KangGURU Travels to Makassar in 2003

Travels with The Captain

KGRE travels throughout Indonesia delivering Teacher Workshops to English language teachers, visiting schools and radio stations, addressing KG Connection Clubs and meeting KGRE listeners and readers. On this trip Kevin travels to Makassar to present a Teacher Workshop with MMTP, an AusAID project there. Kevin also went to see a COREMAP supported income generating project using coconuts (Kokonut Pacific) to make pure virgin oil plus a very innovative school called SMK4.

Sept 26, 2003
It only takes one hour to fly from Denpasar to Makassar. This meant that on Sept. I arrived in the capital city of South Sulawesi at 10.00am. It was a Friday so that meant that the roads from the airport into the center of the city were quite congested with hundreds of cars, tucks, taxis and becaks heading in all sorts of directions. It took over an hour to travel the 18 km from, the airport of the center of the city. That was the same time it took Garuda  to fly over 400 km from Bali.

I visited SMK 4 later in the afternoon after Friday prayers were over. I went there with Warren Whittaker from MTTP (Makassar Tourism and Training Project) to see the staff of that school and to talk about the incredible changes that have taken place there over the past few years. The huge changes in school organization, teaching methods and practices, and student motivation have been a result of collaboration between MTTP and the school itself. But it is also very clear that these changes have only been made possible because of the willingness and enthusiasm of the staff and the Principal of the school.

Some of the changes that Pak Mustafa, a teacher in the Tourism and Training Section, SMK 4 and Warren from MTTP, told KGRE about included -

their Competency Based Training curriculum (CBT) the introduction of new styled timetables eight hours paid preparation time for teachers regular and planned teacher training activities the introduction of a team concept for staff

The dramatic changes that have taken place, and still being developed and improved, in the Tourism and Training area are now being copied into other sections of the school. It is planned that this school would be the first vocational school in Indonesia to become ISO9001. This will mean that the school is on the same level as vocational schools in Australia, Germany, England and many other countries. SMK 4 can then accept both local AND foreign students. Those students will be guaranteed that their courses and qualifications are the same standard as hundreds of other schools around the world. Their qualifications will be accepted by businesses and companies around the world as the ISO 9001 rating guarantees that they are competent in their various fields of work.

One of the truly amazing results of the changes in approach at SMK 4 is that students actually spend longer at school each week and they do this by choice. They are highly motivated to do their very best and are keen to spend a lot of their private time at the school doing extra work. A part of this is that they know to be successful at a school like SMK 4 means that their chances of getting a very good job in industry are much, much better. With CBT (Competency Based Training) it is not enough just to study as before. It means that students MUST be able to actually DO what they are trained to do. The assessment is on-going and regular and it is not enough to know it, they have to be able to do it too.

The MTTP is also working in three other schools in Makassar as well as lending support and advice to other educational institutions.

On Saturday the MTTP helped to organize a full day Teacher Workshop in cooperation with one of MTTP's other schools - AKPAR. Teachers from schools in Makassar attended and were particularly responsive to the activities and ideas that KGRE was able to give them. There was a lot of discussion and a lot of questions. Warren assisted with the presentation of the workshop and many thanks go to him, the AKBAR and MTTP staff too. For several of the participants there was another important activity set down for later that day and that was Mustafa's wedding. I did not attend but I heard was a fantastic event.

Sunday was a most unusual day for me whilst on a KGRE Teacher Workshop trip. It was a day off and the only work I did for KGRE was some writing and radio program texts, including this one, on the IALF laptop computer. There was a lot of activity on the streets outside the hotel however. It was the TNI Anniversary in Makassar. From early in the morning hundreds, and maybe even thousands, of people flocked to the foreshore area to see a series of boat races on the water. In the mid-afternoon the Indonesian Car Rally came to an end on the esplanade so hundreds of locals retuned to the area to watch that happen. There were not as many people as in the morning but then again the weather was much hotter. Thousands of flags lined the beach road and there were food-sellers along with musical groups and artists. The view from my hotel window as so magnificent that every so often I would leave the computer to look down at the activities eight floors below. As I wandered the streets to see this activity it was great to bump into several KGRE fans who were eager to chat with me. It was fun.

On Monday morning I went to the MTTP office to meet with members of the team briefly before heading off to RRI and a well-established talkback radio program hosted by Pak Syahrir from KGCC's Best Forum Club. He has been in charge of this program for about a year and it is proving to be quite popular in Makassar. He often has native speaker guests on the program. Syahrir is a very enthusiastic promoter of KGRE in SULSEL and we really appreciate his efforts. We received quite a few calls and even one wrong number. It was great to sit down with Syahrir once again and chat about English with the English language learners of Makassar.

After the radio program I left RRI and headed back to the hotel to check out. Then by taxi onto the 13km post on the highway to the airport to meet with people involved with COREMAP - Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management Project supported coconut oil extracting activity. Developed and designed by Kokonut Pacific, this amazing yet simple process converts old coconuts into pure virgin oil in just an hour. The oil can be used for a wide variety of purposes and can be kept for almost ever without affecting the quality. This oil is virtually cholesterol free. 

                      

Other by-products can be made from the process and these include soap, chicken and fish food, briquettes, 'sos kecap manis', skin moisturizing oil, fuel for fires and cooking oil. COREMAP is interested in the process several reasons. In coral reef communities it is important that people have access to suitable income generating activities. Fishing, especially illegally, is counterproductive and with the high number of coconut trees available then this process is an ideal way to make money and to protect the environment. The supply of coconuts is virtually inexhaustible whereas fishing and marine habitats are not. 




For more information on this amazing and inexpensive process why not check out the Kokonut Pacific website or contact KGRE.

After lunch (rice, coconut products and fish of course) and a series of photographs and interviews I went to 
Hasanuddin Airport in Makassar to fly home to Bali. Yet another KGRE trip finished.

If you would like to know more about these planned events then contact KGRE by e-mail.

Return to Past Travels of KGRE in Indonesia

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