Pasarwajo by Antoine

I have been to many places in Indonesia. From city to village, mountain to sea. But my experience in Pasarwajo stands out as the most memorable. I arrived not really knowing what to expect at all. What was I doing in Pasarwajo? Pasarwajo, a beach town, has 2,000 people, no phone lines and no internet.

What did we do in Pasawajo? Together with the community and the Indonesia members of AIYEP, we helped implement systems to keep the beach clean and free of rubbish which had become the dumping ground for lack of a better alternative. We built bins. We built incinerators. We built tips. We convinced the local government to provide a truck and pay workers to collect the rubbish. But the biggest task lies ahead. Sustainability.

What was so special about Pasarwajo then? The people. The lifestyle. The smiling faces. I was the ONLY white man in all of Pasarwajo. And yet I was treated with such respect and kindness. My host family insisted I refer to them as Ibu (Mum), Bapak (Dad), Adik (younger sister), etc. And their little cousin called me Om (Uncle).

I lived with Said (Sai-id), one of the Indonesian group leaders. We got on so well together that I left thinking that we will be brothers.

On the wall in the house sits a photo of me, Said our host parents and our two younger sisters, all of us dressed in traditional Indonesian and Buton
clothing. My family was not very well off in material terms but God knows how blessed they are. Each of them so happy just in the knowledge that they
have each other. The whole community embraced me as a friend and I felt greatly indebted for their kindness.

The Highlights

Almost everyday after working under a blistering sun (which burnt me so badly, when I wore no top I really looked like I was wearing a white singlet) we would go to our favourite swimming spot and jump either from an old fishing boat or a giant half fallen tree, with all the kids joining in as they saw us walking down the street with our towels.

Our "Lautku Biru" (My Blue Sea) campaign. Much like Clean Up Australia Day, we had the whole community, mostly the children and high school students (not too cool for school) come together to clean up the trash that littered the beach (pun intended). They even swam under water to collect the rubbish at the bottom of the ocean!! The best part was surfing with about 12 other brave guys on top of the rubbish truck that was full of the garbage we had collected and dodging powerlines and tree branches, cheering all the way and sustaining several minor injuries :)

Riding home on a motorbike along the great ocean road on the way back from a secret beach, with Putri sitting behind me, listening to music with the backdrop of a breath-taking sunset over the sea right beside us.

Eating the best Sambal that wo/man has ever created!

Joining in the Idul Adha celebrations. Some may disagree with this, but I dressed in the traditional Muslim prayer clothes and joined in the mass prayer amongst thousands of Muslims. Of course I had no idea what was being said
or exactly what they were praying about. But I did the motions, it was amazing to see how it all happens. Then we... I don't know what word to use because each carries negative connotations... then we sacrificed/slaughtered/
killed goats and cows, with all the meat and proceeds from leather, etc. going to the poor. Our team bought a goat and donated/had it slaughtered too. But lease read about Idul Adha to understand it better than this!

The food! I have never been so regular in my entire life (ok, too much information I know, but its just so exciting!) I ate tofu, fish, vegies, egg and rice for breakfast lunch and dinner plus lots of tea every single day. And I have never loved anything more (except Dad's banquets, but they are not every night!!) I wrote all the recipes down.

Jumi, my new sister. She's 22 and the coolest chick ever. She is smart, physically strong, but really small and loves a good laugh - that's as far as it goes because she is also very nice, humble and amazing to be around. Said, her and I got on sooo well!

My hand literally almost blew off. I may be doing all this uni study and travelling the world, but that doesn't mean I am not an idiot. We were celebrating Idul Adha... the way boys do, with lots of fire works. And these particular ones were lit by hand and thrown into the air by hand. I found
one on the ground that didn't go off, so I went to light it and the second it touch the flame it blew up in my hand. AAAAAAgggh! It is sooooooo painful. It's not like a cut or a graze or anything. It's like you just stuck your hand out of a speeding train only to have it collected by another oncoming train also speeding. First sheer pain right through the bone and flesh, then complete paralysis. Not nice at all. Putri was not impressed at all.

Being called 'Talas' which is a vegetable. But it looks like a well-ripped and muscly arm :) I'll take a compliment wherever I can find one :)

Showing my footage of my time to the whole group and many town folk. Everything I thought would be dull turned out to be really funny and everything that I thought was funny turned out to just WAY TOO FUNNY! But that footage will never again receive such applause!

Travelling in a rusty old van to a secret lagoon called Wabula that runs into a shallow beach where you can walk several hundred meters from shore before needing to swim. The road there really could not be called a road at all. We would have been just as comfortable driving through the bush that lined the edges of the road itself. But the ride was half the fun!!

Teaching silly little songs to Indo students as part of our English language lessons. Like… "I love you, you love me, we're a happy family…" and "one little, two little, three little indians…" and "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree…", etc.

Seeing 8 kids (around 9-12 years old, that had grown quite attached to me) on my last day in Pasarwajo all on my balcony hiding under my clothes so that I wouldn't see them crying. That was really something! They were first sad, then they got really angry that I was leaving! And they wouldn't talk to me!

The cold cold, showers every morning using an old paint bucket. It took me at least 5 minutes each morning to psyche myself to pour the first load over my head!

Drinking water straight out of coconuts, eating the flesh inside, roasting cashews still in their shell, grilling whole fish over open fires and so many other 'outback' style survival acitivities! :)

The amazing friends I made in my team members who I will see again next year when I do a big Indo trip and study in Bandung for a semester.

And so many more, but I'll leave it there!

Now from a hot and sweaty Indonesia to a cold, freezing, and snowy INDIA!!!

I'll keep you posted…