Kang GURU Travels to Makassar/Selayar -2007

In late November, Maggie flew to Makassar for Kang Guru teacher activities there and had hoped to continue onto the nearby Selayar Islands. Many thanks to BAKTI in Makassar and to the Metro School re. the teacher workshop - well done! Apologies to Pak Fadhli in Selayar as the flight to the islands was cancelled. Maggie was unable to get there this time. Let's try again in 2008.

Despite a 2 hour delay at Nghurah Rai airport in Bali, the flight to Makassar was smooth and pleasant. The usual half hour trip from the airport at Makassar turned into an hour and a half trip because of the road works being carried for the new toll road.

Nursiah, from the Metro School Makassar, and one of the committee organizing the Kang Guru Teacher Workshop, waited patiently at the hotel until I finally arrived. We went straight to the BAKTI centre to check the venue and arrange the chairs into group formation for the workshop. It was to be held in the Alison Sudradjat room at the Bakti centre .

The KGRE workshop No 2 was for SMP and SMA teachers who had previously participated in KGRE Workshop 1. There were 33 participants who all took part enthusiastically in all the tasks and games.

The next day I was picked up by Pak Syahrir, a Kang Guru Champion who took me to visit SMKN 8, Makassar. The principal, Ibu Siti Saenab, explained the different departments in this award winning school.

The school offers Culinary Arts, Fashion Design, Hotel and Restaurant programe and a Make Up course. While we were talking to Ibu Siti, some of the Culinary Arts students served us with some coffee and delicious cakes the cooking department had just made.

SMKN 8 has an excellent record of achievement and graduates have gone on to win awards in prestigious Indonesian and international establishments such as Savoy Hotel in London. SMKN 8 works with local and overseas industry partners including Singapore, Malaysia and the UK and Charles Darwin University in the Northern Territory.

There are currently 680 students doing a variety of courses including the 3 year full time course. The most popular course at the moment is the Hotel and Restaurant course where most graduates find work in the hospitality industry. Graduates from the Clothing and Beauty course usually start their own businesses in the home industry sector.

Ibu Siti took us on a guided tour of the Culinary Arts departments and then to the Clothing and Beauty department.

All the trainees in the Clothing and Beauty department go through a series of courses including, pattern making and cutting, drawing and design PHOTO:DESIGN and finally sewing where they use industrial machines.

One student with a great future ahead of her is Lutviani.

She is a 14 year old,1 st year design student from Manar in West Sulawesi. She has always loved art and really likes classical designs. She finds trendy clothing too uncomfortable as the styles rae too tight and make her look to skinny. She finds classical lines more flattering. Her favourite fabric is cotton because it is so cool. She really believes that people should only wear natural fibres in the tropics because ethey are so cool and comfortable.

After that really interesting visit where I saw some design students working on some original designs we had a quick look at the Hospitality section where some students were doing their final exam in Hotel Front Office Management. I pretended to be a guest and the student did a really professional job of checking me in. I hope she received a good grade !

Next up was a live- to -air interview with RRI Makassar where Pak Syahrir is a presenter. Ibu Siti was interviewed about her school and I was interviewed about my ideas on fashion and design.

After that, Nursiah picked me up and took me to the Metro School where she is the Pricipal . All the lessons from SK to SD are conducted in English. We enjoyed a really delicious lunch of the Makassan specialty..Coto Makassar… before racing to the airport for the flight back to Bali. A great trip and sincere thanks to all those who helped make the trip so enjoyable.