BALI!

So.... the 24 hour bus ride to Bali somehow turned into a 32 hour bus ride. It was barely air conditioned, and we only stopped at 2:30am and 6pm (that's the eating schedule of Muslims during the month of Ramadan!) The only interesting part was taking the ferry from Java to Bali. Anyways, we made it safe and sound, and started our trip in Sanur, a sleepy beach resort area in southeast Bali. Our first day was very relaxing-- the beach in Sanur caters to an older crowd and so is incredibly peaceful and quiet. We laid out on the beach and walked up and down the boardwalk, and all we could hear was the waves crashing and the birds in the trees. We got half hour massages in a tiled beach hut for about $2.50... I'm loving Bali! We quickly realized there was no nightlife in Sanur... everyone our age goes to the Kuta and Legian areas to stay and go to bars and clubs. We also realized that although our Sanur hostel was cheap (11 per person per night) we could find much cheaper, and much better lodging. So we relocated to Kuta for our third night, and stayed in a hostel room for $6 ($3 each!) Kuta is known for its little alley ways (called Poppies Gangs) that are filled with vendors, surfboard/motorbike rentals, and cheap salons. Sara and I loooove the cheap spa treatments, and have been treating ourselves like crazy. We explored the nightlife, which consisted of like 10 clubs and bars clumped together. It wasn't really our scene... it was definitely geared toward Europeans and their bad taste in music!  ;-) 

The next day we hopped on a shuttle and went to Ubud, which is the center of the island and is considered the cultural capital of Bali. It's a small town, famous for its art, craftsmanship, dance, surrounding rice fields, monkey forest sanctuary, and incredible shopping. We splurged on a nicer hotel, with beautiful landscaping and a pool. In the last couple of days we have done a ton of shopping; there is a huge outdoor market with vendors that sure are eager to bargain. I bought a lot of cool stuff- paintings, wall face masks, handbag, dresses made out of batik (the famous Bali textile), jewelry, etc. We also checked out the Ubud palace, which is beautiful (and still has royal family living in it!) Today we woke up and went to the Monkey Forest which was awesome... there were 300 monkeys running around in the beautifully landscaped park (which, by the way, encompass 14th century temples). We walked the rest of the day and explored the surrounding areas and the rice fields, which are so scenic. We walked as far as we could and popped in and out of roadside art galleries, in hopes of buying cheap paintings. 

Bali is interesting because it is predominantly Hindu, while the rest of Indonesia is Muslim. What I have found absolutely fascinating is the daily offerings they make up and leave out... the offerings are small banana leaf baskets, filled with a little bit of rice, some flowers, burning incense, etc. Women make them, and place them everywhere: on the sidewalk, in their shops, tucked into statues, etc. I feel like I step on them all the time because they are literally everywhere. And the smell of incense is perpetually in the air. I love it!

Alright, the internet cafe is closing, so we have to go.

Until next time...

xox

An end and a beginning...A new Indo adventure!

I've resigned from my position with IHF yesterday.

The children were wonderful, but the founder lady Carol was awful. She travels the world, going amongst her 6 orphanages, and communicates entirely via email on her Blackberry phone. I have never met her, and there was no training upon my arrival, nor was there an explicit explanation of expectations of my role as Co-Director. Her contact with me (and with everyone in the organization) has been consistently rude and offensive. She also tried to control everything we did- we had to ask permission to even send emails out about IHF when recruiting teachers or comunicating with overseas volunteers. This made it really difficult to accomplish anything at the center, because she gave barely any guidance, and at the same time whenever we (we being me and my co-directors Sara and Prashant) took initiative and made a decision to solve a problem, she would attack us and call us foolish, ignorant, and rude.

For example, we were worried about two of our 15 year-old boys, who are super behind in school, and if they don't pass an upcoming exam they will not be eligible for the free government-sponsored school. To top it off, they only attend a "catch-up" type tutorial 3 hours a week. They do not attend normal school like the other orphanage kids. These are the same 2 boys that we are trying to give english and math lessons to at the orphanage, 5 hours a day (what a joke- they hate it and don't show up). Anyways, so Sara and I went to speak to their tutor/teacher about this upcoming exam to see what material would be covered and how we could best prepare the boys. We also asked about the costs of increasing the hours of schooling the boys had with her (their classes actually only cost 80 cents per hour!!!). The meeting went well, and we happily reported it to Carol, feeling pleased that we had given her some options to consider for the boys' schooling.

