My Toraja Family

I now have family in Tana Toraja on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. I went there to stay in a village with a family to help teach English and to help on their farm, and they truly welcomed me as family.

Family photo from a year ago

From Bali, I flew to the city of Makassar on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. I had plans to go directly by the nine-hour night bus to Tana Toraja where the family was waiting, but fate had other plans...

Luckily, I very serendipitously had the right person sitting next to me on the plane (she had even swapped seats with someone at the last moment). It turns out I needed her and her husband's help...

Mr. Abdul and Nisa offered to bring me to the bus station where I needed to go after the airport, but first they brought me for lunch with their family, and then helped me extend my visa, which I only found out the night before had not been done successfully (this involved driving to five or so places all over the city to find an agent open and willing to help because it was a public holiday). Then they brought me to several bus agents, but ended up suggesting I take a bus the next morning instead since it's a nine-hour ride....so they invited me to stay with them in their home, brought me for dinner, and to the bus the next morning. They told me they believe God must be watching out for me since Nisa and I ended up sitting next to each other. I have to agree. This couple is the perfect example of the hospitality and kindness I've experienced from countless Indonesian people.



Typical Toraja beauty

So, the next day, I took the picturesque, nine-hour bus journey to Tana Toraja to meet my family in time for a late dinner at their home. Mr. Natsir (who I called Ambé, meaning 'father' in the Toraja language, a friendly term of respect for those older than you) and his family of wife and four kids live in a small house, and his mother, brother, and a few other family members/friends live in another house right next door. Their home and land, nestled in the hills like so much of  Toraja, overlooks bright green, cascading rice paddies below, with more hills and mountains studded with villages as a backdrop. 

Morning view to wake up to

Typical homes in the village

A view from part of the village

Mr. Natsir is both a farmer and an English teacher, and I came to help him with both of these endeavours. The family grows many vegetables, peanuts, coffee, cacao, and some fruits, mostly for their own consumption except for the cacao beans, which they sell in the market. While there, I was able to help in the vegetable gardens and take part in the coffee harvesting process—from picking the ripe berries, to pounding them with a giant mortar and pestle, to drying them in the sun and separating the outer part from the inner beans, and finally roasting the dried beans over a fire.

Picking coffee berries

Pounding the berries

Roasting beans over the fire

 

When not in the garden, Mr. Natsir had me help with his various English teaching projects. Mr. Natsir has built small structures on his property where he teaches children in the village English every late afternoon for no cost. Mr. Natsir also serves as the one English teacher for a school in the city of Makale, where he works for a fraction of the salary of the other teachers since he's not an official civil servant. Finally, he also hosts groups of up to 35 junior high or high school students for a night or two at his home for "English camps" (at no cost), where he teaches students not only English, but also about organic farming, the environment, and character. While I stayed there, I got to help teach in all three of these venues as well as in other schools as a guest teacher.

Scenic outdoor classroom

With some of the students in the village

Taking students on a nature walk during an English camp

 

All the students were so friendly and enthusiastic to learn English, and expressed their gratefulness by frequently giving me food to share with my host family and by giving me small gifts when I left.

During my stay, Mr. Natsir also made sure to share as much as he could about Tana Toraja culture with me. Tana Toraja is well known for its unique cultural practices and ceremonies, especially the funeral ceremony, which can last for days and sometimes takes years to prepare for as the relatives gather money and build the site. While there, I was asked to attend one day of a funeral ceremony, which was definitely a unique experience. One unique aspect is the slaughtering of animals, the most valuable being the buffalo, as a sacrifice and last demonstration of love for the deceased relative. Wealthy families may sacrifice many buffaloes. At the funeral, the freshly killed and butchered meat is everywhere around the grounds and much is prepared for guests that day, cooked traditionally inside bamboo over fires. Other parts of meat are given away to guests at the funeral to take home and some is auctioned off and the proceeds given to worthy causes.

