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KangGURU Travels to Flores, Sumba and Sumbawa in May 2005 Ogi traveled to Flores, Sumba and Sumbawa in May to visit AusAID projects, Kang Guru Connection Clubs and radio stations. In Flores she visited the NTT PEP project plus the Women's Health and Family Welfare project - both very successful AusAID projects in NTT. In Sumba she called in to see the work of ACCESS.Ogi called in on Sonja FM in Maumere, RRI in Ende and RPD Waingapu. While in Sumba Ogi was keen and very happy to visit the Stella Maris Kang Guru Connection Club. The last part of her trip was to Bima in Sumbawa to see the work of WSLIC 2 and to visit students.Travel Report from Ogi 12 May 2005 About 10am I was off to Maumere by Merpati. Surprisingly the flight
was on time. My first visit to Maumere was back in 1996 so I felt excited
to see Maumere again and the development of the town. And I always admired
the bougainvillea flowers planted nicely along the streets of Maumere.
My second appointment was to visit Radio SONIA FM. I asked the same ojek to take me to SONIA FM and this time he knew the place very well. My impression was that SONIA FM is a popular radio because people know it well. I even saw some banners of the radio up on the streets about the English competition for SMA students that the radio held recently. Pak Kornel, the manager and his staff were there to great me. Pak Kornel then told me about the English competition that went successful and thanked KGRE for the support we gave.
I started the day early to continue my trip to Ende.Pak Manus, the driver told me that the trip normally takes about 4 hours. I had an appointment with NTT-PEP at 1pm so we left Maumere before 7am. It was a very interesting tripand I asked driver to stop now and there so I could take some pictures of the scenery. We arrived in Ende at about 12pm but we couldn't find hotel Flores where I had made reservation. So Pak Manyus asked his friend at Hotel Mentari to show us the location. But I was shocked seeing the condition of the hotel even from the outside. I was very sure the hotel would fall down very soon and no wonder we couldn't find it because there is no sign and it doesn't look like a hotel at all. I know only two hotels in Ende which are in good condition - Hotel Mentari and Hotel Safari but they were both fully occupied. I felt a little panic and asked Pak Manyus to find me another hotel. We traveled around but couldn't find any until Pak Manus's friend mentioned about Hotel Dwi Putra. Luckily there were two rooms available.Then I got myself ready and then off to NTT-PEP office. Pak Manyus was happy to take me to the NTT-PEP office on his way back to Maumere.What a long journey for him, driving for 10 hours in one day.I wished him well. Soon I met Bonny, who actually had visited KGRE office two weeks before my visit to Ende. She then introduced me to all staff of NTT-PEP. Bonny and Yusup (or known as G'penk) are the radio technical officers at NTT-PEP. They produce weekly radio program from their tiny little studio which is surprisingly much smaller than KGRE's studio in Denpasar. Then Ibu Louise filled me with information about the work the partnership has been developing on teaching aids for schools. NTT-PEP has many workshops and seminars held regularly and I had the opportunity to meet Prof Dr. Bambang Soepeno, M.Pd. He is the System Support Adviser of the Partnership who was conducting workshop on 'Pengawas Sekolah'. Pengawas sekolah is part of school based management which is currently introduced and implemented at schools.
My next visit was to RRI Ende but we had to drop Bonny at the office because G'penk rang her saying that there were some problems with one of the interview files. Pak Boy Massie, the Head of RRI Ende, and his staff welcomed me and there were some SMP students already waiting at the studio. RRI Ende had invited teachers and students of SMP 2 Ende to come to the station and met KGRE.
I knew later on that the private stations are normally 'on air' from 6 - 12am/13pm and then back 'on air' again from 5pm to 11/12pm. I only met Ari, one of the presenter who was preparing his program. Later that night Pak Ilyas Paul Salo, the manager of the station visited me at the hotel. He informed that KGRE program was still being broadcast and response from listeners were still good.
By 2pm I was at the Ende airport and was sure that there would be a delay because I didn't see any plane there. People told me that the situation was very common and still it was only one hour delay. I arrived in Waingapu at 4pm and soon went to RPD Waingapu. The radio station, RPD Waingapu, wasn't 'on air' until 5.30pm and that day was the broadcast time for KGRE program. Emi, the presenter, had organized a meeting with listeners but unfortunately she found out that students were having exams the next day so not many people could come. However I met very keen listeners and supporters of KGRE. Shanty, an SMP student and the big fan of KGRE, said that she always enjoyed reading the magazine but it's very difficult for her to understand the radio program. Pak Timothius, a retiree, was very fond of KGRE. He said he's been waiting for a reply letter from Capt. KGRE for his previous letter. During the meeting there were about three phone calls saying that they could not come to meeting because they had examinations the next day.Later that evening we went to old sea port and ate ikan bakar together. We discussed the possibility of forming an English club. Pak Melky, an old friend of KGRE and also an English teacher at SMP 2 Waingapu, met me at the hotel. He's been very interested to organize a teacher workshop for his fellow teachers in Waingapu. He's hoping to do it in September this year. I then continued my trip to Waikabubak. Another interesting trip but I didn't expect there would be problem with accommodation again. I had made a reservation at Hotel Artha weeks before only to be told that the hotel was full. I wasn't in the mood to argue with the hotel staff so asked driver to find me another hotel. Om Agus then took me to Hotel Manandang which was a nice hotel and got a good room. Ibu Lina and Pak Amos from Yayasan Pakta who works with ACCESS project came to see me at the hotel and we discussed about tomorrow's trip to desa Weepangali.
On the way back to Waikabubak we stopped at Waikelo Beach which was also the sea port of the area and I was amazed seeing thousands of bananas being transported to big ferries. To be taken to Bima, they said. I continued my travel to Bima by taking a Merpati flight from Tambolaka. I didn't know that there is small airport in this area. But the small Merpati flight with propellers made me scared. I kept looking at the propellers just to make sure they didn't stop. I arrived in Bima and when I was in my taxi I was surprised when police were stopping all cars and motors to check on vehicle's documentation and drivers' license. I found out later on that there were even more police in town.It's just so weird seeing how often police did this in almost all streets. People told me that the stealing of motorbikes had been rampant lately and that's why police tighten controls on the streets.
Bayu said that he read that Australia helps Indonesia not only in education but also on health and women's empowerment and others. "Why Australia do this?", he asked. Quite honestly I answered that Australia knows that Indonesia has many problems and more than happy to help. It is also because Australia wants to see Indonesia as a strong, prosperous and united country. It was really great meeting them and Innah informed me just last week that following the broadcast of KGRE at Radio Suara Hidayatullah in Bima, they have formed an English clubs. We would like to welcome them to the KGCC network soon.
School visits - SMP 2 Bima was wonderful.The principal, Pak Mansur Dahlan, spoke English and the students were very keen. TV Bima, a local tv station, even did a coverage of the visit and they interviewed me later on. Some of them have known about KGRE for years but unfortunately never made contact with KGRE and now they wanted to get magazine especially again after seeing the new edition of KGRE magazine. It was the end of my travel and I was back in Bali again before noon. I would really like to thank many KGRE friends in the area who had made my visits successful.
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