Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Photos GALORE!

Yogyakarta!

Day 0

Well, we actually flew on a Sunday evening, so there really aren't many photos from this day! We didn't do work on the day, just went there and settled our admin stuff.


This is the dinky little plane we flew in (Ok I cheated here, the photo's from the day we left), I sat on row 14, and really that's almost at the tail of the plane, so you get a rough idea of how tiny it is. I don't know if it was the plane or the pilot, but our landing was nothing short of... uneasy. The plane wobbled and jerked, felt like its wings were about to be torn off, and on a whole just felt like a rollercoaster ride with air-con.


Group Photo at Changi Airport.


When we arrived at Yogyakarta Airport, there were a couple of our Indonesian hosts from Habitat for Humanity (HFH, the larger organisation we were working under) there to welcome us.

Day 1!

Here's an idea of the condition of the place that we were working at.



Not exactly your village on stilts, but definitely, definitely run down by our standards.

Ok I've only got 1 real photo from this day, but basically Day 1 showed us the task at hand. By lunch time most of us were knackered and blistered from carrying pails of cement, which were used to fill up a roof. By the way, filling a roof with cement means we have to move the pails upwards too! But thank God we had the help of like, half the village, because with their help, we actually managed to finish our entire day's work by lunch! So after lunch we were able to start on our next day's work. Mind you, they weren't obliged to help in any way, they just volunteered their services out of goodwill.

Anyway at the end of the day we were invited to be interviewed on a Christian Radio Station (Petra FM).

We went there to raise awareness, but never did we expect to receive such a boost so early in our trip. Coincidence? Surely not. Find the photo a tad dark? All the better the hide my face with.

Day 2!

The 2nd day, as impossible as it seemed, was even more tiring than day 1. Basically our morning was spent transporting raw materials, which included the following:


50 bags of cement, each weighing 40 kg!


A huge pile of sand and gravel. By the way, this pile is less than half of what we started with! It's harder than it looks!


My cement bag and I. We make a good couple, don't we.


The afternoon consisted mostly of simple work, just prepping the roof (another one) for the cement filling the following day. Was mostly just tying the metal frame together as a support.


Oh, we also had our first chance to interact with the kids in the village, who were all absolute ANGELS. No Singaporean-esque brats, nosirree!

Day 3!

Day 3 proved to be the most painful day of all. We had to carry wet cement again, and this really takes its toll on the hands. A couple of us were already blistered and hurting, and if we weren't, blisters were soon to form. A lasting memory would probably be one of us guys, after work was completed, lining up to get alcohol on our wounds. Ever seen a guy scream?

So basically Day 3's morning consisted of getting the cement from here where it was made

Up that ladder and onto the roof

Sounds simple enough?

I can't remember what we did on Day 3's afternoon though, but it was probably something easy.

Day 4!

Day 4 onwards was really easy going, since we'd completed all the hard work in the earlier days. Mostly just transported materials again, but this time it was simpler stuff, like tiles.

Our evening was spent on a tour to a prawn farm, really quite an eye opener. One remembers us being able to trick Tess that the little orange things in the water were prawns!


The prawn farm.




The youths.


Us with the 2 youth advisors, in really what must be one of our favourite activities: acting cute.


Dinner was FABULOUS. Well that is, unless you're allergic to seafood. Everything you see on the table, save for the rice and the odd plate of fish, is a dish made from prawns. And the prawns were wonderfully fresh and juicy. And we'd actually worried that we wouldn't be well-fed over there.

Day 5!

The most memorable day of the lot. We worked a little in the morning, and then bid the villagers farewell. We spent the better part of the afternoon playing around with the village kids, and some of us got really, really attached to them. Not that we could be blamed for that, of course, the kids were absolute angels.


Me and my homies!


Don't their smiles just melt your heart? That's REAL happiness and contentment on their faces for you.


2 of the cutest things around (the kids, not the girls).


Well we did bring some things to Indonesia. And we left our legacy of acting cute behind.


The mark we left behind. If you're wondering about the Charlie Brown pattern on the bottom, it's because we only had what, 4 colours to work with!

Day 6 and beyond

Well after that it was our rest day before we left for Singapore, and there's nothing much you'd be interested in!


At some mountain. Can't remember the name. By the way, our tour to the mountain (which is a tourist attraction) took up the whole morning, and cost the whole group a grand SG$5.

- - - - - - - - - -

Anyway if you've talked to me recently about the trip, I'd probably have told you how blessed and thankful I feel for being given the chance to go for it. And I'm also really thankful for these 2 people

Tony and Weejin, our youth advisors, who really took a lot of the responsibility off of our shoulders. It's been a real life-changing experience, and the 2 of them really had a huge part in shaping it.

Anyway, as I've mentioned before, the trip really opened my eyes to a lot of things that Singaporeans and people in developed countries in general lack. We're never happy, never content with what we have. I'm guilty too, and we really should change this! Also I mentioned how the villagers just bandied together to help us in our work, even though they had no obligation to, or weren't being paid to. They did it because of how close-knit the village was, and because they felt that we Singaporeans came all the way there to help them build their village, it wouldn't be right for them to just sit around doing nothing. It's not just the adults who helped out, even kids who couldn't be taller than my knee came and did what they could. You won't find that kind of spirit here, for sure.

I'll probably be going again next year, and I can't wait, because everytime I look at this photo,

I'm reminded of the people whose lives I touched, and more importantly, who touched mine. If you do get the chance to meet me sometime, ask me to tell you the stories of the kids who really touched me, and who really deserve so, so much more.

11:08 AM