Having a laugh at a gathering we were invited to

Winner watching traditional papiong being cooked in bamboo

On the way to a funeral

It was also wonderful to simply live daily life in the village with the family, experiencing  the closeness of the family and the community of the village, taking cold bucket showers in the outdoor washroom, sitting on the ground for meals and eating with our hands (which I think makes the food taste even better), washing clothes by hand outside, and going for walks with 16-year old Irhma, the oldest child in the family. For meals, we always had rice, vegetables from the garden (typically different types of leaves), freshly ground chili, and sometimes eggs, fish, chicken, tofu, or duck.

Family dinner (one brother missing)

Walking with my sister, Irhma

Cooking dinner

Newly hatched ducklings at home

My greatest successes of my time in Toraja were when:
1) Mr. Natsir's five-year old son and six-year old nephew took my hands and walked with me around the village, showing me the neighbour's goats and other animals.
2) Halfway through my time there, Mr. Natsir told me I was truly part of the family and that they'd placed me as the oldest child in their family.
3) A high school student attending one of the English camps told me it was the best day of his life to practice his English with native speakers.

About halfway through my time with the family, a lovely Belgian couple joined us and also helped in the gardens and with teaching English. Xavier and Anne-Christine were a wonderful addition to the family and it was fun teaching together after they arrived.


Dinner together (one brother missing)

Picking stems off veggie leaves at a gathering we were invited to

After staying three weeks with Mr. Natsir and his family, I have great respect and admiration for his dedication to making his village and regency a better place, where kids have free access to learning English. On top of his English teaching efforts, Mr. Natsir helps an NGO called Smile Train. Mr. Natsir's family was helped by Smile Train a few years ago because two of his sons had cleft lips and a tourist told Mr. Natsir about the NGO that performs free operations to fix cleft lips around the world. The operation truly changed the lives of the family and now to spread the joy, Mr. Natsir helps find other kids with cleft lips in remote villages to let them know about Smile Train. He's already reached almost 100 people who've now been helped! You can watch the extremely well done and moving documentary in three parts here: http://www.smiletrain.org/stories/Natsir-Story-Movie.html

I'm now trying to find an NGO that might be able to provide financial support for Mr. Natsir's education project in his village for more buildings and books/materials. If you have any ideas, can you please let me know?

Mr. Natsir with his three of his four kids

When my time was up, it was extremely difficult leaving my Toraja family. We were all in tears the morning I left as we hugged goodbye and they gave me some of the coffee we had harvested as a farewell gift. I really feel I now have family in Toraja.

I left by the nine-hour bus back to Makassar where I was met by Mr. Abdul and Nisa again, the couple who helped me earlier, and they welcomed me in their home again. They brought me to the airport the next morning, so I could fly to Manado—a city in the very north of Sulawesi known for its spicy and unique foods, so I was in heaven. My favourite was paniki—spiced fruit bat. The next day, I took a boat to the small island of Bunaken where I went scuba diving for three days in one of the world's best diving locales. The underwater life and corals were so unique and colourful and it was fun talking scuba during meals with the divers from all different countries at the dive centre. One diver from China shared his photos from our dives, so I'll share a few with you. As a French diver said, "scuba diving adds a whole new dimension to life."

A mandarinfish

Surrounded by colour

 

Giant sea turtles everywhere

 

Pair of cleaner shrimp

A nudibranch

My experiences in Indonesia have been some of the best of my life. Leaving the country, I felt like strings from my heart were stuck behind and being pulled away. I do hope I can return one day. But on my last day in Indonesia, I felt like the country was saying goodbye to me as I had so many nice encounters with people that morning. My other consolation was leaving for Singapore for a long-awaited reunion with my dear friend, Shwetank, who I met as a student while I studied in Singapore for six months in 2006. Since then, we've kept in touch, and now I'm getting the chance to catch up with him and rediscover Singapore. In a few days, I head to Malaysia by bus, where I'll help teach English and then help on orchards in the jungle.

Thanks for checking in on this long post. Would love to hear your updates by email when you have time.