Ubud is for Lovers

Bali is an interesting place for many reasons.  The island has a vibrant culture, delicious food, great music, and the list simply goes on and on.  I arrived in Bali on Monday morning, with my destination being Ubud; a town which lies about an hour away from Denpasar (where the airport is).  Last year, I went to Kuta, another area, for four days with my cousin.  However, Kuta and Ubud are nothing alike.  Kuta is Bali's party and tourist central; it has a beautiful, busy beach, and the nightlife is absolutely exceptional.  In going to Kuta, one will experience all of the typical touristy things that are expected of island/resort destinations. 
This is my first time in Ubud, and I mean really in Ubud.  Last year, we did visit GWK (a park dedicated to the Hindu god Krishna) and when I was little I experienced the joys and terror of the Holy Monkey Forest, but I never thought I would feel about it the way I do now.
Ubud is actually much cooler (both literally and figuratively) than Kuta, as it lies at a higher elevation above sea level.  It is also the heart of music and art in Bali; truly a cultural center for the island.  Tons of artsy and creative things go on here, like art expos and Balinese music and dance shows.  It gives off a completely different vibe than happy-go-lucky Kuta, and actually feels cooler and hipper.  This is where all of the visual artists and musicians are; the people who have a true sense of what their art is (and they take it very seriously). 
My main purpose for being here is to do some volunteering with a local NGO called the IDEP Foundation, a grassroots sustainable development organization that focuses on permaculture, creating a healthy and sustainable environment, and disaster management.  Since I have no earthly clue about anything to do with the environment, let alone permaculture, I'm helping out where I am the most useful - in translating documents from Bahasa Indonesia to English.  The best thing about this is that I can do it pretty much anywhere from my laptop.  It's nice, because whereas it is office work (which I normally despise), I'm doing it in a much more relaxed setting and I'm not stuck behind a desk in a stuffy building for hours.   
I'm looking forward to spending more time here and getting to know the people who work at IDEP.  They all seem really nice, and I'm excited to have the opportunity to do some work with an NGO like this.
Initially, I was staying with Petra, who started the organization.  She has a beautiful home; when I arrived there, I thought that I was walking into a Hindu garden of the gods.  However, her home is a bit full at the moment and she doesn't have an extra bedroom available, so IDEP hooked me up with a hotel room in town and a motorbike for transportation.  I feel like I hit the jackpot here - I'm so lucky!  Alhamdulillah :)

For more information about the IDEP Foundation, visit http://www.idepfoundation.org

Secret Beaches

The past few days have gone really well.  I love my English conversation groups at IAIN and Al-Kafi - they're all such great people, and so enthusiastic about practicing their English!  I'm enjoying getting to know them all better, as they're all very interesting and have a lot to say.

Ibu Eka asked me to give a little presentation about Islam in the United States for her Sociology of Religion class, which I was more than happy to do.  It wasn't anything big, I just talked about how Islam is practiced in the United States, cultural differences, etc. (in Indonesian, of course).  I'm happy to report that it went very well, and that there was a lot of discussion afterward.  Her class had a lot of interesting questions, and the discussions that we had were really good.  The best part about this was at the end, when one of the students raised his hand to speak.  He thanked me for doing the presentation and said that he was glad that I came, because before he didn't feel very positively towards Americans.  However, after our discussions and having had interacted with me, he said that he had changed his mind and didn't feel that way anymore.  I felt excited to hear that, because however kind and hospitable residents of another country may be towards Americans, they still may have a lot of negative stereotypes about us.  It's times like these when I thank God that I speak fluent Bahasa Indonesia, because without this skill I don't think that I'd be able to communicate and interact with people on a deeper level.

On Saturday, the girls at the asrama all woke up early to do what they called "guteroy", which is basically yard work.  Once a month, they all get up early on the weekend and weed the garden, sweep, etc.  I joined in and helped out where I could, and I felt that the girls were all kind of surprised to see me up and out doing chores with them.  One told me that she was very happy to see me, another didn't even bother to mask her surprise and said "Oh, you're doing guteroy too?!", and the head of the asrama even said that I could go back inside if I wanted.  We were only outside for an hour and a half, if that, and it wasn't even back breaking labor that required muscles and loud machines.  It was an easy task, and even someone who had never gardened or done chores in their entire life would have been able to do it well.  But I think instances like that are good to have, just to send the message that I'm not just a foreigner staying in their dorm, but that I'm also their peer and friend.

I'm trying hard every day to be positive, friendly, and culturally sensitive.  Sometimes it's a little trying, because after a long, hot, exhausting day, the last thing I want to do is make small talk, smile, and be pleasant and engaging.  But if I just hang in there for a little while longer, my patience always pays off and people won't see me in a negative light.  It's also so much different being in Aceh than it is being in Jakarta; they're like two completely different countries, united only by language.  It's even crazier to think about how different the U.S. is compared to Aceh.  Despite this, I feel like I've adjusted extremely well and fit in with most of the people here.  I'm having fun, making friends, and being as productive as I can.  Well, maybe I could be a little more productive, but I'm trying my best! :)

On Sunday, I went to the beach with my friend Sarah, who teaches English at Syiah Kuala University.  It was maybe about 30 minutes from Darussalam, and was absolutely breathtaking.  The beaches here are pristine and simply gorgeous.  We didn't go to the main beach in that area, but instead hiked for about ten minutes through the jungle and finally came to a beautiful, secluded beach.  And by secluded, I mean that nobody else was there.  That was a lot of fun, and I didn't feel self conscious swimming and being goofy because it was just the two of us.  

