Info workshop to village women’s group

Yesterday I joined my coworker Didi and one of the PKBI nurses on a little outing to a women’s group meeting for our Global Comprehensive Abortion Care Program.  After all the women’s meetings I have been involved in, and since this one was held at a district office near my house, I wasn’t surprised to see more than a handful of familiar faces and even more warm welcomes as the buleh girl was more presented, rather than introduced to the group.  At events like this that reach into the community it is really interesting for me to see how grassroots education is carried out.  Whether it is our staff that holds seminars in community offices or our cadre of female community leaders that we educate on sexual and reproductive health issues and they then disperse this knowledge to village women, both are aimed to improve health at the local level through awareness and prevention.   

This day our info workshop included two presentations, one focusing on pap smears and the other on unwanted pregnancy.  It seemed like the women are genuinely interested in learning but I wonder how greatly the information affects their behavior.  I say that because the woman who was sitting to me (also my neighbor and Sumi’s sister in-law) is 34 with children and she told me she has never gotten a pap smear because she is afraid!  She accepts the fact that it is important for her health, she can afford it, and her close family member works at a clinic were they are offered so it seems obvious... but then again, Sumi has not yet had one either because she is not married.  My change-seeking self is anxious about this and I believe we may need a more vigorous approach since our clinic only gave 120 pap smears this past year from women coming in on their own.

The coldest Christmas I could wish for!

I returned yesterday from spending another long holiday weekend seeing a different part of Sumatra.  This weekend I joined a small team from my office to go give building construction aid in Kerinci, the mountainous western part of Jambi province that was most affected by last fall’s earthquake.  The 12-hour drive there covered roads that would in other countries be considered impassable but we did our best to sleep through the bumps.  After a few hours we got into the mountains and as my coworkers started bundling up exclaiming, “Dingin! Dingin!” I felt energized by the cool, fresh mountain air that never makes its way down to Jambi.

Upon arrival to the area’s main town Sungaipenuh (Full river), we went to survey the town we knew had suffered the most damage during the earthquake, Desa Lolo Kecil (Little Lolo Village).  I don’t know if I was surprised that houses still had not been repaired since the Sept 30^th earthquake, or that I had never seen earthquake damage in an already poor area, but it was a sad sight.  In between the visibly nicer houses that didn’t display any cracks, were the many brick houses of the village’s poor that had crumbled into bare house frames and corrugated iron roofs, the crumbled bricks still littering around and inside the house.  And what I at first thought were just work sheds turned out to be the “temporary” houses of these people.  Constructed from plywood, sheets of bamboo and about the size of one normal room, numerous families had set up a new life immediately next to the crumbled leftovers, some still housing the families cooking area and laundry lines hung under the roof; at least the leftovers served as shelter from the rain if it couldn’t be lived in.

The purpose of our trip was to find a worthy cause and recipients for a small chunk of money we had been given from donors in America to help survivors of the earthquake.  While several local NGOs had already given attention to the village of Lolo Kecil, which suffered the worst in Kerinci with 130 houses at least partly damaged, international NGOs do not seem to have expanded their aid work from Padang to Kerinci, and plenty of victims are still homeless.  After surveying the area on our own, our little team met with the village secretary (since the village head was out we would meet with him the next day but Indonesia has no end to levels of even local community bureaucracy so there were even positions lower we could have seen).  He happily encouraged our plan to help locals purchase building supplies and soon another NGO worker in the area came to join us and discuss the current situation.  We eventually decided the most effective way we could distribute our limited resources would be to focus it on the five most needy families.  So the next day after meeting with the village head, and in a room full of village men and kretek smoke, the details were hammered out and he expressed his sincere appreciation.  With representatives from each of the families (there was much debate about the time for the meeting because the men headed out to the fields early so it turned out to be mostly women there), a small ceremony transferred the money over to the village leadership who will facilitate the families’ purchase of materials and support the building process.

Despite much mention of Christmas this weekend our trip felt very much in the Christmas theme and it was eye-opening to see how these people have handled their suffering as a community.  Of course there was still a fun element to the trip:

Touring the region’s rolling hills of tea plantations with Mt. Kerinci (highest peak in Sumatra) in the background

Critical group discussion and consensus building over selection of the best durian

Enjoying a jalan santai (relaxed walk) through the village with a group of curious children following the strange buleh

Small steps

Now back from Jakarta, I have enjoyed reconnecting with my coworkers this week and even though it is a short one with Christmas coming up, it has been happily eventful.  The work theme for Monday leaned more towards play than work in the office since SIKOK recently acquired a complete band set.  The idea for this being that youths in the community can come play with the instruments as an alternative to trouble making and unhealthy activities.  Still, the intended purpose did not keep this silly group of coworkers from getting out the guitars themselves and creating a make believe band that we could all participate in with our previous musical skills, i.e. SIKOK director on vocals, flamboyantly gay coworker #1 on the piano, flamboyantly gay coworker #2 on the drums, and me on the viola.  Of course, we still had to prepare for Tuesday’s big HIV/AIDS event when the fun was over.

Tuesday came and the event was a creative mix of activities to (try to) keep the attending civil servants awake and increase public attention to the issues of HIV/AIDS, drug use, and the lives of waria (transgendered) in Jambi.  The program included several documentaries (one directed by aforementioned flamboyantly gay coworker #1), a skit by local high school students, and a discussion with a panelist of experts from CSOs, the Jambi Health Department, Jambi University, and the National AIDS Commission.

After lunch we came back to the office and I joined the director Helfi during a GCAC (Global Comprehensive Abortion Coverage) meeting.  One key element of this program is a group of women cadre who PKBI instructs on reproductive issues and facilitates their distribution of birth control and information about family planning to local women.  Well, the day before I had been chatting with Helfi about reproductive health challenges and needs here in Jambi and it came up that housewives are often too busy to remember to take the pill regularly, resulting in unwanted pregnancies that create larger families and burden their already challenging lives.  Hearing that, I realized I could pass on a tip from my college friends (and probably most American women) that it helps to set a daily alarm on your cell phone for when you want to take the pill so it is easy to remember.  It seems like no one at PKBI had ever thought of this and I knew it would be easy to implement with the excessive cell phone usage here (people often have up to three cell phones and are constantly connected to all of them).  So that afternoon at the GCAC meeting Helfi brought up this idea to the cadre and as the women smiled, nodded and noted the idea down I was extremely pleased to see its reception as a new idea to help family planning efforts.