No.

Instead she wrote several nasty emails saying "I am shocked that they would take my children whom they don't know at all and do this without even discussing, let alone asking. Shocked." (She considers these children her children, and I've even gotten an email from her saying how they are "practically from her womb." She even has them all call her Mommy, even though they all have mothers of their own).

And then "Do this again and you are fired. If you knew more you would not have, it was foolish. Either follow the rules of working for me, or don't work for me at all. Am I perfectly clear?"

And then the next one "You have caused us far greater trouble than you have any understanding of and it is exactly why I have not brought outsiders in and I feel I have made a big mistake by doing so now. I can't explain how foolish and long-term your doing such a thing is, and how much damage you've caused.

What damage? We merely asked questions so we could see what the options were to improve the quality of the boys' education! I thought that I was hired as a recent grad because I can think critically and come up with and implement creative solutions to problems. What I call taking initiative she considers totally unacceptable, apparently. And she doesn't even explain why. There was no explanation as to why what we did was wrong, all we got was a threat for dismissal.

We had quite a few exchanges like this, and then Sara and I realized we didn't have to be there. We are volunteers, contributing a year of our lives to this organization in a developing country and we paid out of our own pockets to do so. And this Carol woman clearly doesn't respect or appreciate me. The major reason I do community development work is because of the way it makes me feel-- I feel fulfilled and empowered by helping others. Carol's constant negativity and hostility instead made me feel really bad about myself (I took it very personally), and created tension between me and my co-directors, who are both fabulous people. It was just so much negative energy. On a more practical note, I also felt like I wasn't able to accomplish anything meaningful at the center because she made it so difficult to implement change. I wasn't doing anything to help the center, just sitting in a dim office in front of a computer all day, interacting with the kids only minimally because they were gone for much of the day. I felt like my time and efforts would be more useful at a different organization, where the administration trusted me and my decision-making and I was enabled rather than constrained.

On top of this, Rini, the cook, came back from her village about a week ago and was really ill. So Sara and I took her to a doctor, and the doctor diagnosed typhoid. Great- typhoid is spread through food-handling.... so we told her she couldn't cook. But she totally dismissed us, and was back in the kitchen cooking again a few days later. Supposedly typhoid can be cured if caught early and treated with antibiotics (which she was taking), but it seemed like a terrible situation. I'm vaccinated, but are the kids??? Sara and I were concerned, but our concerns went totally unacknowledged by Carol. (A few days later Rini ran away with $130- about 1/5 the center's monthly budget. What a mess!)

Saying goodbye to the kids was the hardest part. The looks on their face made Sara and I cry, and we felt sooooo bad to leave them, as they've been abandoned by so many of the people in their lives. We promised to keep in touch, but we are unsure if Carol will allow them to communicate with us. It's such a shame that we can't continue to work with these amazing kids, on account of my relationship with the founder....but the reality is that all organizations have wonderful, adorable children, and that I will be able to find one that is better managed and supports me as an individual.

It seems like a bad experience, I know... but I see it as a learning experience. I wanted a non-profit experience, and I sure did get one! I feel like I've learned so much in my short 2.5 weeks with IHF, about the challenges, the internal operations, and the general experience of a non-profit... about what sorts of questions to ask when starting to work with a non-profit, etc. I also learned I need to be way more careful when choosing an organization that deals with kids, because it is so easy to get attached, and their mental and emotional stability is at stake.

I feel like this is just the first of many non-profit experiences!

So... what next??? Sara and I are going to go to Bali for a week to relax and see some sights (yeah!), and then come back to Jakarta. We want to get an apartment or hostel room for the next few months and get some paid, part-time work to finance our trip. We can then do volunteer work on the side. I'm really excited at the prospect of living in Jakarta independently, and turning this into a live-abroad type experience!

