On Thursday last week I accidentally managed to delete the entire of our old website, so if anyone wants to check out our nice shiny new, remade website, including a weekly blog coming soon, then head to: www.bukitlawangtrust.org
After leading my first Yoga class on Thursday, Friday saw a very generous family donate fruit as a break-time snack for the entire of our Kindergarten class. These kind of donations are hugely appreciated here, especially as often the Kindergarten children snack on a large amount of sugary sweets, which are awful for their teeth, especially in a community where most of them don’t regularly brush their teeth at home. Every morning our youngest class actually brush their teeth at school, which is a crucial habit for the children here to learn as studies have shown that many Indonesian children develop poor self esteem as a result of their poorly cared for teeth. It’s very sad to see children missing teeth as the result of poor dental care rather than merely as the result of falling off their bikes.
As the Head of Conservation headed off to renew his visa on Friday, I spent my first night alone here at the Trust, I have to admit it was a little eerie, but luckily the power stayed on the whole night for once, so wifi helped me to feel a little less alone! I also took my first teenage class on Friday, teenagers are so scary! They also require a LOT more lesson planning as they get through so much in 2 hours!
I had a lazy Saturday morning, doing my washing and then reading in our back yard for a while. At about 1pm our new volunteer arrived and so after giving her time to nap and unpack we headed into town on the bike! We have a policy here not to let our volunteers drive motorised vehicles – for both safety and conservation reasons, but I did feel a little daunted and embarrassed to be driving her round having discovered she drives a vesper at home in Germany! She was very polite about the bumps and wobbles en route however and we made it to town in one piece. We had a wander round the centre before heading to the river for a paddle. We had intended to swim but the current had other ideas. Then we sat on the riverbank for a while, watching the monkeys. Here we saw an Asian water monitor, which at first I thought was a crocodile! We then headed to the edge of the Jungle where we were lucky enough to see two orangutans thanks to a local man showing us where they were nesting. It was incredible so see a baby orangutan up close, but also fairly bittersweet for a first sighting, as I’m sure the man who showed us them must have been feeding them as they were keen to come towards him. Feeding orangutans can pass human diseases on to them and is something we at the Trust really try to discourage local people and guides from doing. After a meal we headed back to the Trust for an early night, only to discover that the headlight on the bike has given up. Every day we have a new problem to solve!
On Sunday we met two of our staff in Bukit Lawang and they showed us how to walk to Landak river – the walking route is much less harrowing than the drive we made last weekend! Here we went to a traditional Indonesian market, where you buy food and drink with wooden tokens rather than money and the entire set up is plastic free. We ate sitting at tables in the river itself and swam after Fitri introduced us to our first fried banana treats. I’m so lucky the girls here are so patient with me – they really do have to teach us everything – how to pour a coconut, how to scoop it out, which plants are edible etc. We westerners must seem so incapable to them!
Later that evening, we had the privilege of attending the birthday party of one of our close partners at the Trust. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but felt very honoured to discover we were attending a sit down family meal, although this did mean I had to learn to eat with my hands very quickly. The people of Bukit Lawang really know how to throw a good party! One of my favourite things about living here is that people are always happy to whip out the guitar and break into song. I also love the enthusiasm of everyone to try out new music – we all often end up reading the lyrics to songs not in our own language and keenly trying to sing along anyway!
This week, I personally have been spending some time in our Kindergarten classes, trying to acquaint myself better with the Indonesian national curriculum which our teachers here deliver. I spent Monday and Tuesday with the Little Stars class, who are generally aged 4 or 5. On Monday, the focus was Indonesian nationality, followed by a conservation lesson, which took the form of a group litter pick. Hopefully if I spend enough time in these classes, my own Bahasa will improve along with the knowledge of our youngest students! The kids love the litter pick, it’s a great chance for them to get out and explore their village, while doing some real good in their community. We’re also very lucky that many of the mothers help out with this activity, as 60 excited children charging around with binbags near a river seems like a health and safety nightmare from an English perspective!
On Monday evening I led a rather tame aerobics class in comparison to those usually carried out by our Personal Trainer/ Head of Conservation, yet my legs still ache today! Today, I spent my second day in Kindergarten, this time the lesson was numbers. I can now count to five in Bahasa, thank you Ida!
This afternoon I’m leading my second teenage class. Our topic today is family, so I have drawn a family tree on the board, so if anyone comes to visit me, my class will already know everything about you!
Other than the fact I’m currently one giant walking mosquito bite, it’s been a good week!
Rosie Roams 