The Big City

Since my favorite immigration officials have had their zealous way with my passport for the past five months, I had to spend last Thursday morning at the U.S. Embassy getting extra pages added to it.  While I used to get the common traveler thrill from watching the stamps accumulate in my passport, documenting my explorations, I now look at this little blue book as a remembrance of government bureaucracy and unnecessary stress.  Only one more trip to the Jambi immigration office and then it will be off to Kuala Lumpur to really extend the visa!

Regardless, after that I used the rest of the day to explore Jakarta a bit.  A visit to the National Monument became necessary once I heard that the museum at its base was completely government slanted. 

And it was true.  The timeline of Indonesia’s history that was provided breezed over the tumultuous events of 1965, stated that because Indonesia “faced enemies from outside, it was very difficult to accomplish elections” (this during decades of authoritarian rule), and contradictorily claimed Indonesia “liberated” Papua “by force” after "efforts to claim Papua back through negotiations or the UN were not successful."  The entire timeline ended with a confusing avowal to the “role of the Catholic Church in Indonesia’s independence movement,” (remember this country is almost 90% Muslim). 

After this entertaining experience I walked to the National Museum that actually had a fairly interesting ethnography section on the different island people and cultures that make up Indonesia.  Later I found that Jakarta actually has an aesthetically pleasing neighborhood, maybe because it is reminiscent of European architecture, but the old Dutch quarters of Jakarta had a pleasant public square (with museums I plan to see on my next visit) and a moat lined with old buildings.  The loads of trash in the river, however, quickly dispelled any true hopes for the area.  It is still Indonesia.

The highlight of my time in Jakarta began with an exciting taxi ride (splurge!) through the bright lights, sky risers and fancy shopping centers of downtown Jakarta.  After my months in little old Jambi, this overload to my senses and idea of reality in Indonesia left me in a happy sense of shock as the taxi dropped me off in front of one of the fancy sky risers.  A former coworker at the State Department had put me in touch with a friend at the US Embassy in Jakarta and this very friendly woman had offered me a place to stay.  I have only been out of the US for 7 months now but I think the state of dizzy giddiness I experienced upon entering her apartment, which was nice even for American standards, was due to the complete immersion I have undergone in Jambi.  We chatted over wine and cheese before getting dinner and I took a shower in the fancy marble bathroom about as big as the room I was sharing with four women at the conference.  Oh the little things seem so big sometimes!  The next morning I still had this luxurious American life feeling when I saw a Starbucks at the airport and treated myself to one of the holiday lattes.

Well it is back to reality now in Jambi I am back at work and getting serious about grant writing before my next vacation starts in a couple weeks!

What's wrong with this photo?

It is pretty clear this is a women-only event when jilbab'ed women
have taken over the men's bathroom.

Papua comes alive on Day 5

I joined the last half-day of the conference not because I expected to hear anymore interesting subjects debated, but did not want to miss my last chance to talk with the women delegates.  I am glad I came because I had the most interesting- and intense because it was all in Bahasa- discussion with the two delegates from Papua.  Once I learned they were from Timika, the site of controversial copper and gold mining company Freeport, I struggled to pace the deluge of questions that aroused in me.  Listening to this aged woman opine about the current state of native Papuans, I learned about the positives and negatives of Freeport’s presence in Papua (significant assistance to public health and education vs. vast destruction of forests and pollution), the widespread discrimination against native Papuans by police and Indonesians who have moved to Papua, the lack of jobs for natives because of this influx, the pervading poverty in those communities, and the incredibly high rate of HIV/AIDS that she emphasized with a story about a three-year-old girl she knows with the virus.  When I told her that I worked for a family planning NGO in Sumatra I was abashed at her immediate refusal, declaring that ‘Papua doesn’t need family planning, give it to Java and Sumatra, but our population is almost gone.’  This angry plea was enough to make clear the situation faced by Papuans; it’s desperate.

Despite the tone of the conversation, it also turned out that our presence sitting next to each other happened to be a gold mine for the photo-zealous delegates, and they did not hesitate to repeatedly weasel in around use and force smiles (or if you notice from the photo below, only I bowed to those requests).  Our presence in Jakarta was equally foreign.  I think it is the only posed photo I got on my camera during the whole conference, I wanted to remember her after that conversation.  There is another branch of the Indonesian Planned Parenthood Association on Papua and I never know when I may have the opportunity to travel there.

Koalisi Perempuan Indonesia Congress Day 3

After my third non-stop day with this massive conglomeration of women I decided to take advantage of the free (and spacious) room and board of Rumah VIA, VIA's office in Jakarta.  It turned out to just take a quick ojek and train ride to get in to the city, during which I was surprised to see how good it felt to be back on a motorbike after three days without, usually such a central part of my daily life!  After a snack and a mandi at Rumah VIA, Sugi, VIA Indonesia's Country Representative, and I went out for coffee and the kind of conversation that is always relaxing: conducted in English.

The next morning I left Rumah VIA planning to return for the start of the Congress' morning activities.  However, due to the fact I didn't really know my way back or the name of my destination train it took more than the 45 min it had the day before.  After a three trains (one of which I didn't pay for), a successful disagreement in Indonesian with a train conductor who tried to grossly overcharge me, and a couople sly sneaks past ticket checkers, I finally found my way back to the lovely Graha Instan Cita conference complex.

I arrived to find the extremely vocal and passionate delegates still stuck in a rowdy debate over the organizational issues from yesterday.  With every delegation voicing their opinions on the Congresses' report it lasted longer than scheduled, but it was encouraging to see how actively involved everyone was and their commitment to democratic procedures.  After lunch I joined the breakout session on Political Recommendations and listened to the women discuss what policy changes they wanted to see in the fields of education, sexual and reproductive health, human trafficking, women and climate change, and womens' political participation and empowerment to leadership positions.

The delegates voting on additions to the conference report.  The consensus building really pushed this process into overtime.

The Indonesian league of women

When my boss first invited me to the Koalisi Perempuan Indonesia (Indonesian Women’s Coalition) Congress to be held in Jakarta, I eagerly accepted the opportunity to attend and witness this culminating moment in Indonesia’s women empowerment movement.  However, ss I have come to expect from most Indonesian “outings,” the process leading up to our arrival unfolded with many twist and turns, the question over the capacity of my attendance, the last minute travel information and preparations, and the crack of dawn flight that brought me and the other 35 participants from Jambi to the conference.  While I should not have been too surprised, when our bus turned off the main Jakarta freeway and started heading away from the city I became a bit suspicious that things were not going to turn out how I had imagined them.  

