INDO DIARIES 2010 - Wednesday 14th July - GOODBYE P-WEC! (2)

So, the four of us headed into Malang on the scooters. The ride was awesome. not only was it refreshing to leave P wec, but it was the first time for Ian to see true Indonesian countryside.

Indonesia is one of my favourite countries to visit, it is so magical, so beautiful....but sadly, so corrupt as well.

There were mountains all around us. it was a lovely day too (It always is in Indonesia!).

We went straight to the Pro Fauna offices where we had to explain and wait and explain more our situation. Finally, Butet said we could leave the programme. Yatta! ....So long as we paid them the missing money....! back to square one.

We were even offering security, phones, anything. We just wanted to leave P wec, not even leave Malang.  utet said she would let us stop at P wec today, and then, if we popped back into the office on Thursday, we could sort it out again. It would give me the chance to send some emails back to Japan at least. I emailed a really good friend, who happened to be online and who is a miracle worker. She was able to make some calls, but without being being, I am not sure how much she could find out.

Back to  P wec? I was keen to put al this behind me. My bags were ready (thank goodness as it was now late).  ES DEGAN!!! There was a solution! That dreamily deliciously refreshing drink able to right so many wrongs!

With Wi-Wi, asti's mum

We hit the road again, but not to return to P wec. Actually, we went back to Asti's parent's house! She wanted to see me again and to meet Ian. She had heard about what had happened and wanted to make sure we didn't have a bad impression of Indonesia from all this.

She had a little batik gift for me as she had seen me with a baby carrier the other day (traditional Javanese material wraps around the body to carry a baby. She had an even nice one to give me and showed me the proper way to use it.

We ate crackers - she had a huge selection, tembe crackers, gassava crackers, sweet potato chips and cakes, yummy cakes, but we were too polite to finish them all off, so we shared one.

We were so happy to receive such lovely hospitality from Asti's mum. She even fed us with black bean soup, so we were ready for the journey back to P wec.

Local children came to say 'Hello'.

Asti's cats

We also stopped by a hotel recommended by Butet, where we thought we could at least stay for the first night 'post-escape'.

As we drove back, I contemplated my ten days at P wec. They would have been very dull indeed had it not been for the wonderful characters of Harry, Wi-Wi & Asti. Without them, I would not have experienced a more real and genuine side to this part of the Javanese countryside.

Back at P wec, we were good to go. Asti had found a number for a taxi firm (40 40 40 - so simple!), so I wasn't really sure why everyone was faffing with the yellow pages pretending to not find the number for over ten minutes.

We were told to go and get ready. It was 2.20pm. We kindly asked for the taxi to arrive at 3pm, giving us more than enough time. We scuttled back to Mess parrot. I was still convinced something was amiss. why hadn't they ordered the cab straight away? I had a niggling feeling something would still stop us leaving at 3pm, despite our arrangement with Butet etc.

We got the bags, checked the room was empty and made our way back to the information centre. As we swapped email addresses with Asti, Irul, the main organiser said something in Indonesian to Asti. She translated it very formally to us, thanking us for coming to P wec, and apologising profusely for things not having worked out.

Then, out of the blue, he suggested that we call Butet back t confirm everything. I agreed to it, but not really sure why I did, as things had been arranged face to face. But, it was not the case. Clearly word had come down from a higher source since Butet and I had spoken.

When I spoke with her, she was very aloof and asked to speak to Irul. goodness only knows what was said, but after Irul put the phone down, he was expecting a payment....!

Basically, Butet had suggested that we pay for the time we had slept and eaten at the P wec compund, so in other words, pay twice as Rosek had wanted us to. It was all about MONEY...It was appalling.

Thinking about P wec and money, I suddenly realised a few things. The massage I had for 50,000IDR, I had paid directly to P wec and not to the little old lady from the village. A genuine massage at a hotel in Bali is 60,000IDR and that is by the pool! I think I had been ripped off, so had the little old lady.

Somehow we had the American dollars on us to pay for the stay so far, but this was money supposed to keep us going till the end of the month. Now we were without P wec, we were on our own in Java.

