For this year's Week Without Walls, grade 11 went to Bali to a Christian village called Desa Blimbingsari. Here we were required to stay at a villager's house. At first I was not that excited about coming, but when I got there, I thought that my house owner was a very sweet and kind lady, and that we should respect her as she has provided us with shelter. Our house was not the biggest house, but it had enough accomodation for us to live.
During our stay at the village, we also experienced several activities, such as teaching, and furthermore we got to learn about the making of several house equipments and foods through our visit to the home industries in the village. One of the things that sparked interest in me was the making of sapu lidi (broomstick). The broomsticks were made of dried coconut leaves which will then be shredded in order to take the little stem in the middle. One broomstick required at least 50 of these, and they are sold for only Rp. 1000, compared to the prices in the city which could reach up to Rp. 10000. I was quite surprised at the fact that they sold the broomsticks at a low price, while the price of cultivating coconut trees is not cheap. But then again, I was humbled by the way that they could be happy with their living, although they lead a modest live.
The second thing that we did was to teach elementary students in SDK Maranatha. Most of the students here are orphans from Widhya Asih orphanage, which was also located in the village. My group and I got to teach the fifth grade a Christmas song "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". It turned out that they were already familiar with the song and we did not have to waste a lot of time. We proceeded to the games, where we played pass the cards. The winner will receive a package we have already prepared beforehand. We had a lot of fun teaching the students, and we found out that teaching is not as easy as it looks. We had to deal with he noise as well as to control the students.
Overall, we had a pleasant trip to Desa Blimbingsari, Bali. We got to experience what it feels like to live in the "Real World", outside our comfort zones. :)
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