Doing Good Deeds While Traveling

Guest Post by my friend Nila Tanzil

http:://www.nilatanzil.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Doing Good Deeds While Travelling

In the past two and half months, I've been living in West Flores, Indonesia. If you remember my videos, titled "Flying with Manta Rays (Part I and Part II)", shot in Komodo Island, that's where I've been spending my days now. Not on Komodo Island itself, but in a small town called Labuan Bajo (it has an airport, so no worries, I still could travel around, if I wanted to!) :D

Staying in such a small city, which there's only one main road that goes around the whole city, is a new thing for me. After living in big cities -- Jakarta, Amsterdam and Singapore -- now I'm experiencing a lifestyle of a small town. There's no shopping mall, cinema, theatre, spa, bar, let a lone a night club. Suddenly my lifestyle changes in a blink eye. Usually, in Jakarta or Singapore, I meet up with my friends in a restaurant/cafe/bar that's located in a high rise building and/or spend hours in a shopping mall with full air-conditioned. But this time, I spend hours chilling in a simple local restaurant that ice cream is considered as a luxury thing. A big change, that is.

During my stay here, I've met so many interesting people. Different professions from different countries. From local fishermen, scuba-divers, backpackers, journalists, businessmen, lawyers, bankers to a famous French actor! Spending time with people with different characters is one of the things that entertain me every single day. I've learned a lot from people's experiences and always amused by the way their live their life.

However, there's one person that makes me ponder by what he does. He's a private yacht captain. Tim Forderer is his name. He's been sailing all over the world for more than 10 years, going from one beautiful place to another. Many people envy him, of course. But what makes me envy him the most iswhat he does whenever he visits a place. He's not only enjoying the beauty of the place, but also doing a good deed for the locals. What does he do?

Ok, here's the explanation. One day, he asked me to join him going to a local school in Labuan Bajo. He needed a translator as he was going to give a presentation for the students. I nodded. To cut the story short, he shared his life story in front of around 150 students and managed to make everyone enthusiastic. What's so special about this presentation?

He told the students to Do What You Love. By doing what we love, we would be more likely to succeed and "rich". Not necessarily rich in material, but most importantly rich at heart :). He asked the students to think: "What do you enjoy doing most? What do you love to do in your spare time? What are the things that you're really good at?". The answers might lead us to the ideal profession in the future. Basically he wanted to encourage these high school students to do what they love to do and inspire them to make it comes true.

He said, "When I was a kid, I always loved sailing. My Dad taught me how to sail. When I was 8 years old, I won a competition as the best junior sailor in all over United States". Students got excited. "Also, when I was in college, I worked hard and became a top college sailor". "Whoaaaa...", I heard them mumbling with amusement...

"In my spare time, I always go on the boat and sail. That's all I did when I was young. But.. suddenly.. all my dreams of sailing fell apart". What happened?

"I was 18 years old by then and my girlfriend got pregnant". Sometimes we have to make a decision, in which, is contrary to what we'd love to do. "I had to drop all my dreams of sailing the world, took the first job I could get and be a responsible father for my kid. Years gone by, I ended up working as a sales person in the same company for 13 years!"

"Then my Dad passed away. I loved him dearly". Apparently, the death of his father, made him realized that life is too short to be wasted by doing something that he didn't really enjoy. He realized that he always wanted to sail the world. So, after discussing it with his Mom and family and got support from them, he decided to pursue his sailing career and be a full time sailor! Until now.. he's been sailing to cool places, such as Galapagos, Maldives French Polynesia, etc etc... and he's enjoying every minute of it...