Irul, Ian, Lee, Asti

The taxi came at 3pm! A miracle. We were out of there. Poor Irul was genuinely upset. He was a really nice guy. 

P wec and Rosek are at fault here for bad, bad, bad organisation of their volunteers.

- no volunteer co ordinator to co ordinate with

- no schools to go and teach children at 

- no fixed schedules, plans constantly changing

- no real work planned

- volunteers ignored, not brought in to interact and help

- no materials to make anything, despite out main job being to make stuff

- no wildlife learning / teaching 

On the plus side, we had a great counterpart. Thank you Asti! Now it was just Ian and I and the rest of Indonesia!

INDO DIARIES 2010 - Wednesday 14th July - GOODBYE P-WEC! (1)

The foul mood and slight sickness (on Ian's sniffly part) continued. We woke to the early music from the village, raging and feeling very trapped and confused. We had no idea what to do. Any attempts we had made to organise a trip into town took hours to knock down the walls of resilience and responsibility.

This morning, we had finally made a plan to go to Malang with Asti; to go to Pro Fauna, print some pictures, buy some materials (with our money) and get the work done finally. We went down to breakfast - I knew it would be a great day.Even just one morning in Malang would provide a much needed change of scenery.

Rosek, the founder of the organisation was in the food hall. I wondered why. I offered him water which he refused, but he sat with us at our table ad rudely chatted to Asti in  Indonesian (he speaks good English...).

Ian had 'a look' in his eye and I could tell that something was about to unravel.

'We still haven't received your money, so we want you to pay again and if the money comes, we will send it to you.'

WHAT???

Basically, to volunteer with any organisation, you pay a nominal fee that usually covers expenses such as food & accommodation.

Actually, Rosek had brought up the issue of the money since day one (I didn't write about it as I didn't deem it necessary.) I paid the money later than I should have, but I made a money transfer at the Post Office near my work 2 weeks before my departure. Stupidly, the receipt was in Japan, or at least I hoped it was....it could have been thrown out with some many other bits of paper....

Anyway, in the first four days I was at P wec, I had run up a huge bill calling Ian to ask him to locate the receipt. I knew I had paid it. And, each time I saw a member of staff, I asked if they had located the money, but to no avail.

And, here I was, at the breakfast table being given no chance. What did they think - we were made of money?? I have come to learnt that there is a certain type of person in Indonesia who seems to think that the foreigners are rich. (See my post on HAWKERS). Of course, this is not true. We had worked so hard to save the money for this trip, and after the success of my Kalaweit volunteering trip, I was so excited to be able to volunteer again. But, here we were, sat with Rosek, who wanted us to pay again. Sure, we had spending money for the trip - we were away for a month, but would we really carry extra cash with us like this???

I was mortified. I had promised to sort it when I got back to Japan, and of course I couldn't do anything from the jungle location we were sat in, but this was not good enough for Rosek. Oh, can I mention here that his wife, Mate is in charge of the finances? She seemed all friendly when I met her, but now I can see she is as deviant as her husband. All he cared about was the money. I was close to tears, but held them back to be strong.

As we ate our breakfast, very reluctantly at this point, Rosek had the cheek to inform us that the next week, we would be 'trained' for the outbound activities (the outdoor area of activities that includes the flying fox etc). Once again, while I am happy to help a cause, I did not come to Indonesia to learn how to harness people to jump off a ledge.

Inside one of the rooms at the Mess Parrot
Read a little more about my arrive - My first day

There's more - He then told me that all the vehicles were being used by the 'guests' to P wec (they were going to Bromo Mountain, a trip he overcharges for, naturally.) Remember the move we had helped with? Well, it was the Chiness investors of P wec who were coming to stay and they needed a nice hut. Interestingly enough, the Mess Parrot was available, but perhaps the idea of shifting furniture appealed a whole lot more.

I was livid at this point. I can understand the need to look after the investors, but to do it at the cost of the volunteers and the people who actually want to come and physically HELP...?!?! It is such a shame because Rosek has turned a great idea (the charity of Pro Fauna & animal rescue) into a hideous money making enterprise (P wec) and even has the cheek to label it with the popular term 'Eco tourism'. Of course you would want to visit it. The centre at P wec had nothing to do with animals save the cages at the back but I was never allowed to interact only sneak a few photos in when no one was looking.

