Kang GURU Travels to Jakarta and Lombok - April May, 2009

It was a very busy few days for Kang Guru staff starting April 29th. Kevin began with an interview with GIGI at the Hard Rock Café in Bali. Armand Maulana (vocalist), Gusti Hendy (drummer), Dewa Budjana (guitarist) and Thomas Ramdhan (bassist) sat down with Kevin just before they began a sound check for their show later that night. The guys talked about their 15th anniversary as a top-level music/rock group in Indonesia and they gave Kang Guru all their best wishes for KGI's 20th Anniversary. They also talked about why they love living in Indonesia and why they feel it is the best country in the world to live and work in. Listen to KGI in July and August for this very funny and hectic interview.

Ayu left for Lombok later that same day to present a half day teacher workshop. Ayu also visited visited Yayasan Peduli Anak in Lingsar, Lombok meeting with staff and students and handing over KGI materials for the school to use to motivate students in their studies.

In the late afternoon Kevin flew to Jakarta to prepare for interviews, meeting with Australian Embassy and AusAID people and finally to meet with three members of the 2009 Muslim Exchange Program who were about to leave for Australia the every next day.

Kevin also took time to attend the official Jakarta Celebrations for the Queen of the Netherlands’ birthday at the Shangri-La Hotel.

Kevin’s first interview was with Mbak Izul at the LAPIS office in Menara Rafindo in Kebon Siri. Izul spoke about a recent visit to Brisbane by two women who went to Australia to see for themselves how disabled students in Australia are integrated into schools and supported throughout their education. Mbak Mia and Mbak Hetty were sponsored by the Australia Indonesia institute (AII) and AusAID’s LAPIS program – Learning Assistance Program for Islamic Schools. Mbal Izul accompanied them to Queensland on the trip. Read more about this in the June 2009 KGI magazine along with other articles about the disabled in Indonesia.

The disabled (sometimes referred to as difabled) are the focus of the work being done by YCAP - Yogyakarta- Central Java Assistance Program - and will be featured in the June 2009 magazine as they are currently working with disabled people and their communities affected by the Yogyakarta earthquake.

Meanwhile a Road Show is currently being presented by the Makassar-based NGO Himpunan Wanita Penyandang Cacat Indonesia (HWPCI) who are currently traveling to school communities in 5 cities (Malang, Ponorogo, Surabaya, Mataram and Makassar) in which school authorities and communities are presented with a set of fact, figures and action plans to deal with the inclusive education of the disabled including those with HIV AIDS in schools in Indonesia.

Kevin spent some time with Robert Kingham at the LAPIS office as he talked about his years here in Indonesia. He began as a volunteer in the very late 80s and just like Kevin, he is still here. Robert works for LAPIS and has been involved for many years with AusAID and the development work of that arm of the Australian Government. KGI first reported on Robert Kingham and his work in 2002- 3 when he was with COREMAP – AusAID’s Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management Project.

Ibu Hetty and Iby Mia in Australia
with disabled students

KGI attended a community meeting
south of Yogyakarta where disabled
locals were meeting with YCAP
through local NGO Dria Manunggal

Kevin’s next interview was with Laili Nur Faridatus Sholihah. Laili (see right) works with Capacity Building to Promote Disaster Risk Management (DRR) Through Local Religious Forum activities at Nahdlatul Ulama in Jakarta. Laili has a fascinating job working with Muslim communities in Java. Laili and her team assist NU communities in places such as Jember and Blitar to cope with, and to some extend avoid, natural disasters. Laili has studied in Australia with the Australian Development Scholarship scheme amongst others. She has just recently returned from Australia once again as a participant in the 2009 Muslim Exchange program from the Australia Indonesia Institute (AII) supported by the Australian Embassy in Jakarta. Laili’s comments about the Muslim communities she met in Australia are quite amazing, Laili was absolutely delighted and quite surprised to see the extent of the Muslim communities there and how they are accepted and are in fact an integral part of the Australian population. Read more in the June 2009 KGI magazine.

On the evening of April 30th, Kevin accompanied Ms Sheila Town from the World Bank Jakarta to the Jakarta celebrations for the Queen of the Netherlands at the Shangri-La Hotel courtesy of the Dutch Ambassador and his team . It was amazing as possibly a thousand or more people joined together to wish Her Majesty, Queen Beatrix well and to also partake in delicious Dutch food (especially cheese). The Australian Ambassador, Mr. Bill Farmer was there too with his wife Elaine. Kevin also met with Mr. Mike Morrisey from AusAID who funnily enough Kevin was due to meet the very next morning for a brief coffee and chat about the future of KGI. The evening was a great celebration, not only of the birthday of Queen Beatrix, but of the strong ties that the Netherlands has with Indonesia.

Hence the following morning Kevin did in fact meet with Mike and Katheryn Bennet, both from AusAID. It was only a short informal meeting but discussions centered around the KGI classroom materials and teacher workshops in Sumbawa in late May.

