INDONESIA: Mission Trip 2011 Day III (ii)

Here is a continuation from the earlier blog post I posted with respect to the mission trip, dated May 23, 2011. Oh, by the way, Happy 1st of August! It's Civic Holiday here in Canada, so we get a day off :-). The intention of this holiday is to 'not work', but on the contrary (as ever the case with me), I will be working on my essay. I hope everybody's been enjoying their long weekend.

Previous post: click here for pt. i

Part ii

Subsequently, we dropped by a plantation in Malanggaten. There were other miscellaneous crops estates, ranging from corn, wheat, etc. Our church intended to oversee their project, which was to build a plantation block house (I don't know what it's called in both English and Indonesian – maybe Gubuk Sawah? If anyone does, please do let me know). I just received confirmation from Ko Steven, saying that they have successfully built the house. I will try to ask for pictures, so I can post them here. In the mean time, here are the ones that we took:

Silly me! I must have forgotten to take a full-sized photo of the house by itself. I apologize.

For reference purposes, it is that house behind me (and the one in which I took this photo).

We walked through the fields with great difficulty, passing waters through bamboo and wooden bridges, which I deemed to be quite precarious for my liking. When we were crossing this particular area, I had to jump a fair distance because there was no bridge connecting the two sides. I didn't have a good balance when I landed on one of my feet, ergo under such grace and elegance, I toppled over into the muddy swamp, getting my feet and sandals soiled. THANK heavens we found a stream of water where I could wash my feet.

On our way back to the car, Ko Steven and I met a farmer, whom we called Pak Warso. My heart broke when we met Pak Warso. On your first glimpse, he would come across as a frail figure, but there was an outflow of vigour and virility emanating from his fragile physique. We chatted for a while and found out that his son actually lives in the West area of Jakarta (Cengkareng). He works as a manual worker for the morning marketplace and his name is Pono. Pak Warso is 79 years old, if I'm not mistaken. When he told me his age, my mind wandered straight to the thoughts of my grandpa in Jakarta – who is suffering from Parkinson's Disease and diabetes – thinking he could be just as healthy and strong as Pak Warso, especially since he is younger. As we were about to leave, Ko Steven and I prayed with him and we each gave him a warm hug and gifted him with a substantial token of appreciation (a pack of biscuits) for his hard-working effort. He is, undeniably one of my inspirations.

We were then driven to the house of Pak Gayus, the senior pastor of our branch church in Malanggaten. His wife is one of the teachers at Kelompok Bermain Permata. Their son is a student there, as well. We gave multiple editions of educational books for the school.

Pak Gayus, Ibu Gayus, and Ko Steven

Please excuse my baggy eyes and unpresentable appearance

Pak Gayus with Kak Elyda

And here are a few additional pictures that I took in Malanggaten:

In front of the church building

From the church porch

Photo credit to Steven Bawole. Thank you, ko :-P.

Lesson coming soon!!!

**READ ME**

I've been extremely busy with summer school affairs, so I profusely apologize for stalling my lesson, hence partially completing this entry. I promise I will have the lesson up as soon as I'm done finishing my essay.

Thank you for understanding.

[UPDATED]

2nd lesson of the day, 3rd day lesson: COMPASSION IN UNDERSTANDING

Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.

~ 1 Peter 3:8

LESSON 3 (ii): There is no better way to sympathize with someone than to position ourselves in their plight.

In her novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee states, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view ... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." We must include ourselves in someone else's shoes to partake in their experiences. Often times, we tend to disregard a person's dire straits because we treat them as if they were transparent – we look THROUGH them, instead of INTO them. This accounts for our insensitivity to certain matters pertaining to the countless issues of social injustice in today's world. So how do we understand? How can we learn to adjust our mindset to this way of reasoning? We will never learn, we will never understand until we make the choice to start considering, seeing and living life through a different perspective – that of the oppressed, minority, less fortunate, and underprivileged. I am very honoured to have been acquainted with Pak Warso. He definitely is a true inspiration for me and has now become one of the people I will never forget in my life. I really do hope that you, too, have found/will find such a person who could transform your life in a powerful and remarkable way you would never have imagined, just as Pak Warso has changed me.

Love,

Hazel