As I sat there in disbelief, I was certain that one of the 'nice' members of kitchen staff walked past me with a scowl.

OK, this was the wake up call. We excused ourselves form the breakfast table. We left on the pretence of going to the village. Both Ian and I had made our decision. We didn't even need to share it. We were leaving, and we were leaving today.

We still felt trapped but, as we started talking, we realised we could ad would figure a way out of this. They knew we had transferred the money. Why would we have flown to Indonesia to VOLUNTEER if we were freeloaders. it simply does not make sense.

We were thinking we could sneak our bags to the front of the P wec compound and order us a taxi out of there (how? we knew no number.)

I was prepared to walk the estimated 3 hours to Malang! That is how badly we wanted out of this.

Back at the room, we threw everything into our bags. Ian suggested roping Asti helping us. She could take a day off and help us get the taxi. He did try, but any talk to anyone at pwec resulted in our words hitting brick walls. We carried on packing.

Then Rosek appeared and spoke to Asti (not us) saying he wanted the money by Thursday (!) I lost it. I didn't want poor Asti to be in the middle but as I cried and complained, she found herself having to translate to Rosek, who could very well understand in any case.

I told him that it was pointless us being at Pwec. Nothing had been done to prepare for our arrival. Even the volunteer co ordinator had never been around to actually co ordinate anything. Our schedules had changed and we were not doing anything worthwhile to help. I had come for the animals and not even worked with any.

Surprisingly, the message was understood and Asti reasoned with him that we should go into Malang and visit Butet, the volunteer co ordinator.

We were told that there was another scooter driver available. Actually it was his day off, but like ALL of the other P wec staff, he had to come in and do the garden (interesting how they are pruning everything for these investors...).

So the plan was for us to head into town on the back of two scooters.....Phew. Malang, here we come.

INDO DIARIES 2010 - Tuesday 13th July

OK, Tuesday began as normal - with the annoying sound systems blaring out from villages afar. Frustratingly, the music stops about 6.30, after you have woken up....hmmmmphh

Breakfast was good, as per. More Indo food. It's a good diet and a heavy meal in the morning, setting you up for the day (usually rice and vegetables, or fried noodles, mi goreng, my favourite!)

We continued with the signs once again. Today, was a matter of screwing them into the ground. It was rather fun for a while and we got quite into it. The team work and the manual labour proved to be really satisfying.

Sign were held up by piping. Everything was recycled here.
One good thing about  P wec!

Ian getting ready to drill holes

Asti putting the nuts and bolts in.

Ready to be attached to the poles!

Ready to go!

 When we were done, Warno, whose idea it was and whose job it is to know all the plant names, came with us as we went to add the signs.

Ian and I thought it would have been so much more fun has they just given us a picture and we tried to find the plants ourselves. Still, good ideas weren't exactly their strong point here at P wec.

Ian doing it wrong!

It seemed we weren't able to get too involved with the work, only the mundane tasks. The few occasions Ian had the sickle, he was told that he was doing it wrong. Instead of showing him how, Warno just took the sickle and the pole and did it himself.

Plant and sign united!!!

We had a list building in our opinion on Pwec, and it was getting longer, faster.

After lunch, we were supposed to organise the educational games....again! This was more than frustrating as we had provided them with many ideas (we are professionals, so it is not difficult work), but apparently our ideas were not good enough. Then, contrary to a previous promise of printing out pictures, we were told we had to draw the animal cards. I can't draw to save my own life, but I was pleased my husband suddenly revealed a secret talent!

It was all rather strange that an 'education centre', which is what P wec is supposed to be, couldn't print out simple pictures for us to make materials.

Of course, we will find out later that they are not an 'education centre' at all. It is, as I keep hinting at, an eco-tourist stop off for the more well off domestic tourist, or at least that is what it seems.

As if directed by someone of authority, Asti went to get us some drawing supplies. It took her a super long time and once again, like many a time before, we had to wait for someone to provide us with nothing to do.

