Messah island is located not far from the western part of Flores Island, Labuan Bajo. Public boat from Labuan Bajo – Messah Island operates daily, unlike public boat to other islands in Komodo National Park area. On Thursday, March 16, 2017 Dewi and I were ready to leave for Messah Island from the Fish Market at Labuan Bajo.

At around 12pm, the boat left and it took one hour to reach this populous small island. On March 17 and 18, the teachers and principal of SDN Pulau Messah were to participate in library management and library period workshop by Rainbow Reading Gardens.

 

Pier of Love at Messah Island

At around 1pm we arrived at Pier of Love, as they call it, at Messah Island. It felt like we were welcomed by tons of love starting from the pier. Hahaha. We don’t need to worry about our luggage as many came to help. Thank you very much! 😀

As we arrived at the principal’s house, I was distracted by the kids playing chess at school. I approached them. Evidently, in the other part of the school, some other children were playing volleyball, badminton, takraw, and javelin. What was happening here???

A Chess Match
Court Filled with Athletes from SDN P Messah

Ah! They were to compete with other schools for O2SN in the upcoming week at Komodo Island. No wonder that the school was full of students playing sports. And with high confidence in me, I said yes to their invitation to play volleyball and badminton.

Challenged by a Badminton Athlete, Why Not?

At that time, I suddenly forgot that I did not get used to exercising. All of a sudden, I push aside the importance of saving my energy for the workshop. Their invitation was too tempting to be missed.

On Friday, the first day of the workshop, I woke up with pain on my wrists. “It must be due to yesterday’s activity,” I predicted. However, I have to do the workshop however my condition was.

The workshop was carried out at the library, and since the workshop was about the active participation of the participants, it was them who did most of the activities. The workshop was also easier for us as the we could implement the discussion right away, such as regarding the furniture arrangement and book leveling.

Serious Discussion is Happening

I was not sure whether I did not learn from what I’ve experienced or children’s invitation was too tempting, yet after the workshop on that first day, we went to the hill and saw the entire island from the highest point in Messah.

“Tour Guide” to Messah Hill

After hiking, my feet were stiff. With confidence as high as hope, I did not care about the pain and prepared for the workshop on the next day.

The second day of the workshop was mostly about reading activities. I was glad to see the teachers enjoying the activities. Pain on my wrists and feet? It was gone! 😀

Hurray!!!
Demonstrating Reading Aloud

The workshop was wrapped up by the joy during reading activities. After the workshop, I hurried to the pier to jump into the sea. It turned out that it had passed the time for the children to swim at the sea. They usually do at noon. They may be worried that their parents got mad at them if they went home wet. It was 5pm. Oh no!

We were lucky that some guys from junior high school were willing to jump into the water with us.

Jumping to the Sea

It seemed like I could do a lot in Messah Island during that brief stay. Yet, I feel like there is more to do here. I think there is no such thing as tiredness in Messah island. Every little thing should not be missed!

 

Mahrita