Volunteer di Komunitas Book for Mountain (BFM), Project to Lebak

Daily Notes : Mekarsari Village, Lebak, Banten

Hi.. I want to share my experience: ”The great 10 Days with BFM Lebak”

        Before that, Let me introduce myself first, my name is Farida Erlina Purnamasari, One of Book for Mountain Project of Lebak’s volunteers. I study Geological Engineering at Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta. I graduated from SMAN Cahaya Madani Banten Boarding School. It was the best life learning’s school that I’ve ever known. I still remember its slogan: “Center of Excellence: The Right Place to Build Personality, Learn, and Face The Future” . From that school, I got something that’s called ‘sense of belonging’  of our own province: Banten. Maybe this is one of my reasons to be a volunteer of BFM Lebak. Now, i want to tell you how i could be a volunteer.

        let’s start.. it was a day in December, and I turn my facebook on. Then, I read comments and status of other friends on facebook. Suddenly i read a comment of onebook forchildren’s status. The keywords were : book, banten, mountain. It reminded me about my boarding school: Mount Karang and Banten province. (Really miss my school :’) ) , and i hoped that the BFM project will take a place around SMAN CMMBS, hehe... so, I opened www[dot]bookformountain[dot]tumblr[dot]com, read the spesification and sent my CV to fulfil the requirement to be a volunteer. It was so easy and fast. Hoho...

As volunteers, we got some trainings, like ice breaking and other tips to teach children. I had new knowledges, Great! and my job there was being an art teacher in SDN Mekarsari 2. A nice starting point to be a teacher :D

On January 18^th 2013, All volunteers left from Jogja to Jakarta at 5 pm, with Progo train, except me. I’ve just finished my last examination at about 3 pm on that day. I took the last flight to Jakarta at 7 pm and Arrived at home at about  10 pm, it was so tiring.. And then, I slept.. zzzz..

Saturday. January, 19^th 2013 

        I woke up in the morning. Then, I prepared for going to Lebak in a flash. After that, I went to Serpong Railway Station. Unfortunately, when I was going to the ticket box, the train within volunteers inside, got off. I felt so guilty. Because of my mistaken, they had to wait me about two hours to get the next train. 

        The trip from Rangkasbitung to Cibeber was about 5 hours. There were nice views we could see, such as rubber tree plantations, beach, and mountain. We arrived at Mekarsari at dusk and got a warm welcoming from Mekarsari peoples. All volunteers ate some dinner together with them. Ummi Koyah  permitted. the girls stayed at her house and the boys stayed at her old house. The boys’s house became our basecamp during we stayed there.

        It was a nice dawn. We stayed in a room, maybe like a living room, on the second floor of Ummi Koyah’s house. It had a small balcony and the balcony’s door it faced to the south. You would see a landscape of ricefield. If you turned your head to the left side, you would see the dispersed sky which is caused by the sun rose.

        That morning, four girls were busy. They packed their own things because they might to go to the other village, Girimukti, with another three boys of volunteers. They went to Girimukti village by motorcycles, accompanied by Pak Hariri, Mekarsari’s teacher.

Pagi hari, foto dengan warga sebelum volunteer lain beranjak ke Girimukti

FYI, Mekarsari was a beautiful village. A landscape of ricefield, rice barns, and traditional gold manufactures were views that  you would find there.

(doc:MWK)

In the afternoon, some children came  to our basecamp. We read book, played, and sang  together.

Me with my new little friends

         In the evening, Ka Kinkin, Ka Mutia, Ka Arif, Syifa, Kamal, Hambali, and I walked on dike between ricefield and took some pictures ;)

(doc:MWK)

Monday. January, 21^st 2013

Monday, The first day in weekdays. With full of spirit, we started our day. After get some preparations, the girls went  to our basecamp first. It was 6 am. We cooked for breakfast. Even I couldn’t cook well, I was happy to help my sisters preparing the breakfast :-D . the boys took a bath at our neighbor’s house because the bathroom couldn’t be used comfortably. Our kindly neighbour gave them a coffee time also. Then we went to school.  We walked from basecamp to SDN 2 Mekarsari through an ascend & a rocky way for 20 minutes.  We got a warm greeting from students when we arrived.