Ian and I had a heart to heart about the situation. It was very off indeed. If we couldn't print pictures at P wec, perhaps we could go to the offices in Malang, to Pro Fauna. We could print the pictures, or even buy the materials to make half decent ones (so far we had been given no colour pens or pencils, nor paper).

So we decided (Ian and I ) that we should go to Malang tomorrow, Wednesday to get supplies. Annoyingly, we could have brought everything ready made from Japan or at least brought some great supplies had we been such informed.

On top of all this, we had no idea when these games would actually be used. We were supposed to go to a wildlife watching activity on Saturday and the mobile library on Sunday, but we still didn't know anything about the schools. In fact, those were the only two activities in the rather dull and depressing looking schedule.

We were supposed to go a one school today, but that had been cancelled. And, the rest of the week was simply 'educational game production'. Ugh. Friday was the one day off.

Ian was more than annoyed. He had not done one constructive nor interesting thing since he had arrived. the signs hardly counted. That was their work and it was hardly worth flying to Indonesia to cut plastic.

There was a great feeling of entrapment here. I was lucky enough to see a rainbow, it helped lift my spirits ever so slightly.

When Asti eventually returned, she just told us there were no resources.

Aaarg. It was all too annoying. We had just sat around waiting during time that wasn't 'free time' as it wasn't on the schedule, yet we were doing nothing, just waiting for a badly organised load of NOTHING.

So, we talked about the new plan of going into town and organising the materials. We continued with our jungle stories (we didn't have much else to do anyway.) In fact, we even had a laugh doing them. Asti is lovely. She was there to help us and she did. Our volunteer co ordinator was never there to help nor guide us. That was awful.

By the time we went to bed, we had decided enough was enough. We needed out. We were not being looked after at all. We had paid a lot of money to come and join the volunteering scheme, not to mention travelled from Japan to Indonesia. It was too disappointing.

Ian wanted to up and leave Thursday night, before our 'day off' and not come back....I thought we should hold out until the animal watching on Saturday and the mobile library on Sunday. At least then we would have done something....Staying the whole duration of 3 weeks was just out of the question.

INDO DIARIES 2010 - Monday 12th July

What a great day! As I write, it is 8pm and we are sat outside playing chess. Thankfully, Radius is beating Ian! Serves him right for always beating me!

sawo - a pear-like fruit

sawo

 Radius was kind enough to bring us some fruit to eat. It was really good!

Our schedules have been changing again and again and to be honest, no one seems to know what we are supposed to do here. We booked a month with P wec, you would have thought they could organise our schedule? Maybe not.

We think that the next couple of days is about preparation and then next week, we shall put our plans into action. We will assist with the mobile library on Sunday it seems, and 'teach' next week at the school. Apparently, it is hard to organise the school teaching as most of them are closed over the summer holiday. This seems strange to me as they should have been aware of this at P wec. So, for now, all we can do is get ready.

This morning, we painted the signs with the names of the plants.

Using twigs as paintbrushes, we got quite involved with the task at hand, and it took the lunchtime gong to alert us to our hunger.

Lunch was a treat of quails eggs in a chilli sauce, but I ate too much and went for a 2 hour nap! So lazy!

At 3pm, we all met again to discuss the kid's games for the mobile library. We made a plan of the things that needed to be printed and made up little stories for the Chinese whispers games.

Rosek suddenly appeared. He needed helping moving furniture. They are making more space available for visitors to stay when they come to P wec, such is the popularity (you see, I told you it was about the money.)

It was good to help the staff, they are nice and friendly.

And, so, since dinner, we are just chatting with Radius. He comes from Sumatra and he is telling us about the coffee in Bungkulu, word has spread that Ian and I love our coffee! Sounds like Sumatra is the place for us. He tells us tales of adventures, animals and coffee beans strong enough to keep us awake, even on the laziest of days. 

In my sleep, I planned my tour of Sumatra and its islands.

INDO DIARIES 2010 - Sunday 11th July

I think we woke at 0727. Considering we went to bed at 8pm, that was some snooze!

Ian catching up on his sleep, I can understand, but I am just plain lazy!

Pro Fauna IS the animal protection group, but we are staying at P wec.
The two are run by the same guy, but P wec is the money making 'eco-tourist'
holiday /volunteer destination. We did not 'save' any animals while we were there.