We have been very lucky to have found the American Women's Association of Jakarta. SO lucky. Basically I was doing some online googling of opportunities and resources in Jakarta (this past weekend, before we resigned), and i stumbled across the AWA's website. It said they had a once weekly coffee chat, and it happened to be the next day. So Sara and I went to the center (a beautiful house!), met a bunch of ex-pat wives of oil businessmen, and had coffee and coffee cake and talked to them about our situation. They were so supportive! They gave us tons of ideas, and took our contact info so that they could put us in touch with their network of jakarta friends for paid/volunteer work. They asked if we had registered with the US embassy, and when we told them we hadn't (it hadn't even crossed my mind) they made us do it on the spot at their center. When they asked if we had cell phones, we said we didn't (it didn't really seem like a necessity), they said it was imperative for American women to have cell phones in case of an emergency. One of the women, Annette, said she wouldn't sleep that night if she knew we still didn't have phones, so she announced that AWA was going to sponsor phones for us. So a half hour later she took us (well, her driver did... all these women have personal drivers, paid for by the companies) to the mall and bought us phones. I am now the proud owner of a cell phone! Only condition is that we return the phones to the AWA when we leave Indonesia so that they can be re-used. No problem! ;-)

Another woman, Cathy, suggested that we apply for substitute teaching jobs, because you don't need a work permit to do the job and only need a Bachelors degree to qualify. So one of them took us to speak with the Australian International School about applying, and helped create a list of other international schools to apply at.

We asked another woman, Cari, (who is actually originally from Wales and has a lovely accent) if we could leave our suitcases at her house when we travelled to Bali... she said yes, of course, and came and picked us up from the orphanage even though we live on the other side of town (its like a 40 min drive with all the traffic!) She suggested we spend a night or 2 at her house to solidify our Bali plans, so we took her up on it. Her house is beautiful... very spacious, with all glass windows, a pool and courtyard outside, probably 4 or 5 bedrooms, and a maid and driver. When we first got to her house we had a nice lunch, and then she said she had a hair appointment, and why didn't we go with her to the salon so she could treat us to a spa service. The generosity just doesn't end! So we went to a beautiful salon, and she got us both an hour and a half massage (that was the duration of her hair apointment). Oh my god. It was amazing. The salon was beautiful too, with all the typical Asian decorations: tea candles, lotus flowers, goddess stautues, and doors that opened out to a patio with a pool and garden.

After the spa service, we went to a coffee shop and waited for her driver to come pick us up, and from there we went with her to a meeting of the Australian Women's Association to stuff goody bags for their upcoming gala event/fundraiser (she asked us earlier if we wouldn't mind coming along to help out). Of all the places I could be, and of all the things I could be doing, here I was drinking wine with older Australian women and stuffing bags. Life is so random.

This whole experience seems so surreal. I went from one extreme of indonesian life to another. Wow. This has been quite a trip thusfar; I am curious to see what the future has in store!

Tomorrow Sara and I are taking a bus to Bali. It's a 24 hour bus that will take us across the entire island of Java, onto a ferry across the ocean, and then onto the island of Bali. We have a hotel reservation in Sanur, which is supposed to be a fabulous beach area in southeast Bali.

Can't wait!!

xox, Allie

So I've had some problems with the organization, and I wasn't sure if I was going to stay.... but I've worked them out, and I am staying! (For the time being, at least). It has definitely been a bit of an emotional roller coaster though.

Prashant, Sara, and I went out on Tuesday night to explore some more of Jakarta's nightlife, and went to a hookah bar on the other side of town (we took buses, and it took AGES!) It was inside of a huge mall, and it seemed like half of the Jakarta population was there. I mean, for being a Tuesday night, this mall was teeming with people. The mall consisted primarily of coffee shops and restaurants, with comfy chairs and tables set up outside the restaurants to people-watch. AND we were super excited to see that there was a fashion show going on... a Muslim women fashion show! All the models were veiled and wore gowns that covered their arms and legs fully. But the gowns and veils, although modest, were brightly colored, and covered in sequins and sparkles, and they also wore super high heels and sported fancy little handbags. SO fashionable! 