Perjalanan menuju ke sekolah: jalan berbatu, ditempuh sekitar 20 menit jalan kaki (doc:MWK)

On the ceremony, the headmaster informed some announcements to the students. He said that there would be a sport olympiad in Saturday and also there were college students from Yogyakarta who would teach them for a week. Then he introduced us to them. After that, we were stretching first before went to the class. On that Monday, the library was built. It‘s located on the corridor between first class and fourth class.

Actually, Ka Mutia and I ought to teach art in that school. We wanted to give an introduction about drama and we had time to visit the library, too. But because of misscommunication, it was cancelled. So, we had to change our plan. Each volunteer had to teach a class, so one volunteer-one classroom. We also did a team teaching with the teacher in that class.  I entered second gradeand taught Indonesian Language.

In the afternoon, The boys built the library, Ka Mutia and Ka Kinkin went to Girimukti village and I went to Madrasah Diniyah. At the first time, I went there just for accompanying some students to learn. In Madrasah Diniyah, there was a teacher who didn’t come to the school. So, I entered to teach that class. At the first, I was unable to teach, but the students and a teacher supported me and at least I tried. “You can Farida, You can..!” I spoke to myself.  I started the class by asking them what subject for that day about the subject which should I teach, and they said that I should teach arabic language. I tried to remember arabic lesson that I got when I was in boarding school, and I chose to give an arabic song: lii yadani. What a pitty me, it was not suitable with their arabic vocabularies that they’ve ever had. So I tried to give some tasks for them that resemble with the latest tasks from their teacher. The time was running slowly, and the class was not going to an end. I tried to played with them, and the last we were reminding (muraja’ah), short surat of alqur’an, together until the class was over.

            On that day, I was nervous twice. Because I had to teach without any preparation: Indonesian and Arabic languages >_< . life lesson from that day was I must to be a child, if I want to interact and communicate anything to them.

Tuesday. January, 22^nd 2013

We woke up after iqomah was heard. Then we prayed, took a bath, had a tea time and prepared to go to school. Like the day before, we went to the basecamp for cooking. After all volunteers were ready to go, we went to school together with some students who came to our basecamp. We arrived at school with sweated body, it doesn’t matter because  it was so happy to see their smiling face :)

Ka Mutia and I taught art. We had to teach from the first class until the sixth class. First, we taught the first class. There were nine from ten cute students that came to the class. We drew an Orang Utan face and sang a folksong from Kalimantan: Ampar-Ampar Pisang part #1.

Ampar-ampar pisang, pisangku belum masak

Masak sebiji dikurung bari-bari

Next class was second grade,  there were thirteen students. I’ve entered that class the day before, so I was familiar with their faces.  We sang a folksong from Sulawesi: Nenek Moyangku Seorang Pelaut and also the movement of dance part #1.

Nenek moyangku seorang pelaut

Gemar mengarung luas samudra

Menerjang ombak tiada takut

Menempuh badai sudah biasa

After that, we moved to the third class. There were twenty students. The class had entered by Ka Mutia the day before. We taught saman dance from Aceh, only one part of dance, a wave movement. But it was really hard for us as a trainer and the students to do the dance movement. Failed. So, we changed the motion to be a simple one and would devided the class into two groups: choir and dancer, in the next day. 

Then, we moved to fourth class. it was A little bit hard to arrange them. we did needed an extra work to take their attention.  I wrote the lyrics of Janger song on the blackboard, then we sang together, a folksong from Bali.

Ja.. ja.. ja.. ja.. ja...

Ja.. ja.. ja.. pong

Ja.. ja.. ja.. ja.. ja...

Ja.. ja.. ja.. pong

Ara kijang jangi janger kopyak epong 2x

Kopyak sede kopyak sedopak dedepong 2x

Sriag sriog ngiring mejangeran di jaba tengahe 2x

Next class was the fifth grade. But, our friends entered the wrong class. So, we entered sixth grade first. We were introducting about drama that would be performed on stage next Sunday.