At breakfast, we learnt of another change to our plan. We were told that we would go to the part of the forest inhabited by many species of bird, but no, not any more. We were to 'assist' P wec, again, only this time it was a group of teachers from Surabaya. They were just going to do the flying fox today.

We sat at the bamboo chairs, getting ready to 'assist' (i.e. doing nothing), then Asti, our lovely counterpart said we needed to prep some educational games for when we visited the schools to teach the children. (Part of the volunteer outline is to meet children and help them understand about their environment. It is basically an extension of my own job, but I was so happy to do it.)

We thought of a few games like memory, Chinese whispers, guess the animal and it was suddenly snack time.

lopes 

Today, it was rice mixed with a little coconut sugar and then some grated coconut on top. It was much less sugary than yesterday, you could tell form the crowd too. They were so subdued. You barely knew they were there. Apart from a few photos, they didn't really want to interact.

Lunch was yummy!

Lunch over, we had a new task. We were to make 'educational signs' for the P wec compound. Some of the plants and trees you could see had little hand made signs standing in the ground next to them. The names of the plants were in Indonesian and in Latin. We were going to make more.

Let me take this moment to say that this is my second trip too Indonesia volunteering. I am always happy to help but making signs???!!! It felt so, pathetic. With Kalaweit, ((Kalaweit Blog entries here))I came to save the gibbons, and I really felt like I did some good work, yet here, there are no animals like was falsely lead to believe, nor is there any 'real' work for us to do.

Asti emerged from the kitchen with 9 plastic containers of coconut oil, mostly empty, some with greasy dregs inside. Nice. We were to make four signs from each container.

Ian hard 'at work'.

Using blunt tools, we proceeded over the course of the afternoon.

We managed to cut out the rectangle shapes and
even round them with scissors and file them with sandpaper. 

We painted them bamboo green too and left them to dry.

Asti reminded us that we should think about what to do with our days off. Apparently, north of Malang were some lovely beaches, or of course, there was the great Mount Bromo to climb. Sunrises there were deemed to be the best in Asia (beating Fuji san?!) now, that has to be seen!

It is 8pm and the insane soundtrack of the local villagers keeps me awake. The speakers have been on full force now each night. I am told that they are 'celebrating' a circumcision - poor kid. They do it at 10 years old here, I dread to think how.

INDO DIARIES 2010 - Saturday 10th July

After a day in the car, I was unbelievably tired.

We woke up just in time for breakfast. I felt bad for Ian as it was his first day but we had to start 'work' at 9am.

I had had it easy up until now, as I had blended into or rather, stole, other people's schedules. Ian met Adam and Sam too, a British couple stopping here for a couple of nights. Actually, they are staying in the forest for their month of volunteering, studying the monkeys as they are zoology students.)

There was a group of kids staying from the night before and while we were having breakfast, there had been a few shouts of 'Hey mister!', and 'Hello sir'. They were all very genki and not too shy at all to interact with us.

With some of P wec visitors

Our first task for the morning and the afternoon was to observe, photograph and document the activities with the kids. During the morning, they were going crazy on the death slide, or the flying fox as it is better know here. They were a church group from Surabaya, but they were attached to a Sumatran Christian church, so to start the day, we watched a P wec video about the forests of Sumatra, and then they began their activities.

They were unbelievably lively, adults even more so than the kids. The kids did brave the activities but there were some tears.

Flying Fox. Kids had no fear!

We stopped for snack time, which was a pure injection of sugar!! You could see the long lasting effects on the adults more than anyone else!

lopes

The snack lopes consists of rice cakes, sticky like mochi, covered with coconut sugar and then topped with cocnut. Very tasty, but very sweet.

The activities continued way past midday, for the kids and adults alike wanted more and kept dragging each other back for more and more fun.

We slunked off for our lunch at the Mess Parrot, in peace, away from the crowd. We even managed to sneak in a much needed nap, before the kids raided the education area just above us. First they played  a game in the camping area (my green paradise from the last post) with cut off bits of piping. As a team, they had to join the piping together, even though they were different sizes and make a path for small balls to travel down. They had to do this for the length of the camping ground and back again. There were three teams of about 8 kids and 2 crazy adults.