Next was off to the Australian Embassy for meeting with participants of the 2009 Muslim Exchange Program. Kevin met with, and interviewed, Lalu Ahmad Zaenuri from Mataram, Samsul Ma'arif Mujiharto from UGM Yogyakarta and Dede Syarif from UIN Bandung. They were about to go to Australia later that night and were having an embassy briefing with Sanchi Davis, the new Cultural Attache to Indonesia. You can hear what the guys had to say on KGI radio in July and August. Kevin will interview them all once again as soon as they return from their 2 weeks in Australia and it will be terrific to hear their post-Australia comments and observations.

At 2pm Kevin had a quick meeting with the Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Mr. Bill Farmer, in his office at the embassy chatting about latest embassy activities, visitors and travel plans.

In the early evening Kevin went to the Ambassador’s residence in Menteng to join with small group of people invited to recognize their work and dedication in the medical field. Dr. David David and his wonderfully dedicated and specialized team of Australian and Indonesian medical experts, including doctors from the Fakultas Kedokteran Gigi, Universitas Indonesia. They have all been working with the less than fortunate people across Indonesia suffering from cleft palates and facial deformities for more than 30 years. It isn’t the first time that the Ambassador has paid appreciation to this team of miracle workers and they certainly deserve all the thanks they get for their dedication and hard work – and all voluntary too.

The three Muslim Exchange 2009 participants (Lalu, Dede and Samsul) together with Sanchi Davis (white shirt) and Wati Syamsu from the Cultural Section of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta

On Saturday Kevin made a quick trip to East Java to visit friends on route to Lombok. After that side-trip to Pare, and while waiting at the airport in Surabaya for his LION flight to Lombok, Kevin met with members of the Inclusive Education Road Show from Makassar-based NGO Himpunan Wanita Penyandang Cacat Indonesia (HWPCI) or the Indonesian Women with Disabilities of South Sulawesi who were on the same flight as him.

Kevin caught up with them following day at the Hotel Grand Legi in Mataram for their workshop on Inclusive Education – a two day event with 80 participants including education authorities and teachers from the Mataram area. Read more in the June 2009 KGI magazine.

While in Mataram Kevin also called into the new ANTARA office which was due to be opened by Bob McMullan on May 6th. ANTARA is an AusAID project in Eastern Indonesia. Read more about ANTARA on the KGI website and in the June 2009 KGI magazine.

On Monday Kang Guru Indonesia visited a fantastic new AIBEP school - SMPN 5 Gerung. Principal, Rahmat Pujiono greeted Kevin warmly as he remembered Kevin from an Kang Guru teacher workshop in Lombok some 3 years earlier. It was good to catch up and to see that now Rahmat is now principal of this brand new school. The Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, Bob McMullan, was due to open the school the following day so of course the school was a hive of activity.

Representatives from MCPM AIBEP, the Managing Contractors for AIBEP, were there and press personnel including Sonya Neufeld from AusAID Public Affairs based at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, reporters and photographers. There were a lot of preparations to make in all sorts of different ways for the following day.

Principal of SMPN 5, Gerung, Pak Rahmat and one of his English teachers sat down with Kevin and recorded an short interview for KGI. Nonung Victoria is from Central Lombok and is one of the two English teachers at the school. The other is Sri Hatati. Both are new teachers a with just a year’s experience. Nonung said that the school is very supportive to her in her teaching and especially Pak Rahmat who is an experienced English language teacher. KGI gave the school a package of teacher and classroom items and soon we hope that there will be an AIBEP Teacher Workshop possibly in July or August which will aim to help young, inexperienced teachers such as Nonung and Sri to do the job they love doing.

Pak Rahmat is a local community member and was an English teacher at SMP 1 Gerung before being appointed to his current position. He was naturally very excited about the visiting parliamentarian from Australia arriving the next day to open the school. The Governor of Lombok was also invited to attend. A big day for the people of Gerung.

Through support and guidance from the Australia-Indonesia Basic Education project (AIBEP), the local school community in Gerung has been heavily involved in the planning and construction of their new school. They even made the furniture for the classrooms - fantastic! The students are very proud of their new school and so are the members of the surrounding community.

The big day had finally arrived and the school grounds at SMPN 5 Gerung in Lombok, about 20 kilometers from Mataram, were already crowded. Check out the photographs below of the day AIBEP's SMPN 5 Gerung was opened by Australia's Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, Bob McMullan. He was accompanied by the Governor of Lombok and the Bupati. More information in the June 2009 KGI magazine and on KGI radio across Indonesia.

The BIG Day arrives

Principal Rahmat doing some
final checks before the day really began

SMPN 5 sudent Husnan Azhari delivering a
wonderful speech in English to
Mr Bob McMullan at SMPN5 Gerung

Mr. Bob McMullan with the Governor of Lombok
checking out the school's wonderful buildings and grounds.

Mr. Bob McMullan arrives at
SMPN 5 Gerung

Husnan Azhari with his school
Principal, Pak Rahmat

Students with gifts from Mr Bob McMullan
and the Australian Government