Indonesia - First School Stop

After getting supplied in Fiji and Paupa New Guinea we set sail through the Torres Strait just above Australia. We arrived in Tual, Indonesia and after a day long check in procedure, we got ready to make our way west through some of the less travelled places in Indonesia.

After a boisterous overnight sail, we arrived at a small village called Tutumental.  We met the teacher on our first trip to shore and learned that he was the only person in the village who spoke English.

We arranged to bring supplies to his 50 students the next day and went back to the boat to put everything together.  The next afternoon we took our tender to shore to discover that the town was covered in bright flags and banners.  This can't be for us we thought....  And we were correct.  We learned that an important official was coming for a visit this day and that the children had been taken out of school and were performing for him...

Not too discouraged we found Hendric (the teacher) and left him with 50 sets of pencil cases and a soccer ball.  We did see all the children dressed up for the dignitary and eventually saw his boat entourage arrive (3 hours late)...

The village school

Hendric and their new school supplies!

 

From here we stopped a few times and gave small gifts to passing fishing families.  This is also the first tme we gave local families reading glasses!  We are still learning how to properly give these glasses away, as the locals are under the mistaken impression that the stronger the glasses, the better they are....  We will figure this out as we go along...

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Blessings