Where kids learn and grow in academics and in Christ-like character
Febry and Eddie Sangian had a vision from God to start a school. After obeying God's call on their life, they have been educating children for five years right out of their own home.
The school environment is "family-like" and focuses not only on academic excellence, but also helps to develop the individual character of each student to become "Bright Stars" in every area of their lives.
Children in Indonesia do not have free education. Some families do not have enough money to send their children to a good school. Bright Star school wishes to subsidize one student for every ten enrolled, who cannot afford a good education. The school needs higher enrollment, so they can help even more students become good leaders in the future.
This video was made by Andrew Hall and myself to help promote the school to the local community in Jakarta, Indonesia. It truly is a great school to send your kids!
The PhotogenX track team is currently enduring an 8 hour layover in the Doha International Airport after a red-eye flight from Jakarta, Indonesia. Ummm, safe to say, we feel "at home" here??
We enjoyed the presence of Steven King from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during our last two weeks in Jakarta. He taught us how to create multimedia packages to present the stories we've come across during our travels. We got to spend one of our classes at Starbucks, so we could all get on the Internet to upload our video projects.
Brightstar Community School now has some of my artwork gracing its walls.
This painting is inside the older kids' classroom.
This next painting is near the front entrance to the school.
We're really going to miss Febry and Eddie, and their kids Josh and Jessica, and Miss Mika who graciously hosted us in their home for the last 2 months.
Tips on how to survive Jakarta:
1) Accept the fact that traffic is traffic. If you don't drive, take a book, or some work because five kilometres could mean three hours.
2) Hold you breath when walking down the street. Or wear a WW2 gas mask.
3) Don't drive behind a "bajaj" or "Tuc Tuc"
4) Scooters and motorbikes are the "cockroaches" of the city. They can get you places faster, but the risk of death is much higher
5) Learn the "Rat Roads" that tightly weave in-between buildings and houses, just don't get lost!
6) People stare and like to take photos of you because you're "boolay," AKA foreign. Just pretend you're famous.
7) Hang out with the locals - they know the cool spots, how to get there, and they get the best prices.
8) Take time to savour a patch of grass, if you find one.
9) Even when the heat outdoors is unbearable, bring a sweater to go into shopping malls, restaurants, cafés or hotels because the air conditioning will turn you into a Popsicle.
10) Try Indonesian food, but watch out! It's some of the spiciest food I've ever tried.
Indonesia is made up of over 17,000 Islands. Each Island speaks their own language, but everyone has a common language as well. We have been staying on the main Island of Java.
My first day in Bali, I spent scuba diving. We explored USS Liberty shipwreck located in the north of the island (Tulamben). It was the most beautiful dive I have yet experienced.
On Gili-T Island, a man trims his Bonsai Tree. This tree is 12 years old. He owns a collection of 7 trees. He refused to sell a single tree when a foreigner offered 1,000,000 rupia, because he would rather sell the entire collection as a whole.
The coral that washes up on shore has beautiful shapes and textures and are usually a dull colour compared to the live coral under the surface of the sea.
This young man (I'm so bad at remembering names) is fixing up this old boat.
The dedicated boat repair crew working into the night. There are many bicycles on the Gili Islands. There are no motorized vehicles, only horses, bicycles and the foot express.
While here, I ran around the WHOLE island. (It wasn't that big)
We also danced alot :)
The day I walked through a cloud. This is Mt. Rinjani on Lombok Island.
The view from part way up by day.
The same view at sunset.
Rinjani is an active volcano. It last errupted in 2011. The volcano is 3,726 metres (12,224ft) making it the second highest volcano in Indonesia. The volcano is surrounded by a crater lake known as "Segara Anak". The climb to this point took us one day.
Porters carried food, bedding, water and firewood up the mountian using two weaved baskets tied to either end of a bamboo stick. It was hard enough climbing with a small backpack, so I couldn't imagine how tough it would be to balance that much weight on one shoulder.
We set up camp here for the night at an elevation of 2600 metres. It was only about 10 degrees and rained a little over night.
After our climb, my legs were dead. So, here I am on a pink scooter with a Super Mario helmet.
Photo courtesy of my travel friend, Kim, from Germany.
Exploring Lombok Island on my little scooter was one of my favourite things to do. The island was free of traffic and full of nature, beautiful beaches, animals and rice fields.
Sometimes along the way I would need to stop and wait for animals to cross. I also had a rack for a surfboard on the side of my scooter, and spent lots of time on the waves.
In Ubud, Bali I visited a "Monkey Forest" with my friend Kanny. Here are two females picking things out of eachothers hair.
The little guys were just so cute!! Kanny held his hand out to one, but the protective mother scared us away.
They were play-fighting. awwww!
Monkey face.
Some rice fields.
We visited a rice field where a series of pools were created down a hillside, each draining into eachother. We had some fresh coconut milk on the hillside.
Back in Bali, most of my time was spent on the beach. The locals were very friendly and so fun to hang out with. I ate lots of local food, ran along the beach, and went surfing lots!
Some of my travel friends from Frace and Germany. They were great!
Thanks to my mom and dad for this holiday! They must really love me :)