In the past two months, he decided to start giving something for the society. How? By giving presentation on Do What You Love and encourage the youth to reach their dreams, also by visiting schools in remote areas and giving some donations -- books, pens, medicine, etc. I accompanied him going to 2 schools in 2 different villages nearby Labuan Bajo, Flores. And I'm glad I did. I was so overwhelmed to see the facial expressions of the teachers whenreceiving the donations. They didn't expect the visit or the gifts! And the kids? Ohhh.. they're sooooo lovely! They greeted us as if we're big time celebrities! :D

The first school was SDK Roe at Roe Village. When we got there, the teachers were having a meeting with teachers from some other schools. We only talked a bit with the school headmaster, before being invited to have a cup of coffee and taro cake (it's a traditional cake from West Manggarai, Flores) in a cute corner with wooden bench and a stone table under a tree. So cute! What a lovely coffee break! At the far end of the yard, there's a cute pink house, very clean and neat. It's a house of the school headmaster. I wonder whether pink is her favorite color! Once I had a dream to have a pink house, but I dropped it down coz I thought it would be too tacky. Hihihi... but the house in front of me was definitely cute, it looked like a Barbie house with a lot of green plants in the terrace :). She definitely lives in her dream house, I thought. And I wonder whether her husband complaint at the first place, for the idea of living in a pink house! :)

We continued our trip to SDK Pusut at Pusut Village. We parked the car nearby the school. There were some students playing around in the school yard. As soon as we stepped our feet on the big open space school yard, hundreds of kids running toward our direction! Wowwww... "What's going on here?", I thought. Soon after, we were surrounded by hundreds of kids who were starring at us as if we're aliens coming from planet Mars. Some of them starred at us without blinking, some of them smiled, some of them were brave enough to greet us and said, "Hello...". We greeted back, "Hello... apakabar?" (apakabar = how are you). It was such an overwhelming feeling to be surrounded by hundreds of kids. I loved it.

The school was having a meeting with students' parents in a meeting hall. There was an Indonesian Catholic priest, who has been living in Australia for 8 years, sharing his experiences to the locals on his views of living in Australia - the good and sad stories, lessons learned, etc. Everyone, including students on the 6th grade, listened to him carefully. Sometimes they nodded, too. Captain Tim and I joined the session for a while, before taking a walk to the rice field. Surprisingly, when we returned from the rice field, a bunch of teachers had already gathered in a house and they invited us to have lunch together! Wow... so nice of them! They welcomed us and expressed how happy they were to have us there. So sweet, isn't it?

I felt like I was invited to a small feast. A table full of different local dishes looked very tempting to me. They also gave us a glass of local wine. "Drinking local wine in such a hot day? Maybe not", I thought. Apparently, serving local wine to guests is part of their culture. It's a symbol of respect. I tried a sip, but unfortunately didn't like the taste. It tasted a bit sour, pretty strong, with a bit of coconut flavour.

We had a good time chatting with the school headmaster and teachers there. I asked what was needed for the school. Computer and sports uniform for the school's sports team were on the top priority list. When we exchanged numbers, I asked the teachers, "Do you have email address?". They smiled and said, "That's the thing, Mbak Nila (mbak means sister). We have no computer here, let alone having internet access". I felt so stupid after asking that question. Shoot!!! Silly girl.

The visits to these schools made me ponder... We could help others who are in need anytime and anywhere. Even when we're travelling. We could spend a few hours of our trip to visit remote places and plant some good deeds. A small thing for us could mean the world for someone who needs it. Let's make the world a better place to live in...

I was so glad to witness that good people still exist. Thanks for sharing your wonderful experience with me, Captain Tim. And thank you for your efforts in making this world a better place for us to live in... :)

Selemat Hari Raya Kemerdekaan’

17 August 2008

Indonesians celebrate the proclamation of independence from 350 years of Dutch colonial rule.

The Indonesian Declaration of Independence was officially proclaimed at 10.00 a.m. sharp on Friday, August 17, 1945. The declaration marked the start of the five year diplomatic and armed-resistance of the Indonesian National Revolution, fighting against the forces of the Netherlands until the latter officially acknowledged Indonesia’s independence in 1949.

Its Indonesia's' Independence Day today. The people of West Papua are celebrating their Independence The main festivities will be at the parade field. All around town for the past few weeks preparation and practice has been taking place for today. A mass cleaning and painting has occurred along the main pot hole studded route that the President's motorcade will travel to the main event. Indonesian Red and White flags have been placed every where. Festivities abound in cities and villages alike, organized by the government, neighborhood community associations and organizations.


