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Sumatra is back in the news again

Last week I visited some needy schools in Sumatra (Medan and Pekan Baru). This week I received an invitation to visit a very needy school in Nias Island (Pulau Nias) which is an island off the west coast of Sumatra.

For many of us, Sumatra is not on our mental radar-screens. However, the recent earthquake (October 25, 2010) and its follow-up tsunami that killed 430 people (plus many missing yet unaccounted for) has brought Sumatra back to the news screens.

Sumatran school kids at school celebration
Sumatran school kids at school celebration
School kids performing their tribal dance at school celebration
School kids performing their tribal dance at school celebration

The west coast of Sumatra runs alongside the Sumatra-Andaman fault line. In Dec 26, 2004 this fault-line ruptured and caused the deaths of almost 300,000 people. Subsequently in March of 2005 it ruptured again causing huge destruction to the west coast of Sumatra. The rupture that took place was the longest fault rupture ever recorded in history! Because of this fault-line, we can expect more earthquakes in the near future.

Many charitable groups have done much work in rebuilding the infrastructure after each earthquake. However, not many organizations are helping educate the vulnerable people who are affected by these calamities.

Since Goducate’s aim is to help needy Asians help themselves, Sumatra is an area that we must focus our efforts on. We believe that relevant education can help Sumatrans help themselves to minimize the effects of these calamities.

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Sumatra schools request Goducate’s help

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.

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Batam English camp at Tunas Bahru Junior High School

Just last month Dr Paul Choo conducted a seminar on Principle of teaching for the 100 teachers of the seven schools under an Indonesian educational NGO (in English called “New Sprouts”).

Subsequently, Goducate was invited to conduct English camp for their first year Junior high students on the 7th and 8th August at one of the seven schools, called Tunas Bahru.

Camp started at 3.00 pm after school on the 7th which was a Saturday. 54 students came and attended the camp together with 3 of their teachers. How excited the kids were while waiting for our volunteer helpers from Singapore to come and spend time to teach them speech drama and play indoor games that will help them speak English!

We picked up our 7 Singapore volunteers from Sekupang ferry terminal and brought them to the school where the camp was held. We commenced with ice breaker action songs and games to help them break from their shyness and prepare them to converse in English. They were then divided into three teams and each team was to compete with the other at the end of the drama practice. The kids were so full of energy and did their best to speak English.

They spent a night sleeping in the school classrooms and were up early Sunday morning before the sun is up to play volleyball. Thereafter, we continued with our session with them.

The 3 Indonesian teachers really appreciate our coming to help their kids especially foreigners who can speak and teach English. Though not much can be done in term of teaching them to be fluent in English in just two days, yet our coming was an encouragement to the students to see the importance of learning English to prepare for a better future.

We will be back next month for another English camp. Any volunteer care to join us ???