Day 5: In the Village

On day five, we finally made it to Jang, the island where we would be doing our work. We got up, did our normal routine, and then left for the island right after breakfast.

Our first day, we were all working together on a manual labor project. For many of our students, this was a very new experience. Of all of the kids that I talked to the day before, the only ones who had ever done any type of manual labor were the American kids who had been on other missions trips with their families (we had two staff kids with us). One of the girls in my group asked if helping her mom plant flowers counted. Considering none of the other girls had even done that much, I decided it did!

Our project was to work on building a wall around the school to keep out animals and people that shouldn't be on the "campus". We started by moving the bricks we would need for the wall closer to where we would be putting it up. Then we started digging a trench to pour cement into.

Once the trench was dug, we started mixing cement (basically sand and small rocks) to start the foundation of the wall.

Those students who were not working on the trench were playing with the Indonesian schoolchildren who had returned to school after their testing just to see us. They were so sweet!

Those of us who had never been to the island before went on a short walk through the village with our group leader. Several people in our group had done a short stay in the village the day before, so they knew many of the people, and we enjoyed meeting them.

It was hot, the kids got sunburned, and we were all exhausted after just a few hours worth of work. I swear. Just being on the equator feels like work. We were more than ready when they said it was lunch time.

The teachers at the school served us lunch as a way to say thank you. We had fish soup (Their entire economy is based on fish. They eat a lot of fish.), chicken legs, rice, and watermelon. The food was really good, and we felt very grateful to get to have chicken-a rare treat for them.

After lunch, we headed back to Telunas and the kids cooled off by jumping off the dock. It felt good to finally have spent some time in the village--the part of the trip that we had spent months preparing for! It brings me right back just to look at these pictures and see the happiness in their eyes!