I am stoked for a great photo outing. I do my prep the night before clean my lens , charge my batteries, set everything out so I can get up early and get out there and get some good "behind the scenes" shots of West Papua at its best.
I arrive at 0703 and the area is packed already with about 50 different parade troops all assembling in their various areas. Every branch of the military is represented, police honor guard troops, dance troops and schools are represented. Important military and government officials are taking there front row seats under the only covered area. Many High Ranking Military, with weathered faces and chests full of medals take the prime seats.

I am clicking away, the photo ops are every where. I am wandering through a troops of military cadets all with automatic rifles (I am pretty sure they are in safety lock mode) and getting great close up shots as they march in formation right by me. I am grabbed by two guys...one on each side, each with a firm, squeezing grip on my arm, steadily increasing their grip to get my attention. They are swiftly ushering me out of the street and telling me I cant take pictures.

I react calmly and cooperatively to the plain clothed Secret Police's control of the situation...wisdom gained from leaning the hard way how to react in a situation like this.. About ten years ago in Cancun, Mexico, I was grabbed from behind, and with a much more aggressive reaction I turned with a round house punch. The punch landed squarely on a 300 pound Mexican Federalie's jaw. What happened after this is a 24 hour very uncomfortable and unpleasant story...This scene flashed though my mind as I was being ushered off the parade staging area street.

So the parade is starting and so is my drama with the Indonesian secret police. Who am I, why am I taking pictures, what agree the pictures for.... To make matters worse I forgot my passport on the boat. Now I am detained behind a fence with four guards on me. I am told I need to wait until immigration officials arrive. In the mean time I call our local, ships agent "Whaid" She can vouch for me and help translate to me what is going on and what I can do to diffuse the situation.

Fast forwarding four hours after being taken away in a immigration police vehicle, missing the ceremony, I am questioned, forced to delete all of my photos, and had to sign a statement that said "I am sorry for taking pictures and forgetting my passport, I will not do it again"! Seriously, this is what I had to say and sign a statement before they would let me go.

I was waiting for the Immigration chief to ask me to write it out 500 times on the black board.

When in Indonesia, do as the Indonesian's do...

I am driving back from my morning detention with the Indonesian Immigration and Secret Police. All around town festivities and Independence day celebrations continue on. On the left I spot a very large gathering at a Police/Military post. The attraction is two greased telephone poles, each with a prize carousel at the top. Men from two competing villages are trying to reach the top and score the prizes by building a human pyramid. As if having the pole covered in grease was not challenging enough, he poles are set in the middle of a mud pool.

I spent about ten minutes watching and photographing this. Keep in mind I am the only white person in town so I am getting a lot of attention. I watch these guys try and fall, then pick themselves out of the mud, rally and try again, only to fall in a heap of grease, mud covered bodies.

For some reason I got the urge to do this, I actually thought that with my help we could do it!

This was much harder than it looks. First of all you can barely breath because of the body order of your team mates, then you can barely get your footing in the mud, then you get the first guy on your shoulders, his feet are covered in a coarse sand/mud mix that immediately starts to work your skin like 60 grit sandpaper. Now you have to plant your self, wrap your arms around the grease covered pole, like a wrestler going for a single leg take down and hold on, block out the pain in your forearms and shoulders, forget your legs trembling as the third layer of people go up.

Then it happens, a weak link gives out, with out warning, and everyone comes falling down on top of you.

Well by the third go of this, I had the battle going in my mind should a quit or stick it out. I quit, I could not do it! I was sore, my skin was shredding and I was afraid that someone was going to fall on my neck and that might be the end of the day.

Covered in mud and grease I do walk of defeat off the field. I have not quit many things that I have started, but I am pretty sure I made the right decision here!


Now time to find a hose and rinse down. I am out behind the Military Police barracks grimacing in pain as I rinse the ground in sand out of my shoulders and clean off all of the mud.

Walking out of the office door next to me strolls the same Secret Police guy that grabbed me in the morning. Both with complete suprise, I look at him, he looks at me...and we both just start shaking our heads and laughing!