A. The Making of Squat Toilets and Molds
The last few days I've had the pleasure of witnessing an artisan process of making squat toilets, as well as the molds that are used to create them. The former involves different layers and mixtures of cement, calcite, and sand, using a mold as a base. The latter involves mixtures and layers of resin, pigment and fiber glass mat. These processes have been used in a part of Lombok Island, and the experienced tukang from Lombok are now here sharing their knowledge with the local tukang from around east Flores.
The moment I picked up the sponge and started applying wax to the Master, all the tukang around me stopped what they were doing to stare. After a moment, they began cheering me on in their own way, offering me bits of advice like, "Disini belum ada!" ("This spot here is missing some!"), and one even started taking photos of me with my camera. When I started to paint the pigment mixture on, one of them excitedly pointed out, "Bu, ada lobang disini!" ("Ma'am, there's a hole in this spot!"). I decided to interpret their advice as a way of showing support. Everyone just wanted to be helpful.
B. Gender
The workshop is made up of 28 participants, all male tukang from various regencies in Flores Timur, including some of the smaller islands further east. There are three tukang from Lombok that make up the trainers, as well as two or three local assistants/employees of YDD, all male.
Bu Chris, my boss, a female, is the primary organizer. Pak Rafael, another leader, is the head of YDD-Larantuka. Then there's me, the only foreigner, and the only other female attending the workshop next to Bu Chris.
Not attending the workshop, yet still critical to its success, are a group of five local women, including Pak Rafael's wife, who are responsible for the snacks, coffee, and tea during breaks that take place in the morning and in the afternoon. They come and hang out during these moments, so I've been able to talk to them a bit. These women have been making our delicious coffee, using beans roasted/"fried" a traditional way over a three-stoned fire.
Recognizing the primary role of women as cooks in this area, Bu Chris spent some time asking these women about their cooking habits, and whether or not they would be interested in trying out an improved cooking stove that uses kulit kemiri (candlenut shells) as fuel. The women seemed quite interested. This is actually another project that Bu Chris has been pursuing, and for which I helped edit a Nexus grant sometime last year (which, unfortunately, we didn't get.)
C. Indonesian Ethnic Groups
During this workshop, I've been able to witness the interaction between various ethnic groups in the same place. There's Bu Chris, an ethnically Chinese woman from Java, interacting with males from both Lombok and Flores, and women from Flores.
I can't say much besides that the interaction seems to be very positive. Bu Chris has been visiting Flores since 2010 on various STBM related projects, so she has established a strong connection with the YDD employees. As for the local tukang, everyone pays respect to Bu Chris, recognizing her position as a supervisor. Bu Chris in turn does a great job encouraging the capacity of everyone else present to get work done. Her role, she has told me on several occasions, is simply to make sure that things run smoothly and in an organized way. While the tukang from Lombok are good at training others, they may not necessarily know how to handle large groups of people, and that's when Bu Chris will step in as a leader.
There are a few things worth noting about ethnicity in Larantuka: many of the shop owners in the "downtown" area (a few streets near the waterfront) are either ethnically Chinese or from Makassar. I actually noticed this immediately, because Chinese-Indonesians tend to have fairer skin and straight hair, whereas people in Flores tend to have curlier hair and dark skin.
D. Entrepreneurship and Appropriate Technology
Bu Chris and I were talking about the Chinese presence, and she commented that local entrepreneurial drive is not particularly strong, with business opportunities instead taken up by outsiders who have to come Flores to settle down. That being said, women still play a vital role in the traditional markets, where they sell various commodities.
The hope, though, is for the workshop to stimulate local entrepreneurial ventures, especially for the establishment of STBM-related technology. YDD and SIMAVI's goal here, as with the cookstove project, is simply to stimulate the establishment of local markets. When combining demand (driven by increased awareness of the STBM five pillars) and supply (driven by the growth of manufacturing and the establishment of a local market), it all depends on the people. This in contrast to a top-down approach where items are disseminated, for example, by the government, and there's very little focus on capacity-building (this was seen in Watumilok in my previous entry.)
E. The White Guy
There is a white guy here, a participant named Demon (where the 'e' in Demon rhymes with the 'e' in 'went'). And no, he is not a foreigner. In fact, he comes from around here, born and raised. Flores is home to him.
According to Pak Rafael, there are other Indonesians like Demon who looks remarkably like a white westerner, and many of them are common in this area. Supposedly they are descendants of the Portuguese.
For me, this was a complete mind trip. I've heard of locals inheriting colored eyes from Europeans, but never the entire package. I struggled not to stare at him too much, and not to observe his behavior in such an obvious way.
I also had to re-wire my mind into thinking that this man, despite looking very much like a white westerner, might not practice any European-related customs. He speaks Indonesian and shares a similar culture with the other Flores tukang. So when he flipped his cap backwards and the thought of a "bro" popped into my mind, I mentally chuckled but immediately dissociated him with all the stereotypes that come with a backwards cap.
Indeed I want to ask this guy about a million questions about his family and his lineage, but the timing has never seemed right. Not only that, but I gotta think about how I'm going to ask without being offensive and weird about it! He comes off a bit more reserved than the others, but he's still polite in the same way, like when he said "Ayo!" to me, inviting me to come out for lunch.
I've noticed that the others who are meeting him for the first time have started calling him "Bule" in jest, and I wonder if he minds. Surely by now his own village is used to his appearance (especially if there are other white Indonesians like him), but people from other regencies may not be, and maybe he doesn't get this kind of attention very often.
F. Bonding with My Boss
The last few days have allowed me to really get to know my boss more, as we've had a lot of down time during breakfasts and dinners to chat. She reminds me a lot of my mother, somebody who is hard-working, not afraid to take risks, and thinks in a very logical way. Like my mother, she also knows when to take charge, is rather comfortable being behind the wheel, and can also speak up when something isn't right.
She's also caring towards others, and especially her children. She once expressed how she misses her daughter, who now lives in Bandung, because whenever her daughter is in town they'll usually do everything together -- shopping, cooking, baking, jalan-jalaning, etc. That's exactly the kind of stuff my mom and I do.
Actually, talking to Bu Chris makes me miss my mother very much.
G. Religion
Unlike Java, which is predominantly Muslim, Flores is predominantly Roman Catholic. Larantuka, in particular, is famous around Indonesia for a procession they hold every Easter for Mother Mary. (I really wish I could go.) There's also a small tiny island nearby, which appears to be covered in trees, except for a tiny section that showcases a giant statue of Jesus Christ. I saw it from a distance as we were driving in to town.
I told Bu Chris today that being in Larantuka actually reminded me a lot of the Philippines, especially Marinduque, the island where my dad grew up. Aside from the whole island thing, Marinduque also holds a procession during Easter, though the emphasis and history is different.
Pictures when I'm less sleepy. Tomorrow, I'm visiting a town called Wae Bau (?), where they're going to build some kind of rain catchment system...
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