Diocese starts programme for young workers in Jakarta

Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Many activists from the Young Catholic Employee Group (Kelompok Karyawan Muda Katolik or KKMK) took part in a ‘Job Fair’ in Jakarta. The event, which is at its third edition, seeks to bring together employers and jobseekers. As in previous years, the Archdiocese of Jakarta was its main organiser.

“At first, there were only nine activists who organised the first Job Fair. Three years later, hundreds of young Catholic activists joined the archdiocese’s KKMK,” Jongky Sutiono, one of the pioneers of the initiative, told AsiaNews.

Everything began on 4 November 2009, “when we invited about a thousand young workers and professionals from the archdiocese,” said Irene Ratripanca, another of the event’s original founders. “A simple idea came to mind: celebrate the faith and find a way to show our gratitude to the Lord in different ways, including a charity event.”

The archdiocese’s Episcopal vicar for the laity backed the initiative. A group was set up to coordinate members from various parishes and areas in the capital involved with the Job Fair. This brought together different groups like Choice, Sudara, Efata, Pkkip, Arek, Ktm, Forkat Scdb and others.

“Each participant found that his faith was strengthened when he could help others,” Hernoko D. Owok Wibowo, one of the group’s main administrators, told AsiaNews.

Job seekers and employers mingled during the event. The first edition saw the participation of 40 companies, but in two years, the number climbed to more than 100.

“God gave us a push to find the right path to help others,” said Irene Ratripanca. “It was not easy to encourage and excite our partners from more than 60 parishes in the archdiocese but in the end the result was such that they are now coming up to us offering to undertake the same mission towards others,” Wibowo said.