The first thing I noticed when we arrived at the conference site was that we were not actually in Jakarta, but in the neighboring city Depok (thus challenging my plans to use this trip for sightseeing).  The second thing I realized was that even though we had arrived at 11am I would not get the rest of the day to explore since our rooms were not yet ready and we ended up using the next five hours to relax inside the complex’s mosque.  No one seemed to mind the wait and I conceded to using the time for nap on the mosque’s carpeted floor.  The third reality check I had was when we did finally get our rooms and I realized that I would literally be bunking with four middle-aged Indonesian women in a room half the size of my bedroom in Jambi.  Even though a mattress and our luggage took up almost all of the floor space, the room still had to have a clean space to serve as their musholla (prayer room).  The real impact of being the minority hit me the first morning when these women all woke up at 4:30am to pray, and then continued to gossip until 6:30am when my alarm went off (not that it was necessary by that point) and it was actually time to get ready.  These close quarters have however revealed more that just these women’s zealous appreciation for morning hours, now I have also seen them all without their jilbabs.  It is difficult to describe the impact of this change when seeing someone you work with everyday suddenly reveal that they have hair!  It is as if they were previously just a mysterious mix of floating faces and colorful cloth and then they transformed into real women that I could imagine at home leading normal lives.

A photo of my close coworkers/friends in their matching purple jilbabs, from the left: Sri, Sumi, Leli, Mirna, and Ade

 

Room photo taken from my top bunk vantage point, note two roomies on the mattress on the floor and one using the left over space to pray.

After the roller coaster of getting here and settled I am truly enjoying the insight I am gaining from this experience.  To my delight, the first main subject on the conference agenda was women’s political participation, a subject I have become more passionate about as I see how disenfranchised women are from leadership positions and in decision-making processes here.  A panel of prominent female politicians and activists spoke on the statistics of women holding congressional seats at the national and provincial level and the small but significant increase in these numbers between the 2004 and 2009 elections.  They also discussed the importance of increased representation and what needs to be done to enable more women to become involved in politics and leadership positions to give a stronger female voice.  The break out session I attended afterwards elaborated on the strategies and goals for women to take a stronger position in policy-making.  It was really inspiring to see so many women coming together to work passionately towards elevating the position of women in society.

It is now the second day of the conference and this morning the discussion is focused on more organizational issues.  My own celebrity should also be mentioned.  Among the 250 representatives from the many islands of Indonesia, I am one of only two foreigners in attendance.  Combine that with Indonesian’s love for photographing themselves, I have starred in probably close to 100 photos already, and it is exhausting.  And relating to exhaustion, there is no coffee for breakfast here!  Only two times a day do they serve excessively sweetened and weak coffee.  It is a rough life when added to my early mornings but the rest of the Jambi group is proud to “have” the buleh in their delegation and I am enjoying this extra bonding time with my coworkers.

Getting to know my local immigration officials

With December 9^th being Indonesia’s Anti-Corruption Day, marked by protests around the country against recent corruption cases, it seemed like a prime time to illustrate my ongoing struggle with corrupt and bureaucratic immigration officials in Jambi.  As I am stilling waiting for my work visa to come through, I have been surviving month to month on a renewable “Sosial Budaya” visa.  This, however, requires a monthly trip to the immigration office where the front desk officials have come to know me well.  They clearly like to make my life, or at least that of my work supervisor who has to accompany me, as hard as possible, with each renewal requiring different forms to fill out, more to photo copy and longer waits.  Each time we going there thinking we are fully prepared from the requests from the last visit (two passport photos, the specific pages of my passport photocopied, my passport, and the letter of support from my organization), they still give us more tasks to complete!  It is evident by their behavior, and comments from others in the waiting room, that just a little bit of money would move the process along much quicker.

After the hassle of this last time I was eventually notified that my passport was ready to pick up so I headed there on my own since my coworkers were busy.  The regular desk officials (who I have come up with some descriptive nicknames) were visibly disappointed that I had not brought my “friend” (I suspect they wanted to hassle as many people as possible) but he handed me the passport with its beautiful brand new stamp nonetheless.  Still smiling, the man shattered my joy and relief by announcing that I needed to photo copy this new stamp for them immediately!  Oh the annoyance I felt but also the sense of freedom that I could just take the passport with its stamp and peace out.  Hoping to discourage this request I began to pretend that I did not know where a photocopy shop was or that I had means to get there.  But this did not persuade him and I think he saw the possibility of me just walking out the door with my passport so he then came out from behind the counter and said he would take me himself. 

Now you may ask, doesn’t the immigration office have its own photocopy machine it could use?  Wouldn’t it then be a waste of both our time to go get a photocopy that was never needed previously?  But no, that sort of practical thinking does not often seem to run through the brains of bureaucrats in Indonesia.  So I jumped on the back of the official’s motor bike (while the parking attendants laughed in amusement, possibly since they had seen me arrive on my own motorbike), and we drove the 50 meters to the photocopy shop that I have visited many times on these monthly trips.

The ironic thing is that I thought I was kind of getting back at the immigration officials by making them take me to complete the last task, them having to exert effort on my behalf finally.  In reality though, I learned that this man was happy enough to spend time with a buleh girl and did not even think twice about wasting his time.  Now I have one more renewal on this epic of a visa experience and next month will have to do a visa run to Singapore or Kuala Lumpur and start the whole process over again.  Oh the corruption, bureaucracy, and inefficiencies here!  And they tell me it is difficult to get a visa to go to the US!

Reality of Indonesia's Democracy

This article follows a lot of what I noticed in the difference between studying Indonesian politics from the US and seeing what the reality is on the ground and how people really feel about their "democracy."  These are the issues that impassion my personal research.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/12/07/the_curious_case_of_indonesias_democracy

Me+blank=laughing Indonesians

I think I could start a series of posts, each elaborating on a different blank that makes my Indonesian neighbors, coworkers, and general observers laugh at me.  This first one at least will cover my experience bicycling.

Those who know me well are familiar with my love for road biking, for being outside it ranks up there with soccer and hiking.  Well, when I first arrived in Indonesia and saw the crumbling roads, the life threatening traffic, and the thick heat, I quickly said goodbye to the possibility of biking for either commuting or exploring.  This changed recently when I discovered an old bicycle in our backyard shed.  I asked the family about it and it turned out to be bapak’s bike that he bought even before Sumi was born (over 33 years ago) and still uses!  I decided to give the antique a try and even though the back tire clanks when I peddle and it is a little too high, I decided I couldn’t not bicycle if I had the option. 

So after choosing 5:30pm as the prime time for biking because the roads are mostly empty with people going home for the evening Muslim prayers, I headed out on my first ride.  Now I thought I was already getting ample attention whenever I ventured around the neighborhood, but I quickly realized that seeing a buleh girl on an old bapak’s bicycle is really out of this world hilarious for my Indonesian neighbors.  Everyone starred, smiled and laughed at me unrelentingly and I got countless thumbs-up from old men walking to the mosque in their sarongs and peci (Muslim cap). 

