Lusia Efriani Kiroyan: Giving Birth to Cinderella from Behind Bars
Lusia Efriani Kiroyan
Her busy life as a coconut-shell charcoal businesswoman did not hinder Lusia Efriani Kiroyan’s intention to engage in social activities. Lusia, 38, works with women who are trained to produce batik-wearing Cinderella dolls. Her creations were then shared with children with disabilities and cancer in Southeast Asia.
The dolls produced by the inmates are named Batik Girl. The name was given because they are basically Cinderella dolls that wear a mixture of batik costumes. The doll quality is comparable to products from abroad.
The idea of making Batik Girl began when Lusia took part in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) program in the United States. While there, Lusia often wore clothes from batik or woven fabrics. From there she got the nickname “Doll from Indonesia” due to her graceful, neat, charming and distinctive appearance.
In making the dolls, Lusia chose to invite the female inmates. The making of Batik Girl, for her, is an activity that allows her to spend time with inmates and provide them with a positive activity to take part in while serving time.
Since it was first produced in 2013, there have been around 1,000 female prisoners involved in the production of the dolls. They are at penitentiaries in Batam, Rutan Pondok Bambu in Jakarta, Denpasar, Surabaya and Madiun. As many as 80 percent of prisoners involved are productive young people who were arrested in drug cases.
Before starting to make dolls, Lusia provided training to the inmates for three days. The training included the theory and practice of making doll
clothes, from making patterns to cutting cloth. They are free to be creative in making Batik Girl.
“Even though they are made of the same materials and by the same hands, none of the dolls are identical. The dolls have different motifs and accessories because I want to sharpen the creativity of inmates,” Lusia said in Surabaya, last week.
Each prisoner gets Rp 10,000 for each puppet they produce. In a day, they can make one to three dolls. Within one order period, 1,000 puppets were made.
Not all materials used to produce the Batik Girl are purchased. The batik cloth and Batik Girl accessories made by the inmates are donations from the community. Lusia only buys dolls for raw materials. The initial capital that was then issued to produce the dolls of Rp 10 million came from her personal savings.
The Batik Girl made by inmates sells for Rp 150,000 per doll. According to Lusia, the dolls produced by the inmates are no less qualified than similar products from abroad. “In fact, Batik Girl is considered better because they dolls are different from one another and made by hand,” she said.
Nonetheless, Lusia admitted that she was still having trouble marketing the Batik Girl. The interest of domestic buyers in the Batik Girl made by the female prisoners is not as high as the buyers from abroad. Thus, the majority of Batik Girl buyers actually come from abroad, including Australia and the United States.
The profits obtained from the sales are used to buy raw materials and produce the dolls. “In the United States, lingerie companies like Victoria\'s Secret also empower prisoners to make some of their products,” said Lusia.
Movement of one friend
To deal with the low interest of the buyers, Lusia makes a movement “one friend one doll”. This program was created because she considered
the sales of Batik Girl through shops and road shows in a number of places to be less effective. The dolls are donated to children with disabilities and cancer.
“I don’t sell dolls, but spread social missions to empower prisoners and give the dolls to become friends to the children with disabilities and cancer,” Lusia said.
By buying one doll, it means helping the empowerment of inmates and create social activities for children in need.
For this reason, she opened donations to residents who wanted to donate money through the Cinderella Foundation from Indonesia. The results are used to buy raw materials and pay wages for the female inmates.
In addition, Lusia also seeks grants from within and outside the country, such as grants from the United States Embassy. She also received a grant after coming out as one of the winners of the Youth Southeast Asia Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) competition organized by the United States government for ASEAN youth.
The “one friend one doll” action began in 2015. A total of 1,000 Batik Girl dolls produced by female inmates were distributed to children with disabilities and cancer in 10 provinces in Indonesia. She called this program “Batik Girl for Indonesia”.
After successfully producing and distributing 1,000 dolls, Lusia expanded this movement to the Southeast Asia region. In 2018, she started the “Batik Girl for ASEAN” program with the target of distributing 10,000 Batik Girl dolls to 10 Southeast Asian countries for three years.
Since 2018, the graduate of Airlangga University in Surabaya has pioneered social activities in Batam, her current place of residence and company location. In Batam, she empowers street children and their mothers, people with HIV/AIDS and single-parent women.
She held various trainings, such as making ice cream, chocolate and cakes and entrepreneurship. Lusia specifically buys a shop unit
consisting of three floors that she made as a halfway house and learning house known as “Cinderella from Indonesia Center”.
The mother of Nailah Parahita and Muhammad Abstrax is also a human being, she is not free from challenges. Lusia found herself in a difficult spot because of the failure of marriage, which also brought her to poverty. She shared her experience of recovering from those challenges with the disadvantaged people. “Life can be more colorful when you can share it with others,” she said.
By sharing dolls, Lusia continues to spread kindness to others. The doll creation also means women empowerment and providing friends to children with disabilities and cancer.
Lusia Efriani Kiroyan
Born: Surabaya, Aug. 1, 1980 Education:
- English literature at Airlangga University, Surabaya
- State high school SMA Negeri 2 Surabaya
- State high school SMP Negeri 1 Surabaya
- Elementary school SDK St Theresia I Surabaya
Job:
- Founder of Cinderella from Indonesia Center Foundation
- Owner of PT General Carbon Industry Batam
Awards:
- Winner of 2017 Alumni Grant Scheme from Australia Awards Indonesia
- Winner of Youth Southeast Asia Leaders Initiative 2015
- Most influential woman 2015 by “Her World” magazine
