Greetings

 

Greetings from Yogyakarta, Indonesia! We are the faculty leaders, Sally Jo and Ron Milne. We led the last SST group here in 2001, and we have led other SST groups in Haiti, Cote d’Ivoire, and Senegal. We have lived in Indonesia several times in the past 18 years, both with Goshen College and also with Mennonite Central Committee. We have been here now for the past 6 weeks preparing for the group of students that will arrive on January 11, 2019. We are looking forward to their arrival!

We are living in a simple, but adequate, house which will be referred to as “Rumah Goshen.” It is the place where we will have a weekly debriefing and meal with the students. We have also enjoyed getting to know some of our neighbors by joining their exercise group on Saturday mornings.

 

We have been working with a team of people at Duta Wacana Christian University to plan all of the lectures, field trips, language study, service assignments, and host families for our group of students. Their lectures and language study will be held on this campus.

During the weeks leading up to Christmas we attended many departmental Christmas parties that always included music, a sermon, and food, and often also included group games. Sally Jo was one of the winners at one of those events.

We have now completed visits to all of the host families and we have also visited almost all of the potential service locations. We are excited about all of the possibilities and deeply appreciative of the hospitality that we have been shown.

School at a rural Catholic church and a ripe dragon fruit in their church/school garden.

Meeting with a group that offers activities and care for young children in a rural area.

Visiting an elementary school that emphasizes agriculture and has a garden plot and a fish pond for each class. Some of the students served us tea and snacks.

 

 

 

Visiting an organization on the outskirts of Yogyakarta that provides services and educational support for street children.

 

 

 

 

 

Another organization serves people with disabilities in many ways, including the production of prostheses and therapeutic activities in a swimming pool.

 

 

 

 

Along the way we have had numerous opportunities to sample local cuisine.

 

 

 

 

We have also had an opportunity to wander through a rural village, as the students will do on one of their field trips. It was a clear day, and we had a great view of Mt Merapi which also overlooks Yogyakarta.

When students arrive they will spend their first night in a university dormitory surrounded by beautiful grounds. They will have basic orientation activities the next day before meeting their host families that evening.

Welcome to Indonesia! Selamat datang!