By the time I got home (to the cheers of “Jeeenny! Jeeeenny!” from the girls across the street) I was in good spirits and ready for my evening mandi.  But before I made it inside, a woman chatting outside with my neighbor announced that she wanted a ride home.  I thought my Indonesian was failing me but sure enough she allowed herself to not exactly hop, as she was on the heavy side, but rather climbed on to theback of my bicycle (the part that is usually used for attaching parcels).  So I swerved and wobbled to her house down the street, working up even more of a sweat, and then was invited inside for a drink and short chat about her kids before I finally headed back home for my refreshing mandi and dinner.

Selling aphrodisiac tea at a store near you...

While looking through photos of my time in Indonesia so far (actually just entertaining a 6 year old girl that hangs out at our office and finds my Bahasa hilarious), I came across one of my documentations of hilarious English usage.  This little phrase was found on top of a stool at a chain coffee shop in Yogyakarta and was accompanied by several other stools with similarly descriptive drink advertisements.  Doesn't it just make you want one?

Indonesian Birthday

As tradition goes in Indonesia, if it is your birthday you are expected to throw your own party for all of your friends or in the grown up world, take all of your coworkers out for lunch.   My 23^rd birthday happened to fall on a Saturday eliminating the option to celebrate at work and I was happy enough to have quiet day with a few friends (while I stressed about how time was passing and there are so many other adventures I want to have!).  We ended up having a really nice time, Carolyn and Sumi’s best friend Yani came over to our house and a woman from the neighborhood came to give us all full body massages.  This turned out to be quite an experience and not at all reminiscent of Thai massages I enjoyed so much a few months ago.  Well, this rather large woman seemed to use the weight of her body to knead my body into mush as she belched a cacophony of burps and other throaty grunts. Indonesians tend to be quite generous publicly with their burping but this woman was over the top to the point they practically echoed.  That may have hindered my relaxation a bit but afterwards we indulged in ice cream we bought from a nearby home industry run by a Chinese family.  Jackfruit is definitely my new favorite ice cream flavor with durian a close second.  Afterwards Carolyn and I took the motorbike to our favorite coffee shop (out of the two that exist in Jambi) for some good pizza and later to a shack on the river’s edge for a few celebratory beers.

Candlelit Stories

Power outages are almost a daily occurrence in Jambi and their regularity has instilled a pattern in life.  If the power goes out around noon I know it will be out for about three hours, leaving me without a fan for the hottest part of the day.  It also regularly goes out at 6pm and then I know it will last for one or maybe two hours.  My family here takes this inconvenience in stride by lighting a few candles and I like to think that I am helping when I loan Sumi my headlamp while we cook dinner in the dark.  Last night with the electricity out, everyone gathered to eat together on the floor in the living room and chat.  Now sometimes I let my mind wander when there are full blown Indonesian conversations going on around me but I guess I am getting a little better at the language and could not help but pick up that Bapak (Sumi’s father) and Sumi’s niece were talking about the Japanese.  This man is 72 years old (and looks even older) so I was extremely interested to hear what he might be saying about back in the day of colonialism.  Quick history: the Dutch maintained colonial rule over Indonesia until 1942 when the Japanese arrived and “liberated” Indonesia, occupying it until their surrender in 1945 (during which time 4 million Indonesians died from famine and forced labor) and Sukarno’s subsequent declaration of Indonesian independence. 

Well tonight Bapak was telling us about life under the Japanese; he was just 7 years old living on Java at the time, but remembers his family reduced to eatting banana skins, grass, and whole cassava plants because they were always hungry under Japan’s harsh rule.  Forced slave labor was rampant then and according to Bapak’s story, his father ran away from the Japanese three times before they finally captured him and put him to work building roads and bridges.  However, even while working for the Japanese there was not any more food.  Then Sumi’s niece Ocha asked if life was harder under the Dutch or the Japanese and he replied that the Dutch were still worse. 

The conversation kind of died there but I was deeply intrigued by this narrative and insight into a history I studied at college.  It is amazing to be living with someone who has lived through colonialism, a courageous and successful independence movement, decades of authoritarian rule, and now democracy.  I would love to learn more from him but will save it for the next “lampu mati” night.

Native Americans to gain in U.S. health overhaul

I was just really happy to read this article and had to share it: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/health/02indian.html?_r=1&hp.  In a way it is related to my NGO's work to bring health care to marginalized populations.

On seeing beautiful Sumatra

While millions of Americans celebrated Thanksgiving last Thursday and enjoyed their four day weekend, here in Indonesia people celebrated Friday’s Idul Adha by killing lots of cows and goats during their slightly shorter three day holiday.  On a last minute spur, Carolyn and I decided to use those days to get out of Jambi for a change.  Judging that a night bus would give us the most waking hours to enjoy our “liburan,” we jumped on a night bus to Bukittinggi in West Sumatra.  Unfortunately that bus was booked full so we resorted to taking a bus headed for Padang and then suffered the 3am rough wake up shake by our bus driver telling us to get out and join the other bus that was also pulled over on the side of the road, that one going to Bukittingi.  We complied and tried to catch a few more hours of sleep in this thankfully less air-conditioned bus.  After the 5am stop to let our fellow travelers pray at a roadside mosque I managed to get an hour’s sleep before we arrived in the hill town of Bukittingi.

Our plan to tour around the quaint city led us to an old hilltop fort used by the former Dutch colonial rulers and then to the saddest zoo I have ever seen on the adjacent hill.  The animals were kept in such poor environments that I don’t wish to describe them, but it still didn’t seem to put off the many families there enjoying their day off.  In the evening we found a café with a nice view of the town, had some good Western fare, and realized we were finally in a town that had more than the four foreigners of Jambi; we saw seven buleh and were so shocked by the sight we just had to stare at them like the Indonesians do to us.

One of the animals kept at the zoo: a seagull

The next morning Carolyn and I caught a bus to Danau Maninjau, a small sleepy town on the edge of lake surrounded on all sides by steep hills.  The scenery was absolutely breathtaking and as our cramped bus descended the 44 switchback turns to the bottom, I realized that this was what I would spend the rest of my year in Indonesia seeking: beautiful, peaceful and remote landscapes.

Our bus headed north along the lake and eventually stopped at a small road sign indicating that we had reached “Arlen’s Beach Paradise.”  The short trek through rice paddies soon opened up to our little piece of lakefront paradise. 

