Kang GURU Travels to Genteng — January, 2007

by Sue Rodger

I ride a motorbike twenty kilometers to work every day and home again and don't have time to look at the scenery. So being driven to Genteng by Supadi, the IALF driver, was a real treat. The scenery from Denpasar to Gilimanuk was lovely, lush green rice fields and mountains topped by wispy white clouds. It was hard to believe the journey took almost four hours. The ferry crossing went smoothly and the journey to Genteng took about an hour.

After settling in at my hotel I met Pak Dwi and Mr John Rollings and we drove out to check the venue for the workshop. At University Ibrahimy there was a workshop in progress and the sound system appeared to be working well as people waiting in the car park could also hear what the presenter was saying! We checked the room for tomorrow and I informed the committee of my requirements. The chairs were to be set out in equal numbers as the participants were going to work in pairs. I like to use a whiteboard for important information and a table to display the teacher packages. It is important that the committee members are active and help Kang GURU, organizing the venue so that the workshop can run smoothly.

Then we went to Pondok Pesanten Bustanul Makmur to check the preparations for the planned Australia Day celebrations on Friday. Everything there was under control too. Next we went to visit Radio Gandrung about 8 kilometers away. The drive was through pretty villages and rice-fields. At Radio Gandrung I met a few presenters and of course took some photos. The radio station was in the process of making the antenna higher so that even more people would be able to listen to their shows, including KGRE. I was introduced to some trainee presenters who were attending a training session at the station.

The next day we went straight to the workshop and I was surprised that there were about 120 participants. It is great to see so many eager teachers but it did cause a slight problem because KGRE had only packed materials for the 80 participants who had registered before the cut off date. Unfortunately some teachers had to miss out on a few of the KGRE materials. There were a few problems with the sound system too. It was unable to select track numbers on the CD. This problem was eventually fixed but the workshop didn't run as smoothly as it could have. KGRE doesn't require sophisticated equipment but it does ask the committee provide a working CD or cassette player in the room where the workshop is taking place. The teachers were very accepting of these problems and enjoyed the workshop very much. They were active and took part in all the activities with a great deal of enthusiasm. Thank you very much to Pk Andes Haji Nur Hadi, the head of DIKNAS, Kiaj Muwafiq Amir of Pondok Pesantren Bustanul Makmur and Pk Haji Wahid of the Yayasan and of course Dwi, John Rollings and the other members of the committee for all their hard work. Thanks too to Pk Dwi at the keyboard and Pk Tato for his beautiful singing before the workshop began.

After the workshop I met with some students and I was impressed not only with their high standard of English, but also by the quality of the questions they had prepared. Two of the girls were to be the MC's at the Australia Day celebrations while another was going to present tips on how to make new friends. Thanks Nila Anggar, Siti Badriyah and Nella Kandy Regaliya.

That evening I went to the village of Temurejo to see some traditional dancing. People in this area celebrate the Muslim New Year with up to 12 consecutive days of singing and dancing. The dancers had been trained by Inam, one of the English teachers at the workshop, and were aged from five to fourteen. I stayed for approximately two hours and saw a variety of traditional dances, heard some up-and-coming teenage singers and some more sedate gamelan. Unfortunately I had to leave before the wayang puppet show took place.

The next morning at 7am it was back to Bustanul Makmur for me to join staff and students for some Australia Day celebrations. A group of boys opened the event with some rhythmic hadrah playing and this was followed by the Gandrung dance. Then Pak Tato sang both the Indonesian and Australian national anthems again accompanied by Pak Dwi. These were followed by various acts such as traditional dancing by children in fantastic costumes, a brilliant mime performance, singing and some more modern group dancing by students. There was of course an Australia Quiz, organized by John with some fantastic Aussie prizes. Several students sang some modern songs and Eric from Denmark taught everyone to sing ‘My bonny lies over the ocean.’ The highlight of the day for me was a wayang performance in English by Pak Sugiono with just two puppets, a father and child. At the closing ceremony Kiaj Muwafiq Amir was presented with an Aussie cap which he proudly wore. Finally the event ended at about 11 0 clock and I met with members from a KGCC from Jember before heading back to Bali.

We drove about one hour back to Banyuwangi where I met Pak Bowo from Radio Habibulloh. He gave me a tour of the radio station and introduced me to Pak Herdi Rajendra, the general manager of the station. We also chatted about how to improve the interactive show he presents after KGRE each week. He told me that the show might change to an evening time-slot so he hoped more listeners would phone in. after a few photos I left Banyuwangi and we drove to the ferry. By the time we reached Denpasar I could hardly keep my eyes open. What an amazing number of things I had experienced so close to home! Thank you to everyone I met and I hope to see you all again one day.