This weekend we made it out of the office at last and set about some serious DIY.
We began by emptying out all of the shelves and boxes in the teenage classroom. Then we cleared out an old shelving unit from one of the broken bathrooms and cleaned it out. We moved it into the classroom and after a lot of paint and sorting, arranged the class to have a while wall of neatly organised learning materials in the order of the curriculum.
Then we decided to have an actual weekend and drove towards Landak river. We had no idea where we were going so asked most people we past who pointed us onto increasingly narrow and bumpy dirt tracks. Then we came to a bridge that most people in the UK would question walking over- but the bike in front of us zoomed straight over it. So we went for it. The whole thing was made even more nerve wrecking by a fallen log at the other side blocking the path.
On the Sunday we managed to paint the two empty volunteer rooms in the centre, which we are trying to get ready for inhabitants next month! A lot of the jobs over the weekend weren’t exactly what you’d expect from a “management” role, which is what actually makes life here so much fun!
This week I’ve started teaching classes, with the help of our fantadtic afternoon teacher of course. It’s been so much fun getting to know the kids better and they have such a wonderful energy!
Rainy season is starting to get real here now, with big storms the past couple of nights. Last night we made the very foolish trip into town for the pub quiz mid storm. The roads were completely flooded, we were the only people in sight and I could see the lightening around us even with my eyes tight shut. Luckily we survived the trip and I lived to ring my skirt out at the pub at the other end!
Today we had a visit from one of our partners, Days for Girls, who are an NGO who we collaborate with to deliver sessions on female health, alongside giving out free reusable sanitary kits. It was great to meet these ladies doing such fabulous work and I really look forward to inviting our local community in to benefit from this project soon. One of the big challenges here in North Sumatra is promoting the normalisation of discussion of female health and sexuality in a highly religious and conservative culture. Taboo topics cannot be ignored, but there is a fine line for us, as outsiders, to walk in trying to educate people without offending them.
After planning my yoga class for tomorrow, I’ve been waiting the storm out, but I’m hoping to make it out for real food tonight since my last 3 meals have been super noodles due to the rain!
Over and out from a hungry Rosie! Xx
If you’d like to support the renovation of the Trust, head to: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/bukitlawangtrust2019?utm_term=rqWYxnRqJ
Rosie Roams 
Hi Rosie, so excited to keep up with your progress reports, I think you cant judge local roads by western standards, something we’ve encountered on every trip to South Africa. In terms of fixing things I love the words of a Michelle shocked song where a wise old grass chewing farmer meets a slick city boy. City boy ‘ hey farmer when you gonna fix that leaking roof’ Farmer ‘ agh when its raining its too wet to fix it, and when its dry its just as good as any mans roof’
It concluded with the city boy saying ‘ you aint too far from a fool, and the farmer replies ‘ only a barbed wire fence between us’
Busy busy week here we decided to have the bedroom recarpeted, been putting of for years as it involved deconstructing every last stick of furniture, so we went for it and I’ve been busy 3 days, meanwhile we had an order to get a velox window installed and they rang to say be there Wed, so another room needed to be cleared, and then our neighbour is having an extension which involved knocking down his garage, so I had to move everything in the yard to make room for a deep trench, mud all over, on the plus side we will have a very neat wall, the old wall was held in place by soil. In the midst of all this Naomi was in Antwerp, home for 10 hours and then south for a week.
Keep your blog going its great.
Read the other day there are bush fires in Sumatra – is your zone safe ? By the way the e mail Ive used in my new junk box
Chris x
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