Even though all the cabins were occupied by a noisy group of foreigners on vacation from Pekanbaru, we managed to have a relaxing stay full of swimming, napping in the warm sun on the grassy lawn, eating good food while the rain pattered on the tin roof above us, and laughing at the three local boys swimming that demanded our attention.  To top it all off there was privacy- something almost unheard of for foreigners here and I enjoyed it immensely by reading an entire book.

Well it was a short trip and we headed back to Bukittingi the next day for our return bus that ended up leaving two hours after the time we were told.  This bus ride turned out to be even more miserable as I had an extra friendly male passenger sitting a little too close to me that kept me from sleeping most of the night.  But oh well, you have to be tough here and I am back in Jambi now holding back a desire to swear off night buses and am just looking forward to my next escape to a remote piece of nature.

Journey into the land of palm oil plantations

Since life in Jambi can feel a bit isolated at times with the nearest city being hours away and even farther to a fellow volunteer, I have been taking any opportunity to go on a road trip and see Jambi province outside of the main city.  To be clear, I call basically any kind of trip a road trip here because I am never fully informed as to what the plan is, how long we will be gone or what will be required of me during the trip.  Yesterday posed this kind of opportunity when Sumi and another coworker Dewi had to travel to a different district, Tanjung Jabung Timur, with the ostensible mission of delivering SIKOK’s completed report on their narcotic survey of that district.  We set off on the two-hour drive and I thoroughly enjoyed playing with Dewi’s two-year-old daughter who was also tagging along and watching the rural village scenery pass by.  When most people think of Sumatra, images of jungles, orangutans, and misty volcanoes usually come to mind.  Well the part of Sumatra I live in is quite the opposite.  It is so endlessly flat here on the east side of the mountains that I was abnormally thrilled when we drove through some low hills, and the few forests we came across quickly gave out to palm oil plantations.  I still think the area holds some beauty, if just for its ruggedness, though at times I was reminded of previous trips spent driving through endless cornfields in the Midwest. 

When we arrived at our destination city, the man we were supposed to meet with was not available (sometimes I really doubt that meetings are scheduled even in government offices), so we got an early lunch at a Padang restaurant and stopped at the city’s new mosque for afternoon prayers.  Dewi, who was one of my students in the office English class, used the time to review some of her new vocabulary with me; this included future, past, and present, mosque pronounced as mosk and not mos-ke, and the difference between nurse and breastfeed.

Finally at 2pm we finished the meeting that turned out to be only our first stop and we headed to the local police office.  Sumi wanted to get data on narcotic-related crime in the area but due to the pervasive bureaucratic atmosphere, this took conversations with multiple self-important men in various departments.  I took a break at one point to go find ice cream with Dewi and her daughter.  Meeting up with Sumi post-ice cream, there was one conversation I found particularly amusing because while Sumi was there to discuss a serious issue with the man in charge of narcotics, he kept breaking off their conversation to engage me on unrelated topics.  The first time was the normal, what would you like to drink, tea or coffee?  I expressed that I wanted coffee without sugar, a shocking request for Indonesians who consider “bitter coffee” unpalatable.  He allowed my request after double-checking and then resumed their conversation until he suddenly turned to me and asked what my name and my age were.  This information satisfied him for another five minutes until he decided to grill me about why I don’t like sugar in my coffee, how could I enjoy it?  I just told him my go-to response “This is normal in America” and we made it another five minutes until the next interrogation started over my relationship status, do you have a boyfriend? Do you want an Indonesian boyfriend?  The funny thing is both of these questions always require a careful answer because Indonesians listen intently to my response and it can quickly turn the conversation in an awkward direction.  It is first off strange to them that I am here single, so saying that I don’t want a boyfriend/husband is not acceptable, and refusing the possibility of an Indonesian boyfriend/husband would be rude to them but telling an Indonesian man that I want an Indonesian boyfriend would be too inviting.  So in my basic Bahasa Indonesian I explain that I am still young and only just got here, so maybe later (but when I am feeling lazy and just want a guy to leave me alone I say I am already married to an American man).  Somewhat satisfied with my response, this man thought it would be a good idea though for me to go on the popular Indonesian dating show “Take Her Out!” to find an Indonesian man and got quite excited describing how that experience would go for me.

We finally escaped the police office and I managed to evade all requests for my phone number.  The drive home though wasn’t quite as enjoyable when I started feeling car sick from our driver’s insane driving.  I don’t think that any Indonesians are taught the value of maintaining a steady speed and avoiding swerving into oncoming traffic to get one car ahead.  No one else seemed as concerned about me for our safety and we eventually returned home.

Health situation in Padang

I recently mailed off a few letters of inquiry to request funding for the community based health management program we plan to do in Padang.  Hopefully we can start soon because this article I found shows that they are still really needing a lot of aid.

Alert- fish out of water

I thought I had grown fairly accustomed and accepting of the ubiquitous small animals that appear in odd places, at odd times in my house.  The cockroaches that collect in our mandi (bathroom) at night, the geckos that scurry across the walls and ceiling in abnormally large numbers, the consistent trails of ants, and rats scurrying around outside, not to mention the chickens...  Well the other day I was a little more surprised, however, when a tiny black kitten found its way into my room and hid in the corner while I was sitting reading a book.  I coaxed it outside and had it been a little cleaner would have given it more attention.  But last night I was dumbfounded as I opened the mandi door to go back to my bedroom and there was a fish on the floor in front of me.  I mean a live fish flopping around like it was looking for the river a mile away.  I yelled to Sumi to alert her of the fact that there was a fish on the ground but she did not seem to think it was a big deal, eventually voicing back from her bathroom that it must have jumped out of the bucket.  What bucket? I thought, since when did we have a holding pond in between the kitchen and the bathroom?  There are always a number of buckets there but I was pretty certain we used them to hold extra water for washing dishes when the faucet is turned off.  Apparently not.  Again I was shouted at to just put the fish back into the bucket, but easier said than done.  All the while this fish is still flopping around in circles and disturbing me in my desire to just go to bed.  So I bent over and tried to grab the fish, but of course its slippery skin and surprisingly sharp spines prevented from getting any grip on it.  Last resort, I had no choice but to use the ladle I usually use for bathing to scoop up the fish and put it into the bucket.  I hope it was the right bucket but I think it was since we had fish for dinner tonight.