The next class was the fifth grade. We entered that class for a fiew minutes and taught a Javanese folksong: Gundul Pacul.

Gundul gundul pacul cul gembelengan

Nyunggi ngunggi wakul kul gelelengan

Wakul nggilmpang segane dadi sak ratan 2x

On the evening, our basecamp was full of children. That day, Ka Mutia had given an announcement for students to have a rehearsal in the evening at basecamp. Around forty students came to get rehearsal for next performance on Sunday. Unhappily, my partner: Ka Mutia, went to Bayah Market that evening, and the boys volunteers were building the library at school. So, Ka Kinkin, Ka Nindya (volunteer of Girimukti who came to Mekarsari at that time), and I played some games with them. It was so tiring, hohoo. In the night, Me and Ka Mutia made some simple choreographies for Saman, Janger, and Gundul Pacul’s folksongs.

The same morning routinity. We woke up, took a bath, and got some preparation. Then went to basecamp at 6.30 am. There was Dimas’s mother. Do you know, we had a problem in using a tungku, a tool for cook, it was hard to turn on the fire. Fortunately, our neighbour was always there to help us cooking.

We went to school and every students brought a jerrycan (jerigen) of water. It was drizzling, they brought their umbrellas in the left hand and the jerrycan in the right hand. The rocky road became was a bit slippery..  I didn’t know what they would do with the water. And my question is being answered  when I saw them  pouring the water to the water-tank in the toilet. So, it was a routinity for them to fill-up the water-tank. Life is struggle, guys!

 At school, Ka mutia and I entered the first grade. We sang Ampar-Ampar Pisang part #2, exercied the simple dance, and also coloured  their pictures from previous meeting.

Manggalepak manggalepok patah kayu bengkok

Bengkok di makan api, apinya cangcurupan

Then, we moved to second grade. when we waited the next class, first grade was singing by themself, It so touchy. Maybe the song was so humming on their mind ;) 

In second grade we taught previous song part #2 with the dance. They could follow us well, good students.

Angin bertiup layar terkembang

Ombak berdebur di tepi pantai

Pemuda berani, bangkit sekarang

Ke laut kita beramai-ramai

After that, we came to third grade. we started the new concept for that class. Choir group sang Bungong Jeumpa,  Aceh’s folksong. And the dancer danced Saman.

Bungong jeumpa bungong jeumpa megah di Aceh

Bungong telebeh telebeh indah lagoina

Puteh kuneng mejampu mirah

Keumang siulah cidah dat rupa

In fourth grade we repeated  Janger song and danced. In fith grade, we gave them the dance. And in the sixth grade we tried to learn the dialogue of the drama.

Ngajarin nari. Sok iye banget dah. Haha (doc:MWK)

Our basecamp was crowded by children that evening. they came in order to rehearse. And in that night, we had a free time, so we visited one of our neighbour.

Thursday. January, 24^th 2013

It was holiday of Maulid Nabi. In that free time, we decided to go to Cimahista, a village that was requested to be visited by children there. In the morning at balcony, We saw some of boys volunteers were playing with children at ricefield. 

Around 9 am, we went to Cimahista. To reach the village we had to enter the forest, go through the ricefield, and wade through the river by crossing bamboo bridge. When we reached the top of the hill, we was bringing some drinks there. Fresh!

Pak Hariri, Mekarsari’s teacher, lived on that village. So we visited his house. We took a rest in a moment and then had lunch there, while some children chose to play volleyball at the field. We talked about the performance day. Because of some reasons, we moved the performance day . It was changed from Sunday to Saturday.

At  1.30 p.m we went back to basecamp and walked on another way: bend with up & down road, without ricefield, forest, or river.

On the evening we played and read together like usual, and on the night we visited our neighbor too.

doc:MWK

Friday. January, 25^th 2013

It was six past twenty when we went to our basecamp. Mama Dimas had been in the kitchen, she helped us to cook for breakfast. She always came to help us when cooking time. How kind she was. :’)

Me, Ka Mutia, and students did the last rehearsal in each class in art subject. We told what they would bring for next saturday to every class, except sixth grade. They couldn’t give their performance because they were following sport olympiad on the same day. We made some preparation too, eg. First grade was colouring their masks for performing.

