Everybody Happy

Cita - likes being photographed
Waterfall
Central mountains - Java
a Laundry in Jogyakarta

28 April


After months of unremitting hedonistic joy riding on the bike, taking pictures, meeting people and being the centre of attention suddenly there is much to do – writing a final report on my project, arranging tickets, preparing farewell speeches and so on.

On the project everyone is happy, the village have five new houses that they would not otherwise have and financed by a grant 13million Rupiahs more than originally asked for, VSO are happy that that they can show they have spent the donor’s money before the ‘spark’ scheme closes down in a few days and the volunteer is happy to have had a six month holiday meeting so many good people and experiencing a very different life and landscape to that he was familiar with.

At the laundry Thomas and Alice have gone for the nuclear option – buying a tumble drier to speed their service and avoid the bottleneck caused by waiting for clothes to dry. It seems that an uncle may be able to join them and provide help, delaying the need to take on paid staff to keep up with the ever-expanding number of customers. Personally I still cannot see it working out but if determination (or is it desperation?) and hard work count for anything then perhaps they will win through – I hope so, they surely deserve to.

My final leaving party is on Sunday night, mostly other volunteers notably the effervescent Eunice from Kenya also just finishing her placement, the ever cheerful and good cook Athena from the Philippines and the new guy, Raymond an ecologist from Kenya. Antok, a student teacher from the village has promised to come, as has Santrika formerly a waitress at the Saphir hotel (although in her case only after being reassured by Alice that I was quite harmless).

I’ve had a new haircut for the leaving do’s and a final trip up country into the forested hills beyond the Progo river – all in the pouring rain up and down narrow tracks to a farmers HQ building in the middle of a forest where the third anniversary (well 1000 days) of someone’s death was being commemorated in the traditional manner.

The end of more than one world

Meeting in office


Girls at watercourse


Big Man, Big Bike

17 April


Resistance to the provision of kitchen areas and toilets for the five vso houses continues, not of course from the intended recipients but by the builder in chief Bapak Ratiman whose own new house nearing completion must surely be the biggest in the village and one of only a handful with enough confidence in their construction to rise two stories high. Following a confrontation with him I had a word with Pak T.O. who arranged a meeting with Ratiman and the reconstruction team. I waited in case called upon, in the veranda outside the office where I could hear the discussion, which was inevitably in the Javanese language so quite meaningless to me. At all events Ratiman appeared to leave the meeting a very unhappy man so we wait to see the consequences. Mind you, a delegation led by T.O. has now gone to Bali for a vso/spark meeting and could be doing some lobbying – I hope Lily at HQ keeps me informed.

On the star-ship Enterprise there is a rule about not getting involved with life on other planets, simply to study it, record it then go home. With vso I guess there is a deliberate attempt to get involved, sharing knowledge and skills but there is much to be said for not getting too involved for everyone’s sake. As with China I have effortlessly been able to ignore the beggars at the traffic lights and in the shopping streets, telling myself that they are part of another world and I should not be involved. These thoughts all arise from a looming disaster at the laundry, not from original doubts about being able to attract enough customers but from the technical limits of how many customers can be dealt with. At present there is a bottle neck caused by the time taken to dry clothes between the washing machine and the ironing table, a tumble drier would solve that problem, with the next problem probably being the time needed for ironing and packing. Hurried calculations suggest that the income necessary to pay for the lease and all the essential outgoings cannot realistically be achieved by the next big payment date in October and to save for it they need 2 or 3 times their present takings before even paying for food and running expenses. They are considering the tumble drier option but it looks unlikely and it may prove better to agree with the landlady a departure date before October by which time other employment may have been found but we will see.

So, on to Senang Hati, the residential disabled training centre in Bali where they are asking me to visit and advise on their planned new buildings. Advice remains easy, it’s the consequences that can bite you in the bum, but the offer to visit Senang Hati again is too great to refuse so I am likely to call in on my way to catch my flight back to England (not that vso have managed to arrange the tickets yet or even the malaria tablets which are about to run out)

So now I have very mixed feelings about my departure and am drawing up a list of things that must be done (closing the bank account, sorting the vso property, composing a farewell speech etc) and things I would like to do (try to get up close to Merapi again, see the bamboo cabins I was involved with and so on)

Maybe only one more report from Java – its hard to believe, sad but inevitable, I should be old enough and wise enough by now not to get emotional at such a time but some people never grow up.

Pictures....

Country roads

road out of Mandungan village, Java

Singer at village Wayang shadow puppet show night

pretty girl

Padi fields in the village

No-one expects the Inquisition

10 April 2007

The day started off quietly enough with my making a tour of the five vso houses – three have now got their roofs tiled but none are finished and still no sign of toilets, kitchens or doors. Window frames are in place but checking the priced specification there appears to be no allowance for casements or glazing so we may have to live without that luxury.

