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Written by Sue Cooper
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Saturday, 10 April 2010 00:00 |
 Rekan-rekan yang saya hormati,
Salam sejahtera dari Indonesia! Saya sedang menulis surat ini di Yogyakarta, perhentian yang terakhir dalam kunjungan siswa-siswa Guildford Grammar School ke Indonesia 2010. Sulit sekali menggambarkan pengalaman luar biasa yang diberikan kepada rombongan kami, karena sungguh-sungguh mengesankan dan bervariasi.
Antara kegiatan-kegiatan yang lain, anak-anak GGS ini sudah bisa tinggal seminggu di asrama Kolese Santo Yusup di Malang, naik becak, naik gunung Bromo, bertemu dengan Menteri Pertanian WA Terry Redman, makan siang bersama Dubes Australia Bill Farmer, memberi sambutan kepada Bapak Walikota Surabaya (Pak Bambang), dilaporkan di koran-koran Jawa dan Jawa Timur dan ikut serta acara live TV di stasiun televisi SBO di Surabaya.
Yes it really is true - I've been able to take a group of year 9-12 students to East and Central Java over the Easter holidays, and what an amazing, magnifi- cent time we've had. As one of the few Australian school groups to visit Indonesia for some years, and the first Australian exchange group under the BRIDGE program (the first Indonesian group being from SMAN 5 Surabaya who recently visited Tranby College), we have received a staggering amount of publicity in Indonesia. Whatever you may have read in the press about negative Indonesian per- ceptions of Australians, they are simply not true. We have been treated like film stars by peo- ple of all faiths and the boys have added dozens, if not hundreds of new friends to their Facebook pages!
I guess the most fortunate factor for me was that my school administration allowed the trip to go ahead. This is by far the biggest hurdle to over- come. We agreed to be upfront to parents about the travel advisory, and the key thing here was demonstrating that we were in fact following the advice given in it. It is not, of course, a ban, but instead advises on procedures to follow should travel be deemed to be "essential". (To my mind, giving our young people opportunities to meet their Indonesian peers in their own cultural envi- ronment must be classified "essential"!). These procedures include avoiding large gatherings of foreigners and places frequented mainly by West- ern tourists - not a problem in East or Central Java where the economy is less dependent on foreign tourism - or for that matter, in northern, eastern or western Bali.
This has been a simply stunning experience. We have felt almost like pioneers, except that the destination is far from unknown. Instead it is filled with friendly, welcoming people who have done everything in their power to make our stay a fantastic experience. They want us to come - and lots more of us. Be assured that they are waiting for your school group too and will give you a fabulous time.
Being in Indonesia has meant that I haven't had a chance to preview this term's Warta WILTA so I leave a space here for Kerry to do the honours!
Thanks Sue! The Term 2 of Warta WILTA has a special cover, drawn by my friend Adam Smith. It goes hand-in- hand with some information I have included discussing the use of Palm Oil and how it affects the survival of the beautiful Sumatran Orang Utan. There are also some fantastic articles written by some of the Language Assistants for this year, an overview by Angela McCoy about the Margaret River SHS’s visit by their Indonesian sister school, and another great article by budding writer and Indonesia enthu- siast Natha Middlemas!
Please enjoy and don't hesitate to email me (
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) if you would like to contribute anything to next term’s issue.
Sampai jumpa di Weekend Workshop.
Salam hangat
Sue
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 05 May 2010 13:26 |
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The Balai Bahasa Indonesia Perth was established in 2008. WILTA is a proud supporter of BBIP.