On the evening, we made properties for performance, like crowns which were made from paper and coloured by themself. Library decoration had finished in the evening. And.. tadaaaaaa.... small and warm library has been painted :D

In the night the volunteers still made some properties like oars, Borobudur silhouette, ornamental band from raffia fibre, crowns, and reward-pins.

Saturday. January, 26^th 2013

Saturday was the last day we went to school. We went there and brought so many properties. Then we put it all in the office. Students  gathered in the yard to get some stretching first. After that, we came to every class, dressed them in the simply costumes. The others made the stage from tables which is arranged.

Lagi senam papa tome dulu biar lebih semangat (doc:MWK)

And we faced to the final project of art subject and also the essential agenda: officially opened the library). The important thing in that performance was they understood that Indonesia has many cultures, and we must keep it. Each class knew well one of Indonesian folksongs. They’ve followed the tone well, and the performance had trained them to brave in front of public.

Tampil. Panggung sederhana tanpa mikrofon dan speaker  (doc:MWK)

  

After performance, the next agenda was library visit. And then, reward giving.

(doc:MWK)

We went to basecamp, and I felt relieved. Library had been built and students had performed. Some children still playing in basecamp even if the books have moved. And in the night we had a little farewell with Mekarsari’s teacher.

Sunday. January, 27^th 2013

It was Sunday! Vacatiooooon!

That morning, Girimukti’s volunteers came back to Mekarsari. They put their bags and we went to the beach, yeah! The first place was Pulaumanuk Beach. By pick-up we went there. It was spent 1,5 hours from basecamp until the beach.

We enjoyed the panoramic sight, chatted, and... browsed in virtual world! Yap, there is no signal in that village, except at  particular spots. And at the beach, the signal was full. B-)

 Pantai Pulaumanuk

We got our lunch there, it’s called ‘botram’ . The menu: ikan layur bakar and nasi timbel. Delicious! :9

We continued our vacation to Sawarna Beach. Have you ever heard about sawarna beach? You may browse to know more. Hehee...

 Transportasi: mobil bak terbuka (doc:MWK)

We continued our vacation to Sawarna Beach. Have you ever heard about sawarna beach? You may browse to know more. Hehee...

Di bagian air sungai cisawarna yg masuk ke laut warnanya agak kehijauan, kemudian bergradasi semakin biru ke arah laut 

Pantai Sawarna (doc: MWK)

We didn’t take a long time there. Only took some pictures at an elevated place and enjoyed the scenery in minutes. beautiful. 

And we faced the last evening at Mekarsari. We played for the last time, and gave them chocolates and wafers , gifts from Ka Mutia, hemmm.... Yummy :9 

Monday. January, 28^th 2013 

We had full of preparations that morning. Then, had a small farewell with Mekarsari’s people. We left from Mekarsari to Rangkasbitung around 7.15 am. From bus station we went to Rangkasbitung railway station and it was 11 am. And my BFM Lebak’s journey ended there.  I was separating with the group to continue another journey of mine :)

Thanks to:

BFM yang telah memberikan kesempatan untuk ikut menginspirasi di Lebak, Banten

Teman volunteer, senang susah sama-sama. Tapi kayaknya aku pribadi lebih banyak nyumbang susah, maap yak (^_^”)v

Pak Hariri selaku humas SD mekarsari, dan Guru” SD yang telah kami repotkan

Ummi Koyah & Abah sebagai basecamp provider selama di Mekarsari

Mama Dimas yang selalu stand by bantu kami di dapur setiap waktu memasak

Seluruh tetangga yang kiriman makananannya mengalir tanpa putus, menyambung nyawa cacing-cacing perut kami yang lapar terus-menerus :D

Anak-anak Mekarsari yang unyu-unyu dan masih polos, kalian semua JUARA!

Special thanks to mbak Nindya Herdianti dan Pak Dudung yang sudah bersedia menyunting grammar dan vocab tulisan amburadul ini, hehhe

Kalian sudah membuat 10 hari menjadi sangat berarti