Durian Party

Thursday morning I set of to work with a somewhat sure plan of what I was going to be involved in that day but it did not take long until any sense of order or control was shaken once again.  One of my coworkers, Dedi, had invited me to visit a friend of his in a nearby district of Jambi called Batanghari.  His friend being the Deputy Bupati (like a deputy mayor) made the trip somewhat of a big deal and kept getting postponed and rescheduled, all with eagerness towards the promise that we would be going to a “durian park.”  So when the day came and I arrived at the office planning to promptly head out, the fact that an unscheduled meeting was beginning to materialize in the conference room made me unsurprised when Sumi said we would be leaving a little later

When the meeting finally came towards a close, the eight of us, including Katie, Carolyn and a few coworkers, packed up into the van and started the hour journey just two hours later than planned.  Even though the plan had been to go directly to our host’s house, with our stomachs grumbling it was decided we would get lunch first before heading to his house.  So after our delicious (and free) lunch we traveled on, visiting our host’s house long enough to make small talk, have a cup of generously sweetened tea and a few awkward silences.  Next, the plan was to go to a durian park, but of course that did not mean that it was nearby so it took us another hour drive, a boat ride across a river, and a modest walk through a traditional, i.e. poor, village and into a forest until we arrived at the anticipated durian park, all the while our group swelling in size as unfamiliar men tagged along also excited about the prospect of eating durian.

The durian park itself turned out to be a small forest with an elevated hut that we were told was used by people to watch out for falling durian to collect.  A picnic table was set up by this hut, and like guests of honor we were seated next to the Deputy Bupati at the head of the table.  When they opened the first durian I made a remark about “durian number one” in Indonesian that received plenty of laughter.  While I made that comment knowing we would be eating a few at this durian party, I was not prepared for the 20 or so durian that were splayed open and laid on the table in front of us with expectant looks and gestures.  Nor was I prepared for the disheveled and loud Indonesian man sitting across from me who every time I looked at him was sucking on yet another durian pit with the white flech of the fruit left marking a ring around his mouth.  I was surprised at myself and a little impressed that I had five whole pieces of this pungent fruit that I am gradually growing to love even though some people may be incredulous at the possibility of that.

Katie, Carolyn and I with the Deputy Bupati gorging ourselves at the Durian Party. 

 

I was instructed to put a chunk of durian fruit into my cup of coffee.  Never thought that the flavor of dark Sumatran coffee could be overpowered so quickly.

The entire village was mesmerized by our visit with half of them following us to the durian party and then back to our boat to see us off home.

Our visit to the durian park ended with a requested speech on what we Americans were doing in Indonesia, a promise by me that I would come back and stay a night with them in their village sometime (?!), and dozens of group photos.  Since Katie, Carolyn and I expected this to be the end of our trip and we were looking forward to taking our weary bodies back to Jambi, we were surprised when our van pulled up at an unfamiliar house and we were informed that we had been invited to dinner at someone’s house.  On the bright side it was one of the best sate meals I have had in Indonesia so far, meaning I only counted two chunks of fat on my skewers compared to the normal half meat half fat ratio.

After dinner was finished and the men had satisfied themselves with smoking enough cloves it was time to head home.  It didn’t take long for all five of us women to fall asleep and we were grateful, but groggy when we arrived home to Jambi late in the night. 

An Obama supporter in Jambi

I spotted this woman wearing a cheap Obama t-shirt the other day.  It is a frequent occurrence that when I meet people and tell them I am from the US they immediately start praising Obama and claiming family relations to him.  Since he did live in Jakarta as a child this is kind of cute but when it is an ojek driver in North Sulawesi saying they are cousins I have to laugh.  Despite this popularity, this woman was the first person I have seen actually wearing Obama gear.  The line on the back of the shirt though actually read “Yes we can change.”  

Not your average morning walk

This morning I went on a city wide “Relaxed Walk.”  Not a 5K walk/run, or one that was in support of any cause, just a Jalan Santai.  A friend was on the organizing committee of this event and it drew a surprising number of people to its kick off at the governor’s office.  The walk itself was no more than three kilometers though and having anticipated the short distance I had worn just my Tevas; Indonesians' general distaste for walking would not let it last too long and any exercise in this climate is unpleasant after 6:30am (the walk started at 7am).  I was surprised though when I realized a number of people were going barefoot and carrying their sandals!  I think they are just more comfortable like that since people go barefoot in my office all the time...  Also, the route of the walk just followed along the road like a normal run/walk in the US, except they let cars and motorbikes share the road too!  Exercise is much less enjoyable when you are breathing in exhaust from the cars driving by just a foot away from you!  Well, the event attracted more than just walkers and many people just hung around the start area eating snacks and waiting for the big event, the post-walk raffle where TWO motorbikes were being given away.  After we finished the walk and enjoyed some fresh soymilk, we waited around hoping that Sumi’s surprisingly large stack of raffle tickets would win.  No luck there and it was getting uncomfortably hot by 9am so we headed back home for a little istirahat (rest).

Organizers holding back a group of little kids from storming through the starting point too soon.

Campaign camouflaged as culture expo

Last weekend I followed a trail of motorbike and truck passengers marked by their bright orange t-shirts to a huge cultural event at a park in Jambi (I was most surprised to find out there actually is a park here!!  It is actually really nice looking too, with traditional houses from every district of Jambi Province).  Well, the event turned out to be a Javanese cultural exposition put on by the Jambi-Java Friendship Group and it featured dance and musical performances from all over Java, and a few from Sumatra.  
 Then the political connection came in.  Not surprisingly, the head of this friendship group is also running for Deputy Governor in next spring’s gubernatorial election.  Programs for the event were passed out all over- but used by most people as fans instead of reading material- and featured his profile on the front and back cover with the inside detailing all of the good works he has done for Jambi.  There was no direct mention of the campaign though, just showing him as an exemplary public figure with his name repeated over and over in large font (name recognition being key in Indonesian elections).  And of course, the best part, every attendee received a complimentary t-shirt for showing up, in the beautiful colors of bright orange with bright blue trim.  I definitely grabbed one for myself, hoping to eventually be able to recount the campaign period in t-shirts.

A truck of onlookers resting in the shade with their new multi-purpose t-shirts.

Baby passed out from the heat and excitement on a bed of newspaper and said multi-purpose t-shirt.

Safe, responsible sex in Indonesia

In a recent casual chat with Sumi about sexual health in Jambi- a daily topic of conversation for us but this time sparked by the approaching World HIV/AIDS Day- the issue of teaching women the importance of condoms and how to use them came up.  She explained how PKBI uses dildos to demonstrate how to correctly put a condom on.  So then I mentioned how in the U.S., sex-ed teachers sometimes use a banana for simulating the real thing in demonstrations.  Her reply to this bit of information shocked me into disbelief when she said that they also used to use bananas but later found out that method had given the wrong impression when it was reported that village women were putting condoms on bananas right before have sex with their unprotected husbands!!  Yes, the condoms were on the bananas while the couples were doing it.  I felt like I had heard this as a joke somewhere before so I interrogated her as to who she heard this from and when it was supposedly happening.  It was in fact just 3-5 years ago and she heard it directly from the concerned women village leaders.  While Sumi attributed this behavior to the lack of general education in Sumatran villages, I can also somewhat understand it since women are much more familiar with the bananas that abound plentifully rather than the male anatomy.  Thankfully this potentially problematic behavior was corrected and PKBI Jambi has purchased a collection of dildos to prevent future miscommunications.

