Hello Rainbow Chasers!

 

A lot has been going on in Flores over the last two months, so it’s time to share some news with you. Have fun reading!

 

Good bye Roe, Hello Datak!

 

After three months in the village of Roe, Manggarai Barat, it was time for me to move on to the next Pelangi-Location. Time in Roe has been flying and when I felt I was becoming a part of the community, I already had to go.

 

But before I left the kids I had been spending a quarter of a year with, we had a great farewell ceremony with everybody in the elementary school.

From the teachers I got a traditional Manggarai-Outfit and the kids prepared some songs and unbelievably cute letters. They also brought fruits and vegetables from the fields of their families and for this reason I ended up with 20 kilo of pineapples, bananas and corn. So funny!

 

Saying good bye to the kids of Roe was not easy and seeing all my little students so sad gave me a really hard time. After three month of daily learning and playing I felt I left a lot of new little brothers and sisters behind. The kids of Roe impressed me with their enthusiasm and all their little personal characteristics and made my time with them unforgettable.

 

I am thankful towards everybody who welcomed me in Roe as a part of their village and their family and who made my time in Roe so great.

I hope that during my time there I have been an inspiration and a friend for the kids and opened a window to the world outside their village for them.

 

Even though my work in Roe will be interrupted now, I hope that other volunteers will continue what I began. The kids of Roe deserve it.

 

As hard as it was to part from Roe, as excited was I to get to the next village: Datak!

Datak is also located in the Manggarai regency about two hours from Labuan Bajo.

Since it is not located next to the Trans-Flores Highway, it’s a bit hard to reach and the road with all its holes reminds me of a lunar landscape.

Datak has about 700 inhabitants and is located in a valley, surrounded by steep mountains. This makes it hard to get a phone signal in Datak, and the national sport is wandering around the rice paddies, your phone reached out for the sky in desperate search for signal to appear.

I had a really warm welcome in Datak and the kids are a great compensation for the hardships of living in that remote area.

 

Pelangi 2.0

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In Datak, we sorted and stamped the books and added new ones to the collection. We also put a new bookshelf to store everything and, best of all, we got a perfect new place for the library.

 

Taman Bacaan Pelangi Datak is now located in the kindergarten building just opposite the school. The kindergarten offers a roof, tables and chairs and can house a number of reading kids. In the afternoon time it’s not occupied and therefore free for Pelangi activities. Yeah!!!

 

I also introduced reading cards to the kids, so the kids (and me :D) can keep track of their reading record and I can register the participants more easily. With that done, I hope Pelangi and its books will be a more frequent place to visit for the kids of Datak!

 

Since my visa is running out after six month in Indonesia, I will head to Singapore next days to get a new one and hopefully come back with a lot of fresh energy and new ideas for Datak!

 

Hope you are doing well all over Indonesia and elsewhere and will look out for more news from Flores in the future.

 

Take care,

Lukas