Things back at the orphanage are all right. I do live in and run a household of teenagers (all but 1 are teen-aged) and I get all the attitude and behavioral problems that one would expect. The 2 15-year old boys are particularly difficult... staying out till 4am, not coming to the classes that Prashant and I hold daily for them (they instead go play guitar on buses to make some extra money), demanding pocket money whenever they want it, etc. I feel like such a parent! Only 2 of them are this way though. The other 4 children are incredibly respectful and obedient (I think religion plays a big role). 

Because Rini, our cook has been gone this week, Ayu the 14 year old has been cooking in her absence. To give her a break, Sara and I offered to make the evening meal. It was such a time-consuming process. We went to the market and went from stall to stall buying the various fruits and veggies we wanted (the language barrier made the situation quite funny) and then we spent the afternoon preparing the food. We made a coconut vegetable curry, some scrambled eggs, seasoned tofu, a fruit platter, and some fresh chili paste on the side (I sauteed the chili peppers and garlic and then mashed them together using a mortar and pestle... I've learned from watching Rini do it!) The coconut curry is fun to make too- basically we buy a whole coconut in the market, and the vendor puts it through a machine to shred it. At home, we soak the coconut flakes in water and then wring out the water... over and over and over again until  we have enough coconut water for the curry. I don't think I've ever thought about making coconut curry myself without using canned coconut milk! Cooking was such a cultural experience. With that said, I doubt I'll volunteer to make dinner again any time soon... ;-)

A huge part of my job is my online international tasks I am required to do everyday for 4 hours. They take up a lot of my time, and makes me feel like I have a normal (and mundane) office job. Basically, the organization doesn't have paid staff who sits at headquarters and does the administrative stuff. Instead, each volunteer is required to be on several different task teams and coordinate within their area of focus to keep the organization going. I am on 6 task teams: I help submit sponsor letters, coordinate travel plans with new volunteers, help recruit new volunteers though online media,  assign tasks to new volunteers, etc. Each department has their own email account and set of task instructions. The founder travels a lot to each of the orphanages, but she sees every email that is sent through the organization, all on her blackberry phone. She must spend her entire days on her phone, responding to emails! Last I heard she was in Kenya helping out with one of the Kenya center's famine feed programs, and even though she was in the middle of nowhere helping to feed nomadic tribal people she was still responding to my emails. It's a pretty crazy system, but it seems to work well. 

I'm off to bed... Love you all! 

I am definitely starting to get the hang of my new Jakarta lifestyle... the showers that consist of pouring water over my head with a bucket. The toilet that's a toilet seat on the ground. Bahasa Indonesia language (I can count to 10... sahtu, dua, tiga.... I can also say greetings, and I've become fairly knowledgeable of math terms from teaching math tutorial everyday!) The random thundershowers. The incredible amount of motorcycles on the roads (they outnumber cars at least 2 to 1). My mosquito bed netting. Indonesian rupiah ($1 equals about $10,000 rupiah.... it always throws me for a loop.) The chili paste and white rice that's in every meal. 

Our cook/cleaner staff woman, Rini, is getting married tomorrow, so she has left us to fend for ourselves! The kids have been great and have been doing her chores in her absence. I went with Ayu to the market yesterday to buy our food for the evening meal, and it was a fun experience. The local market is filled with tile stalls selling everything from clothes to food, with cats and kids running around, and we went from stall to stall buying our veggies, tofu, eggs and spices. Everyone is super friendly to me, and they always smile and ask me what my name is. I havn't had a chance to help out in the kitchen, to cook, but Ayu and Ade have done an excellent job cooking the meals while Rini's been gone. Last night they made this great curry, and tonight they made a spinach dish to go over rice, and made a ground chili paste to go with it (we were all sweating...it was SO spicy!) They made fried bananas for dessert. Yum!

Ramadan is fun, because its the only time in the year where we all sit and eat dinner together. (Normally food is just prepared and then kept for us to eat whenever we want throughout the day. ) We all sit on the floor of our house together every evening at 6 and the kids break their fast with mini prayers and a drink made of water and flavored syrup. (They make ice for this drink by filling little plastic bags with water every morning and freezing it!) It's nice.

