I’ve had a hard time completing my Indonesia blog. I love to write. I really love to write about things that are personal, funny and adventurous which truly sums up this experience. But I haven’t been able to write. A complete creative drought. I’ve blamed it on no wi-fi, jet lag, school starting, earthquake experience, child moving to college. All of these things are valid in their own right. But not the truth. The truth is just one day into my Palembang host city adventure I had an experience that stopped me in my tracks, broke my heart and changed my perspective of the world and my place in it forever. Palembang Street Children My TGC partner, host teacher and I woke early on Sunday to take part in a city clean up event sponsored by the local government. It was the kind of hot that makes you sweat through your clothes and forget that you showered. For reasons yet to be explained, I chose to wear white pants for this activity. Thankfully it was early in the morning and the full heat of the day was yet to embrace us. Our host teacher is now a government employee and she wanted to show us the community pride and involvement that happens each week at different locations around Palembang. There were local officials, doctors, government employees, military personnel and other community members working together to clean a small piece of land located near a local watershed and neighborhood. In addition to the clean up the government also had booths set up to help the community with filing government paperwork, health screenings, family planning --which included the distribution of condoms and the motto “two is enough”-- and much to my surprise and delight a bookmobile. As foreigners- “bule” we were welcomed with open arms, delicious food, and many, many selfies. We were also interviewed for a local news station and later found out that we made the front page of the Monday Koran Indonesia newspaper. It was easy to feel like a celebrity and after the 100th selfie I started to develop some empathy for Justin Bieber. The whole event was a beautiful example of the pride and sense of community that seem to be an intragal part of Indonesian culture. Which was in shocking contrast to the next community we encountered. After some rest at the hotel we started our journey to what was described as a school for “street children”. I’m not sure what I was expecting but it certainly was not what I saw. I was busy photographing the landscape and interesting sites including a colorful cemetery. Except for the sounds of the bumps in the skinny dirt road, the car was quiet when the mountains came in to view. The landscape seemed in stark contrast to the flat area that we had just passed. On first site and from a distance the mountains had a haunting beauty. I took a closer look through the zoom in my camera and realized that these were in fact mountains but not the natural kind. These were mountains of refuse and People lived here. Children lived here. As we pulled into the “community” children started following our car. We stopped at the school and I jumped out of the car to greet the children. I was immediately taken aback by the odor and the steady hum of flies that filled the stagnant, hot air. I knew that this was not going to be the kind of school visit that we had already experienced and my head told me to get back in the car and just drive away. But my heart saw those kids. Surprisingly happy, joyful kids. The teachers that we were scheduled to meet were running a little late so I followed some of the kids who seemed interested in showing us around. The families that “live” in this area don’t actually have addresses and that is why the kids are not allowed to attend a government sponsored school. Parents make a marginal living by picking through the garbage for recyclable materials and then reselling those materials. Because parent income is so low, children are often allowed to also “earn money”. Education is the ONLY thing that can move these kids out of poverty but these children are excluded from basic government education programmes. Many of them have no legal status or identity, as they are often mobile and belong to ethnic or refugee communities. The juxtaposition of the day’s earlier government event and this experience was not lost on me. We continued to walk around and see more and more children living in deplorable conditions. I noticed that despite the hot temperatures, stagnant stench filled air and swarms of flies the kids were clean and well dressed. It occured to me that parents see the opportunity for their children to attend school on Sundays as an important event and take a sense of pride in giving them the best possible conditions for learning. The teachers arrived via GoJek driver which is service similar to Uber except you ride on the back of a motorcycle instead of inside of a car. I was struck by how young they both are. They work full time during the week as teachers at one of the local schools and then volunteer their time to come here on Sundays to teach these street children. I couldn’t help but feel a sense of “what exactly are you doing with your life?” compared to these selfless heroes. The children followed them Pied Piper style into the one room school building. The building had concrete floors and an approximate 12’x12’ room where all students regardless of age met together to learn. It was mind numbing hot. I was struggling to concentrate when a small child lifted the only fan in the room to focus all the air on my face. A beautiful, selfless (and somewhat dangerous) gesture of kindness to their guest. Despite the hot temperatures and cramped area, this was sacred space and I felt it. Everyone removed their shoes before entering and they all made room for each other on the very small floor. The teachers led the students in some songs and then introduced us. I was really awestruck by the enormity of what I was seeing. These kids deserve a chance and a space to learn but this is their reality. They sang their ABC’s and practiced questions and answers. They were eager to practice the english language and their smiles were contagious. I selfishly wanted to bring them all back home with me and in a way I have. We made one last trip around the “neighborhood”. A mother handed her infant to me, another unwrapped here swaddled baby to hold him up so I could see him. And I did. I saw all of them. I still see all of them. I was first to make my way back to the car excusing myself for being too hot but the truth was I was so overwhelmed with emotion I needed a place to cry. We drove away in silence but my mind was full of the “what’s next’? How can I help? How can I share this experience with my students who have no idea this even exists in our world? And should I? Since returning to the states I have reached out to these two teachers who give so much of their time and heart to the education of these children. I am waiting to learn from them the most pressing need and I will obviously be contacting my circle of trust to help. What I know is that education is so important and global education is imperative to helping out students recognize other perspectives and take action. As an educator, I want to lead the way.
