I just returned from a trip to Sumatra, Indonesia today. I visited Medan (Indonesia’s fourth largest city) and Pekan Baru (the oil capital of Indonesia and the city with the highest per capita income in Indonesia).
I had been invited by an Indonesian co-worker with whom I have cooperated with in education in Indonesia for the past few years. She invited me to visit 3 needy schools (one an hour south of Medan, one in the center of Pekan Baru and another 2 hours from Pekan Baru) that needed assistance in educating their children.
This was a particularly interesting trip because of the different tribal customs that I encountered and because during the short five days there was a earthquake and tsunami in Sumatra and a volcanic eruption in Java. However, I have no photos of this interesting trip because I accidentally erased all the photos (and more) after the trip!
Though the schools were quite different in many ways, they shared the same needs that many schools in Indonesia (and most other Asian countries) share – namely, the need to improve the quality of English (especially spoken English) and computer education.
At a planning session this morning in downtown Pekan Baru, a wealthy Indonesian philanthropist offered to sponsor the living allowances of two Goducate English teachers to help the poor children to improve their English so that they can be more “employable” in the fast-growing economy of Pekan Baru.
This wealthy oil-palm planter is a firm believer in Goducate’s philosophy of helping Asians help themselves.
I was invited to share about Goducate’s work to 50 of their staff earlier this week at a lunch time talk. From the response to the talk, it was evident that the staff were enthusiastic to be a part of Goducate’s work in helping needy Asians help themselves.