"Ujung rotan itu kasih sayang."

                      "Dipukul berarti bukan benci, namun sayang."

                 "Kita harus keras karena merekanya juga begitu."

Thus spoke Pak Marten, our unexpected guest on a chill night, last Thursday.

He spoke of insights about Sumba, and mostly it's about the culture around here: It was, nevertheless, an interesting conversation albeit very one-sided; we positioned ourselves as mere foreigner who knows little to nothing, to let him keep speaking his perspective of intrigue in a polite, soft-toned manner. I may or may not be able to write all of them here, but I am fortunately willing to write about a certain subject he spoke about.

Pak Marten is a middle-school teacher in Sumba; he deals regularly with children. Now, what would you think a teacher should be, nowadays? A person who merely teach children the subject they’re expertising in with a cold, calculated manner? Perhaps also a mentor that is obligated to discipline audacious children? Well, Pak Marten is both, but in what way? How far does this act of disciplinary go?

And so, Pak Marten told us all about it. You see, he told us that the children in most of the schools in Sumba are absolutely difficult to handle: They’re a brash, brazen, ill-mannered bunch. And it is understandably so! There’s a lot of factors that should be taken into consideration of what shapes them since their early age? Drunk parents, free social circle, and a harsh environment that toughens them up, only to the wrong way. Pak Marten said a few things I quoted above, which I found to be quite puzzling, but also nonetheless interesting.

When I was listening to his words closely that night, he immediately transformed into a walking contradiction: You know, Pak Marten is the idealist kind; he somewhat reminds me a lot of Saskia, my dear senior. He told us that he’s also a writer within a big community (or so he said)! Surely, I thought, surely he has seen schools in major city and how the teachers operate, and he told us that he did! Yet strangely, he told us that they cannot use the city’s way to teach Sumba children: If one exhibits act of compassion towards the children, one would be marked as an easy-prey by them. He’s fully aware that the law is something you can rely on at the city, but here in Sumba, the matter is more complicated than that. He continued explaining how a few foreign teachers who have been transferred here fell victim upon such a thing because of how soft their method of teaching is; it’s like seeing a sheep being thrown into a wolf den!

And so, he said that most teachers in Sumba must succumb to the way that’s harsher; it’s either them who disciplines the children, or the children punishing the teacher for being soft. What terrible pedagogy indeed! It is even scarier to listen to this when you take into account the fact that we are assuming the job of facilitators as long as we live in Sumba.

But, in a way, what he spoke that night gave me a boost of confidence, and a sense of pride. Granted, our job is incomparable to that of school teachers that have to multitask between the school’s curriculum and the children’s character, perhaps among many other things; but even as merely facilitating them to play with basic manners and etiquette could impact them by a lot. I can say this because when I watched Laskar Pelangi today, I could remember the fond memories Semi Palar made for me back when I was still in elementary school, and that’s one less regret for the children we’re facilitating! I’m certain that if one’s childhood is full of teachers lashing out at oneself, one would look back upon that memory with lingering regret; even if it’s just minuscule!

I must not get ahead of myself here; we’re on a humanitarian mission after all, not heroism. Power imbalance will exist for now in Sumba, also as I observed how does the children split team when playing: To fully reform the method of educating here is nigh impossible with just KPB, but, every contribution we made hopefully will procure a sweet-tasting fruit out of mere seeds. Which is why I wish to improve myself in this last week of playing with them.

                                                                                ***

I truly apologise for the rushed blog, but let me tell you something, dear reader: I actually wrote everything chronologically yester-evening, but unfortunately my laptop crashed and my progress was not saved. I was pretty much at the bottom of the pit, and I’m trying to crawl out of this slowly. I hope you can forgive me for that. Sincerely, Ezar.