Padang Relief Effort

A group picture at the second school we went visited.

Brooklyn jumping rope with the kids.

We were working on our passing skills here.

Sydney passing out toothbrushes.

These two pictures are of the temporary classrooms the students are still using.  Notice the lack of a roof on this structure.  It rains often in Indonesia so you can imagine the results of this.  These are some of the desks we have donated.  You can see they are sitting on a dirt floor. At this school even the part that has been rebuilt has a dirt floor.

Through all of their troubles the kids always keep smiling.

Kade making friends at the first school we visited.

In between playing volleyball with the new soccer ball; Trey, Sarah, and Syd pose with their playmates.

This past weekend our family, along with the Austin family (also from Stanwood/Camano Island) hopped into cars and headed out on an eight hour car ride.  We were granted time off from school on Friday in order to deliver new sports equipment to two schools just outside Padang, Sumatra, the site of the devastating earthquake of 8 months ago.  

This was the realization of much fundraising and planning both here at ISR in Rumbai and also back home in the Stanwood-Camano School District.  ISR donated about $3500 total to the relief effort and the students and staff at Stanwood Elementary, Stanwood Middle School, Utsalady Elementary, Twin City Elementary,  and Elger Bay Elementary donated a combined total of $2100.  These funds were used to purchase blankets, 200 sets of desks and chairs, sports equipment, and toothbrushes for several school that were flattened by the earthquake.  

On our trip we were able to visit two K-6 elementary schools.  One of the schools has been rebuilt completely and we were able to see the desks that were purchased with the donations in their classroom.  They were very appreciative of the support.  In the second school we visited the school is not fully rebuilt and they are still using what amounts to lean-to classrooms as the rebuilding continues.  Some of the desks were in the rebuilt part of the school and some were in the lean-to's.  At this school they told us that 90% of the students homes were destroyed. Several children lost their parents but all of the children made it out safely.    

At the first school we took part in their morning exercise routine.  In that heat I though we were going to die but we all made it.  After they showed us their routine Mr. Austin, our P.E. teacher along with the help of our kids taught them some stretches we use.  It was great fun and the kids were cracking up repeating Dave's famous, "I feel good," and "hubba, hubba, choo-choo," quotes.  

After that we handed out soccer balls, basketballs, jump ropes, badminton equipment (very big here), toothbrushes and candy.  All the kids played in little groups with our kids mixing in.  Sports is a great way for kids who don't speak the same language to enjoy being around each other.  We also got to play with a  calf that wondered into our games.  It was such a surreal experience.  

At the second school we led them in some stretches as before and had some imprompto English lessons with the kids.  They were all smiles and in great spirits.  We then passed out the sports equipment and all the rest and set off to playing for about an hour with them right there in the dirt.  The dirt is all they have to play on.  Neither school has grass or playground equipment of any kind.  Just a open space of packed dirt.  They seemed to be totally fine with it though.

As we were getting ready to leave every single student who was there came over in groups and took our hand and placed the back of our hand to their foreheads.  This is how young children show respect to others in Indonesian culture.  They even did this to our children.  Normally this is reserved for their elders.  This was the ultimate symbol of their thankfulness for what little we did for them.  

This left a profound impact on all of us.  Sydney said that of all the trips we have been on (Thailand, Singapore, Bali, Disneyland) this was her favorite.  I asked why and she said because of being able to help the kids at these schools.  That struck me as pretty powerful coming from a 5th grader.  

I will post more in the days ahead but we would all like to thank the Stanwood-Camano schools that donated funds; as well as ISR and our principal Lory Thiessen for their support in this project.  None of this would have been possible without all of these groups and people working together to help out people in need.  This was by far one of the most educational and memorable experiences our families could have during our time here.