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Let’s talk traffic…. I’ve been avoiding addressing this in my blog. Part of our gift of this adventure is to learn to recognize different perspectives and to “lean in” to uncomfortable situations and try to find the positive. I promised myself that I would be honest with my blog while still trying to maintain a focus on seeing the “good” And then I got into a taxi….. A little background about myself. I don’t passenger well. On any given car ride I frequently make audible gasps and some would say misuse of the passenger floorboard “brakes”. My husband is a saint for driving me anywhere. So I knew this was going to be a problem. Our daughter, June, lived almost a year in China. She has provided frequent “mom, the traffic is going to be bad” comments in the time leading up to this fellowship. I knew I knew I knew. But really there was no way to know. I didn’t want to be the person among this brave cohort of adventurers that I’m fortunate to travel with to scream like a little girl at the first intersection. But I did. To my credit, they drive on the left side of the road. There is nothing inherently wrong with this but I needed a gentler introduction. Next, there appears to be absolutely zero adherence to any traffic laws or logical rules of order. It is commonplace to pull right out in front of other fast moving motorists and just believe that they will stop. And they do. Unbelievable, but they do. It’s the craziest thing I have ever experienced. Someone described it like a school of fish that move like a well choreographed and rhythmic dance. There are mopeds that you can summon just like you would an Uber at home. They are called Gojeks and they are everywhere. The drivers seem to only have minimum grasp of the laws of physics and yet they are so popular people wait in line for them to arrive. Incredible. I’m not sure I could ever get truly acclimated to the traffic here. I KNOW that I could never be a driver. But somehow even among all the chaos there is a weird hard to describe beauty to it. Is there a lot of trust involved? Yes. Is it still terrifying? Beyond a shadow of a doubt. Does it exceed my medication ceiling? Absolutely. But it works. And I can lean in to that. Eventually. www.go-jek.com/ Yesterday I woke to a sound I did not recognize. Truthfully it sounded a little like a civil defense siren with a rhythmic elevation and then reduction of sound. Nervously, I made my way to the hotel window to see if I could get a better idea of what was going on. I soon realized that what I was hearing was the 4:30 a.m. call to prayer from the nearby Mosque. A Call of Prayer is not something that you hear everyday in Madison Alabama and certainly not from a speaker system that carries the sound throughout the neighborhood. Islam is a very old religion but it is very new to me. I have learned that Islam literally means "surrender to God". According to my research, a Muslim is described as someone who submits to the will of God so a Muslim is a follower of Islam. www.whyislam.org/islam/what-do-muslims-believe/ Part of being globally competent is to recognize other perspectives. A big part of this trip for me so far has been learning about the Muslim culture and traditions. This is important to me because I have many Muslim students at my school. Indonesia has a very large Muslim population. I learned today that all government funded public schools here teach Islamic studies. You do not have to be a Muslim-- many religions are recognized and welcomed here- but you will have Islamic studies if you attend a government funded public school. This is in stark contrast to our U.S. separation of church and state. Students are also given the opportunity to participate in a call to prayer during their school day. The call to prayer happens five times each day. After a beautiful breakfast at the hotel, we had the amazing opportunity to visit the Masjid Istiqlal. One of the largest mosques in Southeast Asia. Everyone must remove their shoes before entering the mosque. There were several vendors at the mosque entrance that offered plastic bags for shoe storage. They weren't persistent just a gentle offer of the option to buy the bag. We opted to store our shoes in our backpacks or in the shoe storage area of the mosque. The main floor is tremendous. It is covered in a red carpet and the ceiling is dome shaped and magnificent. Our tour guide explained that there this Mosque is one of the largest in South East Asia and has a capacity of more that 200,000 people. It has several rows of balconies and additional areas to pray in the courtyard. We arrived just as prayer was ending. Even though the mosque is very large it is located very near on of the biggest cathedrals in the city. The spires of the cathedral were designed to be the same height as the dome of the mosque. I