One of the kids' favorite treats is smoothies (really more like juice) from this smoothie stand on the main road near our house. The stand is covered in different types of fruits, and you pick 2 and the vendor cuts them open and puts them in a blender. SOOO good, and only about 60 cents. I had a dragonfruit-guava one tonight. I plan on trying all possible flavors! (The chicken satay stand is the next vendor over... I'll have to try that soon, too!)

Prashant and I are working on developing an efficient and sustainable school program. Classes have been held here in the past, but it's been pretty unorganized so far. Things we must do include teacher recruitment, student recruitment (we go out to the slums and post fliers), curriculum development, and class scheduling. We worked on the class schedule today, and worked it out so students come to class for English, math, and computer class for 6 hours per week. We will also offer extra-curricular activities like acting, sports, and debate as fun clubs on the side. I am really excited! 

Many of you donated used clothes for me to bring here- thank you so much! I gave them to the boys tonight and they were so happy. It was so cute to watch them trying on everything and trade clothes. They take such pride in their things, and after thanking me for the clothes, they folded them super neatly in piles and put them in their rooms. 

I am off to sleep! Good night! Selamat malam!

Wow! I can't believe I have already been here for 4 days! I am having a great time. I spent the first day getting to know the kids and the center, and that evening we took the kids to the mall to play in the arcade. I'm a kid all over again! ;-) This was my first time venturing outside the center in jakarta and it was quite an experience. The bus ride we took was filled to the gills, with guitar players and animals, and it never really came to a complete stop when we're getting on or off. That night we brought the kids back, and Prashant (my fun co-director from London) and I went and explored downtown Jakarta, in the Jalan Jaska area. We tried the Indonesia Bintang beer, and walked around a bit. It's a pretty lively city! Sunday is everyone's day off, and we wanted to take the kids to the park nearby, but it poured rain unfortunately... the rainy season is upon us! That night Prashant, Ayu and I went to the grocery store (we took this little taxi-like car, but it was the size of a golf cart and had the appearance of a bus, with one bench seat in the back), to get certain things needed for Ramadan and some soap. Everything is so cheap here i can't believe it. Rini, our cook, feeds all 9 of us at the center 3 meals a day on $5 everyday. Internet at an internet cafe costs 50 cents an hour. A bus ride costs 20 cents. Wow!

Monday was the start of Ramadan, and I fasted (meaning no food or drinks-even water- from dawn to dusk) with the kids just to try it and share the experience with them.We woke up at 3am, and prepared some food, and the kids stayed awake until their 4:30am call to the mosque (at which point I went back to sleep). Fasting wasn't as hard at I thought it would it be.... and Rini fixed a fabulous meal that we all devoured at 6pm. The food Rini makes is incredible, tons of ground chilis, onions, and garlic in everything she makes. I am really enjoying the spicy, flavorful food! Ramadan is special because the kids go to mosque twice a day; once at 4:30 am and once at 7pm, and they have special clothes they wear (the girls wear their full veil dresses, and the boys have long skirts and little hats).

With the onset of Ramadan, Prashant and I were told to take advantage and establish new rules for the center. Apparently their friends have been eating and sleeping here, and using our precious water resources to shower and wash their clothes. So we called a house meeting and laid out the new rules. Additionally, 2 of the boys (age 15, both of them) have only been going to school for 6 months, and for some reason they only currently go to school 3 hours a week. In order to go to junior high they have to pass an entrance exam in October. So we created a mandatory study schedule, whereby Prashant and I would make them study at the center 5 hours a day, 10am-3pm. We started our new schedule yesterday... one of the older boys taught them English for an hour,and then Prashant and I worked on math with them. One of them was really resistant and difficult. And they are both VERY behind. Even the 7 year was teasing them. I enjoyed the math session though, I gave them timed multiplication tests, and then we spent time working out complex multiplication problems.

Anyways, I have to end this blog now to go back and teach again... its time for 11:00 math class!

Hope all is well with everyone! I look forward to hearing from you all!

Love, allie