Ahh beautiful Washington apples!

Just had to give a shout out to Washington and its obviously world class apples.  Brightened my day when I found these at a market in a small town in North Sulawesi.

Cinema diplomacy failing?

With the movies at the local theatre only $1 on weeknights it has quickly turned into a fun, budget friendly, language/culture lesson for me.  The theatre actually frequently has American movies passing through- always at least a year after they came out in the US- and after seeing a couple I think I have figured out why the American stereotype here is so extremely Hollywood-centered.  In a city that gets very few, if any, tourists each year and is obviously outside of the US Embassy’s Public Diplomacy reaches, these cheap movies that make it to the theatre in Sumatra are really one of very few representations of American culture and people.

The last film I saw called Redline came out, unnoticed by me, in the US in 2007 and is basically an even trashier version of Too Fast Too Furious (I didn’t think that was even possible).  But to give you an idea, the IMDB summary says: “A gorgeous young automobile fanatic--and front to the hottest unsigned band on the West coast--finds herself caught up in illegal drag-racing competitions organized by exotic car fanatics.”  The gratuitous overload of skimpy clothes and cheesy lines is really just a cheap rendition of someone’s shallow fantasy.  This can be harmless, but the significance here is that it is probably being shared with millions of foreigners and some of those will never experience the opportunity to have those images challenged.  So it develops into a permanent stereotype and in this conservative Muslim culture I live in, it helps foster an environment where I am always aware of how my behavior and clothing can be interpreted.

Technologically challenged in the third world

Busy day in the office today, while I was working on Letters of Inquiry for funding to start a Community Health Based Management initiative in Padang, I also had to help my coworkers with their projects.  I am really seeing how technology impacts the work of NGOs in the developing world, not just as a vital tool but also a source of frustration and stumbling blocks.  While I was working on grant proposals, my boss Helfi and Sumi were busy compiling the data they collected from a survey on drug use in Jambi.  It really showed how having local people on the ground able to carry out projects is only half the work.  They also need to be able to compile the data they acquire on a laptop (assuming they can afford one), and then enter all the information into a program (Microsoft) that is not only challenging for many Americans, but also stumps them with all of its English commands.  These English commands stump them on everything from computer virus warnings to editing text alignment.  I ended up having to spend a surprising amount of time explaining how to enter data in Excel, create graphs from that data, and then move the finally successful graphs into the Word document they were working on to present their data results to local government offices.  Simple challenges like that are all it takes to slow down progress and inhibit efficiency but in the US we take such office capabilities for granted.  Part of my job here is capacity building so I make an effort not to just fix problems myself but show them how to do it themselves, it takes time but short of giving a comprehensive lesson on Microsoft Office its seems the most helpful.

Fried chicken and rice?

KFC is everywhere here but having taken into account local culinary tastes, the fried chicken is served with a mound of white rice (nasi) and hot sauce

Narcotic prevention and cash handouts

This morning I joined Sumi and the rest of the SIKOK staff in going to a conference about narcotic use in Jambi. A delegation from the National Narcotics Commission had organized it at Jambi’s swankiest hotel and representatives from the community joined to discuss the current situation and potential methods for drug use prevention ad rehabilitation. I thought it notable that the opening ceremony was marked by everyone standing to sing the national anthem- and then pray together. While the subject was interesting- Jambi City turns out to have the 6th highest population percentage of drug users in Indonesia!- I went back to the office after lunch to work on grant proposals.

This decision meant that I missed the conference’s conclusion when every participant received 100,000 rupiah (about $10) for attending! (That is about three days of spending money for me here so it’s a lot!) This last step in a series of perplexing money handouts is starting to give me a better idea how money politics is so entrenched in Indonesian society. About a month ago I was unexpectedly given 100,000 rupiah for being a monitor at the leadership election for a national women’s organization. Then my staff all received the same amount after helping with last week’s film showing, a program that to me just seems like it should be part of our job. And today, attendees at a government-organized conference on narcotic prevention receive a small token of appreciation for sticking it out to the end of the day! I am going to have to find out now if people always expect this kind of reward for their “presence” and where else this goes on. If the public agrees with receiving this money for attending an informational conference on a subject they already work on, it seems logical they would expect to get money for showing up at a election rally for a candidate, whether or not they support them.

Film gives insight into taboo issues affecting Indonesian women

Yesterday morning I was on the committee that was in charge of inviting the public to PKBI’s showing of a documentary about politics and issues affecting women’s bodies in Indonesia. The film, At Stake, is an interesting documentary anthology of women’s stories that provides a sometime disturbing insight into issues, such as female circumcision, prostitution, young women being denied pap smears for not being married, the position of lesbians, and the role of Islam in all of this. It was quite an eye opener to see the film and then go back to the office and discuss it. I was particularly blown away when my female coworkers asked me if I was circumcised, admitting that they all were! Another issue that came up was pap smears and it is evident that women (and many doctors) do not understand the real purpose of pap smears due to severe misinformation, thinking if you are not sexually active (i.e. not married yet) you do not need one, even if you are 35! I was asked to create some sort of informational pamphlet in Indonesian for PKBI because it seems that no one realizes this as an important way to catch the development of cervical cancer early on. Anyways, with this film showing all week the office did not work on much else and Friday afternoon everyone took off around 1pm to go to a salon...

It’s durian season!

No one had to tell me what was going on when I started noticing neatly stacked piles of a certain large prickly fruit sprouting up on the side of roads all over town.  I would see at least one man standing guard over his prized goods customers were smelling, weighing and comparing the tricky fruits before paying the $1.50.  It’s definitely durian.  Most people in the US have ever heard of the fruit let alone had the pleasure to try the soft, pungent flesh that is found inside of its spiky shell.  I have had one friend describe the experience to be like eating butter while another said the smell was exactly like mashed onions and garlic, but then sweet somehow.

Even though I had already tried durian once in Thailand, (and did not enjoy it despite my attempt to keep an open mind) when my coworkers at SIKOK called me upstairs to partake in the exciting group experience of dissecting and demolishing a whole durian, I could not refuse.  I was surprised that on this occasion, possibly because it was a “better” durian, I did not particularly dislike the taste/text but did not fully enjoy it enough to have a second piece- until of course I was peer pressured into it by my coworkers that were already licking their fingers.  Now that that “necessary” experience is out of the way I am content to just stick with durian flavored ice cream, an equally creamy but much less potent option.