also learned that during Christmas the mosque holds the overflow from the church. These are both beautiful examples of the religious tolerance and peace in Indonesia. Our next stop was the National Monument. Unfortunately, it was closed for cleaning. Indonesia is hosting the Asian Games in August 2018 and many areas are receiving renovations in anticipation of the event. The area surrounding the monument is beautiful. There is an outdoor market that includes street vendors selling food and souvenirs. The street vendor foods smell amazing and it is very difficult to avoid purchasing the various gastronomical delights. We have been advised to avoid street food due to lack of sanitation including clean water for hand hygiene. As a former health inspector this is something that I already know in my head but it doesn't make may taste buds any less tempted. Additionally, we found out from the doctor at the US Embassy that it is common for the farmers to use human feces as fertilizer. So we are avoiding raw foods including fruits that cannot be peeled, salad, ice and tap water. With all of that knowledge did I forget everything I know and brush my teeth with the tap water from the sink on the first night of arrival? Yes. Yes I did. 36 hours ago I put (what feels like) everything I own into two suitcases and a backpack, said “see you later” to my beautiful family and boarded the first of three flights that would ultimately deposit me in Jakarta, Indonesia. Two hour flight to Chicago, 13 hour flight to Tokyo, Japan, 7.5 hour flight to Jakarta equals Twenty three hours enjoying the comforts of a pressurized vessel at 33,000 feet. I was fortunate to find myself on Japanese Airlines. Japanese Airlines is a little like Disney World in the sky. The staff are joyful, the food is delicious and the entertainment is on point. I managed to snag a window seat. No one was in the middle of the row that I shared with another passenger. That was my first bit of happy mojo. I was really fascinated by the level of respect and quality of work from the JAL steward team. My steward would bow to us before serving meals. Let me say that again.. he bowed to us!. I also noticed that the JAL pilots would bow to the people in the airport before turning and exiting the terminal to board the plane. It was comforting to see them give respect to the awesome responsibility of shuttling 500+ souls safely to the next destination. Namaste. Managing to heed my mother’s advice I took a couple of walks around the cabin, I was surprised at the number of people that remained securely fastened in their seat for 13 hours. Obviously their mother’s had not discussed with them their almost certain fate of swollen ankles and deep vein thrombosis. Somewhere around my third cabin loop I noticed a young mother with an upset baby. My noise cancelling headphones had prevented me from hearing the baby before (thanks Chris). I recognized her distressed look as she frantically tried prevent the inevitable outburst. I wanted to tell her that she is doing a good job and that at best she gets 18 years of nurturing this little human. Then ,as if overnight, she will find herself moving that baby into a college dormitory. But I realized that topic was much to raw for me so I just smiled, gave her my best “it’s gonna be fine” look, and opted for another loop. The window view of our approach to Japan was just beautiful. I don’t know what I expected to Japan to look like but was surprised by the amount of green space. The Tokyo, Japan airport was a delight to the senses. So many new and exciting things to see, smell and taste. I met up with some of our cohort and we busied ourselves with trying to find some green tea ice cream and something called a washlet (TOTO). The green tea ice cream was a bust for me. It was not sweet and tasted too healthy to be ice cream. The washlet on the other hand did not disappoint. Every toilet in the Japanese airport has this bidet feature that also includes noise cancelling and varying degrees of “spritzing” pressure. By “spritz” number 3 I found myself laughing hysterically and had to wait for several people to exit so that I was less embarrassed to leave. I exited the restroom telling myself to be cool and feeling like I had just discovered something that not everyone was privy to. The Tokyo to Jakarta plane was much smaller than the one from Chicago to Tokyo but the amenities were still wonderful. I managed an aisle seat with another vacant seat beside me. After another delicious meal and the best miso soup on the planet, I was finally able to get some sleep. Our entire group met up in the Jakarta airport and it was a very joyful reunion. The zombie-like survival mode that we had all been in for the past 23 hours went away as soon as we saw each other and the selfie taking commenced. The people of Indonesia are so friendly and