 

The trail we hiked through

                          Overlooking the beach!

                                                    Gorgeous!!

                                            The water was PERFECT.

                                                       The jungle!

This week should be good, too.  Tomorrow I'm going to do an interview with Pak Marzi Afriko, who works at the World Bank and has published papers about Sharia in Aceh, why pesantrens don't accept terrorism, etc.  Next week I will be going to Lhoksmawe to meet with another contact, Pak Al Chaidar and do an interview with him.
I'm really excited about doing these interviews.  The most experience I've had doing research has been greatly facilitated by Wikipedia, and I'm ecstatic about having the opportunity to do some actual qualitative research.  Hope it goes well and that I'll be getting some good information!

Aceh NGOs

This Monday I was able to visit the FBA (Forum Bangun Aceh) office to meet with its directors and founder, Pak Azwar. They were all very nice and helpful, and I learned a lot about their organization. They were created in 2005 after the tsunami to help survivors, and has since grown into a leading NGO in this area. They provide educational services, microcredit, and enterprise development to tsunami survivors, victims of conflict, and the poor and disenfranchised. Their programs include education initiatives as well as a Microcredit program to benefit some of the poorest regions of Aceh – in fact, their work has reached about 5,000 people within 6 districts of Aceh. Their education initiatives include student placements, scholarships, training, and professional development. The microcredit program buys small businesses the assets or materials they need, and then the individual business owners repay the cost of the assets to FBA on a payment plan.

They’ve done a great deal for the Acehnese, and their organization keeps on growing and gaining momentum. So far they’ve assisted 900 micro businesses, completely rebuilt a school, reequipped 37 schools with furniture and books, coordinated an educational exchange program for a handful of Acehnese students, and supported the planting of 2,250 trees. It would be great to possibly work with them in the future. The work that they’ve done for their community is truly inspirational.

On Tuesday, my friends Dicky and Saiful showed me this organization called Ya Kita, which is a drug addiction treatment and recovery center. They have two offices in Aceh, one is the actual recovery center (for boys), and the main one is more of an education/youth center where they bring middle and high school students in and teach them about health, HIV/AIDS, and the consequences of drug use. Today was interesting because they were having an event with some middle and high school students, and I was able to see how they taught the youth about all of this.

The main facility is really cool looking. There are murals all over the wall that say things like “SAY NO TO DRUGS”, and “THEY’RE EASY TO USE, BUT DIFFICULT TO RECOVER FROM”. They’ve also got a wall where visitors can sign their names and write inspirational type messages.

Afterwards, we visited an organization called Pusat Ketrampilan Perempuan Sejahtera (PKPS), which translates to Skills Center for Happy Girls. It’s an NGO founded by this amazing lady who started this organization to help girls who had to discontinue their education or were victims of conflict, trafficking, abuse, etc. She teaches the girls how to sew, and then they sell their goods (clothes, purses, etc.) to the public. Her name is Cut Mutia, and she’s a charismatic Acehnese woman with a voice as big as her heart. She was very helpful and gave me a lot of information about what PKPS does and what she wants to do with it. She asked me if I could give the girls there English lessons, so I may start going there once a week as well to have a conversation group or something. When I left she gave me a couple of souvenirs – small purses that the girls at the center made, and jokingly told me that I should take her products back to America and fundraise for her.

Later, I went back to FBA (and got hopelessly lost along the way) to accompany one of the coordinators, Ira, to visit one of the businesses that they help. This trip’s purpose was mainly for conflict resolution, as there were a couple of small problems that this particular group was having. The business is a snack stand – there are a lot of those in Indonesia – and it’s run by a group of middle aged women. Apparently there was an issue with the group leadership that needed to be resolved. They all spoke in Acehnese, so I didn’t quite understand all of it, but I got the general gist of what they were talking about. The best part of this trip was seeing Ira handle the situation. She was phenomenal – very diplomatic and enthusiastic, offering all sorts of alternatives to handling the problem and encouraging the women to see it from different perspectives. The ladies were receptive to her advice, and according to Ira, there shouldn’t be another issue like this in the future for them.

Another good thing that happened today – I got to meet up with one of the researchers over at ARTI, Pak Dani. I had met him the first week I was here, but never got a chance afterwards to have a chat with him. He is a really great character – he’s sharp and very witty; he’s one of those people that can make fun of you and actually be funny about it. I told him about my advances in my research here concerning terrorism, and he put me in contact with a couple of people who promise to be very helpful in assisting me with collecting data. He’s also got a book launching this Saturday that he invited me to; he said that there would be a few people there who could help me. I want to be able to collect as much data as possible about my topic while I’m here and hope that, even despite the short frame of time I have left, that I can bring a lot of data back home to work with.

I love having full days like these. They make me feel so productive, and considering that I have to be back at the asrama so early, it’s good to get a lot of things done earlier in the day and pack as much into the daylight hours as possible.