the incredible leader Kathleen, Redefining World has been published at a national newspaper during their first program, A Million Dreams. This acted as their stepping stone to reach larger-scale communities to serve and ultimately motivate similar organizations to advocate for social goodness in their own area.

Furthermore, they are also immensely proud to announce that they have established over 5 collaborations with national and international youth-led organizations to help them provide more educational resources and drive a tremendous impact to a larger community.

”The Opening Up of Chapters is What I Look Forward To” — Future Plans and Hopes for Expansion

Given the publications from the national newspaper, the myriad supply distribution that took place, Redefining World continues to serve their mission to emphasize on well-set education quality for all. Hence, the organisation has been considering the opening up of more and more chapters worldwide for anyone who would like to be a part of their growing community. Currently, they have established two chapters, namely in Kalimantan, Indonesia and Telangana, India, which are considered as their building blocks to expansion and desire to encounter new members and new establishments of chapters.

That being said, the development of partnerships or collaborations with fellow youth-led organizations with a similar vision enables them to foster better provision and guidance for the needs of the community. With the recent experience brought by the team, they have managed to recruit over 150 temporary members under their Upon the Stars program to help compose an academic magazine that they have planned to display to the community.

The Moment of Reflection — “The Final Question, What Brings You Motivation?”

“What inspires me most is knowing that every step I take, no matter how small or little, could one day someone’s life“.

Kathleen Purnama (Redefining World)

Based on her deep reflection, she considers all sides of a story that a child had faced. In the concerned marginalized communities, she looks at the children who get an opportunity to immerse themselves in the aspect of learning, wishing upon a shooting star to get a higher education in the future, or simply, the kids who once felt frustrated with learning but found enjoyment in the activities we craft together.

To her perspective, impact does not happen overnight, but the thought of shedding light to the communities that needed it most helped energize her motivation and continue to drive positive changes with Redefining World.

Kathleen Purnama - La Redefinidora de Esta Generación

Escritor: Keisha J. D. Luib

Editor: AIIF Staff Editorial

La melodiosa canción “Run the World” de Dayglow, acompañada de la poderosa frase “I-I-I-I wanna run the world”, resuena profundamente al describir a esta espectacular redefinidora de nuestra generación, decidida a generar un impacto global en la sociedad.

Les presentamos a Kathleen Purnama, una joven líder de 19 años originaria de Yakarta, Indonesia, quien ha fundado una iniciativa que ofrece educación gratuita en STEM, economía, medio ambiente e inglés como segunda lengua (ESL) a comunidades marginadas, expandiéndose incluso a otros países y beneficiando a más de 100 niños con más de 3,400 materiales escolares. Su labor y compromiso son un fiel reflejo de la compasión, la equidad y el cambio desde las bases.

El nacimiento del proyecto y la fuente de inspiración para su labor social

Su inspirador proyecto, Redefining World, fue fundado en el periodo posterior a la pandemia, motivado por la preocupación ante la falta de oportunidades educativas para comunidades marginadas en Yakarta. Reconociendo la educación como un camino hacia el éxito y una vida digna, Kathleen creó una plataforma que ofrece recursos educativos en áreas clave como STEM, medio ambiente, economía y ESL, con el objetivo de liberar el potencial de comunidades desfavorecidas y brindarles igualdad de oportunidades.

Primeros pasos hacia el cambio: los inicios de Redefining World

Como explicó Kathleen durante nuestra entrevista, al fundar Redefining World, comenzaron trabajando con una comunidad muy pequeña de vendedores ambulantes, brindándoles formación en economía y negocios para ayudarles a salir adelante tras la dura crisis del COVID-19, que obligó al cierre de muchos negocios.

Con el tiempo y tras varias visitas y sesiones de mentoría educativa, el proyecto comenzó a expandirse hacia niños marginados que no podían asistir a la escuela o carecían de acceso equitativo al conocimiento. Para ellos, Kathleen y su equipo comenzaron a distribuir gratuitamente revistas, libros infantiles, cuadernillos de aprendizaje y útiles escolares.

“¡El impacto es evidente!”: transformaciones en la comunidad y en ella misma

Gracias a Redefining World, más de 100 niños han recibido recursos educativos y se han entregado más de 3,400 materiales escolares. Esta iniciativa ha sido clave para brindarles acceso a una educación de calidad, recursos académicos, y sobre todo, una oportunidad para aprender a largo plazo. El entusiasmo con el que estos niños enfrentan cada clase —desde resolver ejercicios avanzados de matemáticas hasta crear figuras de origami— es testimonio del impacto de este proyecto en sus vidas.

Programas y actividades: más que aprendizaje, una experiencia integral

El proyecto ofrece sesiones gratuitas centradas en los pilares mencionados, utilizando materiales didácticos y contando con tutores estudiantiles que guían a cada niño en su aprendizaje. Además, se incluyen actividades prácticas como hojas de matemáticas, elaboración de carteles y manualidades en origami. Cada sesión culmina con la entrega de cuadernos, útiles escolares, refrigerios y comidas, creando un ambiente cálido y estimulante.

También fomentan la lectura y la alfabetización infantil, distribuyendo libros escritos por su propio equipo de contenido. Todo esto se financia mediante donaciones y campañas de recaudación de fondos.

Como complemento a su labor, han establecido una alianza con Rachel House, una ONG que brinda cuidados paliativos gratuitos a niños con cáncer y VIH en Yakarta. En esta colaboración, planean recaudar fondos para tratamientos médicos y distribuir revistas académicas a algunos de los pacientes, reforzando su misión de llevar educación a todas las comunidades posibles.

Su logro más significativo: “Redefining World” en un periódico nacional

Uno de los mayores logros mencionados por Kathleen fue la publicación de Redefining World en un periódico nacional durante el lanzamiento de su primer programa, A Million Dreams. Esta visibilidad fue un trampolín que les permitió llegar a nuevas comunidades y motivar a otras organizaciones juveniles a sumarse al cambio social.

Además, han establecido más de cinco colaboraciones con organizaciones juveniles nacionales e internacionales, lo que les ha permitido distribuir más recursos educativos y ampliar su impacto en diferentes regiones.

Nuevas fronteras: capítulos internacionales y planes de expansión

Impulsada por su misión de lograr una educación accesible y de calidad para todos, Redefining World ha comenzado a abrir capítulos internacionales. Ya cuentan con dos: uno en Kalimantan (Indonesia) y otro en Telangana (India), y esperan sumar muchos más. También siguen estableciendo alianzas estratégicas con organizaciones de visión similar para responder mejor a las necesidades de cada comunidad.

Recientemente, el equipo logró reclutar a más de 150 voluntarios temporales como parte del programa Upon the Stars, con el objetivo de redactar una revista académica que será distribuida entre los beneficiarios.

Momento de reflexión: “¿Qué te inspira a seguir adelante?”

“Lo que más me inspira es saber que cada paso que doy, por pequeño que sea, puede algún día cambiar la vida de alguien.”— Kathleen Purnama, fundadora de Redefining World

Para Kathleen, cada historia importa. Piensa en los niños que hoy sueñan con estudiar gracias a su proyecto, en aquellos que antes se frustraban al aprender, pero que ahora disfrutan de las actividades diseñadas especialmente para ellos.

Aunque el impacto no se ve de la noche a la mañana, saber que está iluminando a comunidades olvidadas le da la energía necesaria para seguir adelante y continuar transformando vidas a través de Redefining World.