We were just watching and taking pictures.

The pipe with the holes!

Then came the water game. This was highly amusing, despite just taking pictures and watching. Into a tall pipe, the kids have to pour water, to fill the bucket it is standing in. If the pipe can fill, there is a ping pong ball inside ready to catch and help you win!  The snag? The pipes have holes in! The rest of the team had to help block the holes with just their hands! It was a great idea and a great test of team work, even if it was the messiest, wettest game I have ever seen! But, in 30 degrees sunshine, no one is complaining about being soaked!

This gibbon was in a really small cage.
 I constantly asked Rosek if it was going to be sent to Kalaweit.
He insisted it would be, but I am not so sure.

He wasn't happy at all.
A gibbon showing you his bottom means he does not like you!
This poor guy was not being treated so well, I thought.
But, I gave P wec the benefit of the doubt at this early stage.

One of the Javan Langurs.

They had more space to live in than the gibbon.

When I asked about their rehabilitation, answers were vague.

Something told me that these guys were just here to show the visitors that  there  was some sort of rescue/rehabilitation programme in place.

Suddenly, it was 3 o'clock. Our day was done. I decided to show Ian the monkeys and the gibbon too. After that, we took a stroll down to the village. He loved it; the scenery, the kids smiling, everything was great. We walked along the very same paths that Harry had shown me on Tuesday.

By the time we returned, it was already dinner time and it was not long before our heavy eyes locked up for the night, only to open for the next feed of the next day.

INDO DIARIES 2010 - Friday 8th July

Ian arrives today!!!

And, so that I am able to go and meet him, today is my 'day off'. I literally have nothing to do all day but read and write.

I just discovered a totally green area just behind the education centre.

I carefully placed my throw on a raised bit, so I could sit, legs dangling, taking in the sights, sounds, smells and just observe.

The only problem is that if you are at one with nature, then nature is at one, or, in this case, at war, with me.

With just a few words on my note pad, I had to flee. There was a group of ants invading my leg and they were ready to attack!

Now, I am perched in the blazing sunshine, burning my bottom.

The weather here is strange; the mornings are so very cool, maybe even misty and cloudy, but by 9am, it starts to heat up for the day.

Back to the secret field. You approach it from the education area, which is a small wooden band-stand-style hut.There are banners displaying information about primates, some showing information, some just pictures.

Then, there are steps to a secluded bungalow, with a few more steps that lead you to the the rectangular field. (I was later told that it was the P wec camping ground).

In a mere ten minutes, I have seen 4 different types of butterflies, an ant as big as my fingernail, a thick and heavily woven spider's web. There are so many species of plants and flowers, with leaves like no other, some longer than myleg, some open like my hand (but with more fingers), some bushy, some prickly.

I can hear thunder grumbling in the distance, but I am sure it is so far that we are not to expect a storm, not now that a gentle breeze is blowing the withered leaves on the ground, making them rustle.

---------------------------------------------------------

We are driving from P wec to Surabaya (3 hours by car, without traffic). We passed through the city of Malang, as well as many villages and factories. The traffic is insane, but my driver is not afraid to honk his horn, nor overtake each vehicle.

I saw one tobacco adverts with the words 'Smart, Sophisticated' (Swrya Slims) and 'fashionable' on another. Could you glamorise this deathly habit any more?> Ugh

yuk

Train travel in Indo could be an experience...

Porong - It's like a 'must-see' spot, now

We hit an area called Porong. My driver explained to me that four years ago, there was an explosion in the ground and mud basically came out. Apparently, it never stopped coming out, and there is a huge mud pond. Traffic reduces to one lane, and movement is slow.

Harry

knives

Harry, his wife, & I

We had to drop some things off at Harry's house first, just outside Surabaya. What a great time, we had, drinking tea and chatting about all his travels! He showed me many different styles of knives from Indonesia too!

After 9 hours on the road, Ian and I reached P wec, exhausted from the road travel.

The volunteer experience was about to truly begin....Or was it?

We were about to learn a thing or two within the next few days....