How streetwear from the Netherlands is helping kids in Lombok

What does a snazzy streetwear brand in the Netherlands have to do with a tiny school on one of Lombok’s remote offshore islands?

Welcome to Face This.

Described as ‘a charity dressed as a streetwear brand,’ Face This began in 2008. Jos and Jelka were holidaying in Lombok. While enjoying the beaches and resorts, they could not help noticing the poverty in the background. Jos, who has Indonesian heritage but grew up in the Netherlands, decided to do something about it. Their first thought was to help a local school. One that needed help, one with strong community spirit. After asking around, they discovered Duduk Atas high on the hill near Senggigi. Face This was born.

Meaningful merchandise

Face This is now a popular Dutch-based fashion brand, popular not only for its unique designs but for its philosophy. Face This clothing features catchy images, based on drawings by Indonesian school children. Celebrities like Jack Black and Lila Moss have endorsed the brand and modelled the clothing.

The children produce the drawings with their friends. Then a group of highly talented illustrators from around the world turns them into unique T-shirt designs. The profit from sales goes back to help the schools. Funds raised have paid for equipment, books and furniture as well as building classrooms, water systems, and playgrounds in Lombok, Flores and Java.

A visit to Gili Asahan

Face This recently visited the beautiful Gili Asahan in Sekotong, and the two-teacher school there. The little island school is their latest project.

‘We all on Gili Asahan just put donations or time or work or food together to renovate the school,’ explained Alex, owner of the Pearl Beach resort, ‘so the school classrooms have just been refurbished and upgraded with all forces together.’ Another local business helps with the teacher salaries.

Aged from around six to sixteen, just twenty-two kids live on the island and attend the school. Each day the teachers come by boat from Batu Putih to teach the children in two mixed classes.

The legend of Gili Asahan

That evening, Alex told the story of Gili Asahan, of how the people came to be living there, of their changing lives, and how the island got its name.

Prior to the 1970s, the island was uninhabited, known only to a few for its spiritual significance. A local legend tells of a shrine for an Islamic holy man, a pilgrimage site. No one knows quite where the shrine is located; some say it lies beneath the waves off the northwest coast of the island. No one knows. But they do know it exists – somewhere.

‘In the 1970s, Pak Karim came to Gili Asahan to use the island as shelter,’ Alex explained. ‘Karim was a Sasak farmer from Lembar on the mainland of Lombok. He loved the island immediately, so he meditated here for one year, seeking permission from God, from the ancestors, the spirits, from the island – permission to make a settlement here. Eventually he received their blessing.’

‘That part of the story is a bit mystical,’ Alex smiled.

The meaning of Asahan

‘Pak Karim named the island after the feeling you get when you’re here,’ Alex continued. ‘Asah means calm, safe, a place where you feel at home.’

‘He invited his friends and families from the Lembar hill area to settle on the island. They weren’t fishermen, but at that time Gili Asahan was rich in forest and wild game to hunt. This is not surprising. In the ancient past, the whole area of Sekotong was known to be a place for excellent hunting. At the same time, Gili Asahan provided fresh water, flat lands for cultivation, and a safe location, safe both from ocean events and from other threats.’

Drawing sessions

The next morning, Face This met with the children of Gili Asahan. Supplied with paper and felt pens, the team  asked them to draw pictures about their island lives. Picking up on the name of their island, Asahan, they asked the children to think about what makes them feel at home. 

Nine-year-old Zulhan is mad about fishing. He drew himself on a fishing boat. Seven-year-old Adel drew what she loves to do on the island. She created a picture of herself and her friends playing on the beach. Eleven-year-old Wulan loves watching the clouds from her house. She decided to draw the clouds, together with some of the plants she sees around the island. Six-year-old Azra drew the meals she eats with her family; fried egg, fried chicken, fried fish, and noodles.

Monthly drops

Back in the Netherlands, Jos explains the Face This philosophy. ‘We drop a new collab every single month,’ he says. 

‘We unleash the raw creativity of Indonesian school kids. We match them up with some of the world’s most renowned artists. It’s a really meaningful collaboration. And all the proceeds contribute to their schools.’

Each month, Face This arranges a collaboration in which an artist is given one of the children’s drawings to create an artwork. The finished work is printed on T-shirts, tote bags and sweaters. 

It has been two months since the visit to Gili Asahan, so Face This has already dropped two collaborations. Drawings from all the island children were combined in one artwork for the first design. The second piece is a collaboration between Zulhan and Swedish artist Stina Persson. More collabs will drop in the coming months: Canadian artist Boring Friends will collaborate with Wulan, Austrian graffiti artist Boogie will collaborate with Adel, and German artist Marc David with Azra.

‘This way, the kids are literally designing their own future,’ says Jos.

- www.facethis.org

- www.instagram.com/facethistshirts

Mark Heyward

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