Meeting the People of Telunas, Indonesia!

By Jay Lohman

Recently I went on Senior Sneak with my grade to Telunas, Indonesia. One of the biggest highlights of my trip was getting to know the locals.

Upon arrival in Indonesia, we had local workers from the resort pick us up in small boats to take us to the island resort. Immediately they were very friendly and truly gave us a warm welcome with traditional music. The staff at Telunas were also very caring. According to David Kilgo, "I told one staff member at Telunas my name once, and the next day all the staff members knew my name."

Although the resort employees did not have perfect English, I could speak a little Bahasa Indonesia to understand and share stories with them. They were always delightful to talk to and never said anything negative. We also had lots of fun playing games with the workers like ping-pong, cornhole, soccer, and sepak takraw, which is a traditional Malaysian game like playing volleyball with your feet and head.

On the second day in Indonesia, we visited an elementary school in a poor fishing village nearby for our service project. As we arrived by boat, a crowd of kids was already at the dock to greet us, and we followed them back up into the village to where their school was. As we approached the bottom of the hill to the school, some students began playing music for us and invited us in with cheering.

As we were sitting in the meeting classroom to get a quick briefing on the day's events, the students were climbing on each other to reach windows and try and peer in to see us. While at the school, we taught the kids some English words, played many games with them, gave them some new sports equipment, and helped make a concrete pad for the students to park their bikes. After we had finished, the students showed us a traditional dance they had prepared and then taught us how to do it. We all had a great time, and they were extremely hospitable.

Overall, the locals of Telunas, Indonesia were not very affluent; however, they were some of the happiest, most caring, and friendly people I have ever met. It made for the best Senior Sneak I could have hoped for.