amazing. We made our way through the quickest customs on the planet, loaded our luggage onto a charter bus and made a “relatively” short and uneventful trek to the hotel. The Shangri-La Jakarta hotel is breathtaking. The room alone is something out of a Bond movie with a marble tiled bathroom floor, TOTO toilet (YES!) and a tricky system used to prevent you from accidentally leaving your lights on when you leave the room. In order for the lights to work, you have to put your room key in a slot at the door. This was a learning curve for me and after about 10 minutes of walking around the room in the dark I admitted defeat and texted the group for advice. To my credit this is not a feature at any of the 3 ½ Priceline star “fancy” hotels I’ve visited back home. After some Facetime with family and a few more minutes to soak in the view I’m ready for sleep. We have a packed itinerary and lots of adventures ahead. I hope you will continue to join me on the journey. I’m going to Southeast Asia. I keep saying this over and over in my head. Sometimes I raise and lower the pitch of my voice thinking that at some point I might actually believe what I’m saying is true.
It is. During a recent trip to Publix, I accidentally said it out loud in my deepest baritone voice. A lady walking past said “O.K” also in a deep baritone voice. We smiled at each other. I was too surprised by her comical mimic to ask her name but I wish I had. She is obviously my people. I’m going to Southeast Asia. Indonesia to be exact. I leave this Saturday to fly as far away from home and all things familiar as I can possibly travel. A year ago I applied for an incredible Department of State Fellowship called Teachers For Global Classrooms. I spent days writing, revising and writing again essays about global education and why I think it is important for my students. It wasn’t difficult. What could be more important than connecting students to the world outside of their classroom. To help them understand the links between their own lives and those of people throughout the world. To develop empathy, real-world skills, and common values that can really make an impact. I never expected to actually get the opportunity to participate in the fellowship but… I’m going to Southeast Asia. It has been a long road of preparation. In October the TGC cohort spent 10 weeks collaborating and learning in an intense online graduate level course. I was also completing my Masters degree in Library Media and working full-time. I owe my family some apologies. From the first conversations with the TGC cohort I knew that these were the passionate educators I was meant to find. Online friendships formed and in February we all flew to Washington D.C. for a Global Education Symposium. It was incredible to meet everyone face to face. At one point I ate breakfast near Ambassador Jennifer Zimdahl Galt, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs for the U.S. Department of State. She was poised and articulate and absolutely amazing. I reached for a scone and knocked over my orange juice. I don’t really consider myself educational ambassador material. My first line of defense when I’m uncomfortable is humor and often it is misplaced. I struggle to walk in shoes that don’t have a Nike symbol on the side and I’m never really sure what that fork at the top of a plate is for. And yet, somehow they still chose me. I’m going to Southeast Asia. I have already learned so much and cannot wait to learn even more about Indonesia-- the people, the culture, the educational system and the students. Wow! I am so excited to meet the students. The opportunity to make connections to teachers and students in Indonesia that are willing to collaborate with my students in Madison Alabama makes me giddy inside. It’s going to happen. We have been counseled that some things will be very different and may even be uncomfortable (not every stop will include a western toilet). We have also been encouraged to “lean in” and really embrace the unfamiliar. My goal is to document it all through a travel blog. My primary focus is on the beauty and positivity of this experience. I also plan to be honest. I look forward to the adventure and yes I am a little (lot) scared. I welcome your prayers. I will miss my family the most and am so incredibly thankful for their love and support. I’m going to Southeast Asia. Go with me. Blog letsglobal.weebly.com Instagram @librarianatlarge Twitter mrsB_Howard |
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AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
September 2018
Categories"This blog is not an official U.S. Department of State blog. The views and information presented are the grantee's own and do not represent the Teachers for Global Classrooms Program, IREX, or the U.S. Department of State."
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