Arriving back at the office I find Athena, acting as interpreter for Leny – an investigator for vso and David from Spark, both of whom have been charged with checking out the results of the Spark funding programmes before they are wound up at a conference in May. Pak T.O. needs little encouragement to detail the history and evolution of his organization IPPHTI, its structure, objectives, goals and achievements. Leny for her part is keen to delve into the details of the organization – its policies on gender, education and its workings with universities and government departments. T.O. responds in kind without faltering, giving the impression of Mandungan as the centre of the universe, resisting attempts by national government to tempt IPPHTI into a ministry compound, and providing training over a few weeks for farmers that would take years in a university.

Eventually we get to my housing project where the involvement of vso was candidly explained by T.O. as being at the insistence of Spark as the only way that the wanted finance would be made available. Leny clarified that the volunteer was being fully financed by vso so at no cost to IPPHTI. Going into details of the benefits accruing from the project T.O. postulated that the Spark finance had persuaded the government to come up with its own grant proposals that are funding 62 houses in the village. He confidently predicted completion by the 27th of April (I could offer to eat my hat at this point) and described the selection process for the recipients of the Spark houses, families with small children living with relations as a result of the earthquake but ineligible for the government money (forgetting the middle aged bachelor who is getting the largest of the houses). An opportunity to view the houses lapses as Leny delves ever deeper into the project and its comparison with other villages in the district. As expected T.O. never falters – always a positive response backed up with anecdotes and other examples. No mention is made though of the five house financed by the banks or the 20+ bamboo houses/kitchens provided by the Red Cross.

Arrangements for the next meeting with another organization (the one Athena works for) have not been finalised and the Spark chap seems reluctant to phone or text them (maybe from his experience with Leny’s interrogative technique?). Eventually they announce that they will return to their hotel and meet the next victims tomorrow following which they would hope to return to the village to see the Spark houses in the flesh. Unless the meeting fails to take place I can’t see this happening but I text Athena to let me know if they set off from Jogya in the morning so I can be prepared.

I’ve managed, I think to retrieve a number of my photographs so that they are transferable to other computers but will have to test it on Thomas and Alice’s machine before celebrating and working on the bulk of the pictures. Also I create an Excel document draft with charts for the laundry – Thomas is sure to vastly improve on it but at least it keeps me thinking that I’m not totally past it!

There is time for a speedy m’bike trip down the road to the supermarket for some milk, cooking oil and mosquito tablets before sunset and fortunately avoiding the threatened rain. Dinner, French fried bread with cheese and green beans is followed by another lost game of chess with Diko, one of the agriculturalists left over from last weeks conference. No word yet from vso in Bali about the further drugs I need for my extended stay nor about any revised flights home booked for May but I’ll check out my emails at the wi-fi place on the main road in the morning.

Extended sentence, no remission

Old Smokey Merapi again from the village and local 'Morris' type folk dancers at the village rice festival

2 April 2007

Inevitably we have not completed any new houses, let alone the five that were promised by the end of March – partly due my not getting accommodation in the village for the first seven weeks and partly the relaxed “elastic time” which is intrinsic to the local culture. So we are given another month to finish the job or lose the grants offered. Yours truly is persuaded, without a great deal of difficulty to stay on in the heat with my camera and m’bike.

The village itself is alive with seminars, conferences and celebrating rice growing and organic farming in Southeast Asia with delegates from Malaya, Thailand the Philippines and NGOs around the planet. Karaoke tonight and with ethnic music and dancing tomorrow. Bapak T.O., my ‘employer’ is in his element – organising, lecturing, acting as master of ceremonies – all done effortlessly and with the authority of an old professional.

Opening events here apparently have to be called “soft openings” and require a religious blessing if possible and so it was with the new Hazel Laundry of Thomas and Alice on Saturday night. The priest was not available (given only two hours notice) but Alice had spent the day cooking in the kitchen borrowed from the next door café and helped by Anthea with some Philippine dishes. The “joiner” had been working for two days with some sub-standard materials and his tools, one rusty saw and one hammer to build an ironing table and desk, all held together with nails, no glue or jointing. He nevertheless achieved much more than the equally rough stuff you can buy on the streets at twice his price. Sawdust swept aside, vinyl sheet laid over the bare concrete entrance area and with tables and stools from the café things are rapidly transformed to a party setting ready for the first guests. VSO friends, Tito and old Papuan friends of Thomas along with the ethnic Chinese landlady who lives in the other half of the building and oyher new neighbours – a bloke from the telecom business opposite, a retired air force man and a Harley Davidson leather jacketed antique dealer. Apologies from the local ‘dukuh’- community leader who is working evenings but a handful of students from local hostels. Everybody seems to get on well together and enjoy the feast with the beer hidden away till later in the evening when the grownups have left – I’ll see if I can post some photos of the occasion. Tito is still having to work on my laptop’s picture capabilities and my photo editing suite has been lost to the virus attack and will have to wait for my return to the uk for reinstallation. The young female students are keen to try out their English language on me but are more interested in my unmarried offspring than in me – such is life! I stay the night with Alice and Thomas insisting I use their bed while they bunk down an a small borrowed mattress in the shop area.