As Indonesia debates Islam's role, U.S. stays out

I found this article the other day and it gives a good overview of the role and impact of Islam in Indonesia and the different elements working through society under the name of Islam.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/24/AR2009102402279.html
I agree that Indonesia has plenty of other issues such as corruption and the rule of law that need help and trying to influence Indonesian religious beliefs so directly can only increase the US's reputation for meddling and targeting Islam when there are more appropriate issues to help fix.

Travel advice should always be taken with a grain of salt

Why does the Lonely Planet think that every traveler is a budding archeologist?  While I definitely agree history is interesting and good to learn about in the place you are traveling, a bunch of bricks isn’t usually a good enough reason to go hours out of your way.  Sometimes I think this popular travel guide book goes overboard in recommending visiting ruins everywhere despite their current upkeep or aesthetics.  The Lonely Planet for Indonesia fairly describes this city I am living in by saying, “Jambi is not an easy place to reach…Jambi is not known as a tourist destination, but [some] have found that nowhere can be more fun than somewhere.”  So far I appreciate this off the beaten path, just an average Indonesian city kind of atmosphere and am happy to go without “tourist sites.”  Still, many Indonesians I have met who want to promote the city’s image have suggested I go visit the ancient Buddhist/Hindu Muaro Jambi temples.  

I had already read about this place from the Lonely Planet’s recommendation and last weekend I was finally privileged to make the trip there myself.  I now believe there should really be a disclaimer that it is not worth coming to Jambi just because there is an ancient site of archaeological interest; I was really much more impressed with the scenery on the drive there than the actual site.  Let me point out it took an hour each way to reach this destination and that is a far distance bouncing on the back of a motorbike.  Visitors coming from a different major Sumatran city first have to suffer 10 hours on a cramped bus just to get to Jambi.  During the drive home, our afternoon then took a turn for the worse when our back tire went flat after when we went over one too many potholes.  Thus began two hours of waiting on the side of the road with the mosquitoes for it to get fixed.  I am content to say that there really are no sites of special interest for tourists here and am now looking forward to more aimless weekend journeys.

Earthquake update

Some people have been curious about recent developments with post-earthquake efforts in Padang since news about the disaster just dropped off the news scene.  USAID actually just came out with a report on the disaster, relief efforts, and the current situation there: http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/disaster_assistance/countries/indonesia/template/index.html.  According to the report, a total of 1,117 people died and 1,200,000 people were affected by the earthquake.  I talked to a friend who is from Kerinci (site of the second earthquake) and she said they are getting lots of relief supplies but needed help organizing it and handing it out to people.  Rebuilding homes seems like it is going to be the main long-term challenge, people are living in tent camps and its not likely houses will just be rebuilt immediately.  PKBI sent an initial team of medical staff to the site and then a follow-up trip with supplies was made last weekend.  PKBI has also been asked to develop and implement a three-year program with a base in Padang that will provide economic development and health services.  My boss Helfi is just drafting the program proposal so I will give another update further along in the process.

I actually work here too

I just realized I haven’t really been saying much about my job at PKBI. This may be because my job was pretty vague in the beginning with the delay of Ramadan but I am now pretty settled in to the NGO’s activities and am finding my own niche. My most useful role as an American and native English speaker really is helping build capacity among my staff through teaching them English (two classes per week), translating documents, and daily issues where the need to know English becomes a challenge. I also get to join in many activities outside the office. The big thing this week is a free movie filming we are holding at the local movie theater with four documentaries that highlight women’s issues such as human trafficking and domestic workers abroad. We are inviting local officials, NGO activists, community groups, students and the general public to get involved in a dialogue about these issues facing Indonesian society.

I have also been trying to get involved in the HIV/AIDS scene here. The other NGO I work with, SIKOK, only recently lost its HIV/AIDS support/advocacy program due to funding issues and wants to start something back up. So the other night I went to a meeting with local activists and people living with HIV/AIDS where they are working to develop a new organization to carry out support and advocacy activities. I also went with one of our staff members the other day when he gave a talk on the subject at sexual health conference for people from around the province. I will definitely be following the developments but it may follow the same sloooow progress as most projects do in this country’s lax work atmosphere.

Something that is more related to SIKOK’s activities than to Planned Parenthood, but also something I am extremely interested in, is the upcoming gubernatorial elections to be held next March. Sumi and I are planning to carry out some sort of survey on their attitudes and understanding of the electoral process by women and young people here. This is with the plan of carrying out voter education programs once we get the results. With the elections just heating up, we are working to develop a project proposal to get funds from the local government. They other day we had an extremely interesting meeting with the head of the Provincial Electoral Oversight Committee to discuss our plans and he was extremely supportive and passionate about the need for Indonesia to get away from “money politics.” I love paying attention to the campaign posters around the city and even in the villages already to learn about the candidates and the different postures they are taking on. I am so excited to be here for a big election since I arrived in Indonesia just after the presidential and parliamentary elections.

When stopping traffic becomes dangerous

Two reasons have prompted me to begin hiding my hair up inside my helmet and pulling the visor down when I drive my motorbike around town. The first issue is the possibility of attracting attention from the police who have a reputation for pulling over foreigners just to figure out what they are doing in Jambi and I don’t quite have a license to drive legally... The second is attracting attention from everyone else. And this has developed for safety reasons also. Everywhere I go people stare at me, this is not boasting just an annoying truth due to the fact that I look completely out of place to Indonesians who practically never see a foreigner in their city, let alone a blonde woman driving a motorbike.

The issue is that this immediate attention diversion stops them from whatever task they were previously doing and sometimes this task is driving. I have gotten used to it and don’t mind people stopping to stare and yell (friendly) at me, but just don’t do it right in front of me! I want to continue on my way but it is difficult when someone has stopped their motor bike directly in front of me. This often occurs out of nowhere when someone pulls out in front of me, notices I am a buleh (foreign white person), stops, and then I have to slam on my brakes and get all wobbly with my amateur driving skills. Cars and also people walking around on the streets do this too.

So it is strange feeling like it is easier to hide and avoid talking to people just for the peace and quiet of anonymity. It would too exhausting to converse with everyone that wanted to ask questions about why this strange foreigner is in Jambi and what is she doing here, and alone?! On the other hand, during longer rides when I am just sitting behind Sumi on the motorbike, it can be completely enjoyable just to smile at other drivers and watch their reaction to seeing a buleh. For now I am trying to find a balance where I can maintain my safety and peace of mind as much as possible.