Indonesia was an eye-opener, |
— then again, so was Canada |

by Betty Barton

Last Thursday evening Forest
Richard spoke to an audience of
about 30 people concerning his
eight-and-a-half month Canada
World Youth experience. Forest
portrayed this once-in-a-lifetime
Opportunity with slides, mementos,
anecdotes and enthusiasm.

For the first half of the program,
Forest and 13 fellow participants
(balf from Indonesia and half from
all parts of Canada) were billeted
with families in Summerland, B.C.
Forest and his Indonesian counter-
part (partner, buddy, workmate)
-worked as volunteers on a farm
where, says. Forest, "We both
leamed about Canadian values,
work ethics and many other
things."

‘In the 19 years ‘Canada World
Youth has existed, Canadian par-
ticipants have thought of the Cana-
dian portion of the program as
something they just had to wait
through before the "real experien-
ce". In actual fact the Canadians
often say upon their return to
Canada, "the Canadian portion of
the program was just as much of
an eye-opener as the exchange
portion."

Of his Indonesia experience,
Forest says, "It took me awhile to
get into it. Now it’s taking me
- awhile to get out of it." At that
point, he asked for a male votun-
teer from the audience and demon-
strated the way men in Indonesia
-walk down a street together —

holding hands! This is typical of .

any Third World country, where
people of the same sex are much

more inclined. to put an arm

around a friend or hold hands.
Forest’s initial reaction to Indo-
nesia as he got off the plane in
Jakarta, the capital city of Indo-
nesia was “The humidity was

beautiful. The pollution was-

awful." The exchange portion of
his program took place in a small
village in Southeast Sulawesi,
Indonesia. The whole Summerland
crew again lived in pairs with host
families and worked in the comm-
unity.

The group, with the assistance of
the villagers, painted a mosque (94
percent of Indonesians are Mos-
~ lem), built a traditional home and
water reservoir and learned how to

plant rice. Forest illustrated the -

back-breaking stance required for
Tice planting and he says it was the
hardest job he had ever done. The
carly hours of every day were
designated for physical work. In
the afternoons, the participants
taught in the school. Forest’s spe-
cialties were art and English.
Forest described Indonesia as a
land of contrasts. He remembers
Clearly the Mike Tyson fight,
despite the fact that he lived in a
village with no television sets and
no electricity. The evening of the
fight, the. village was buzzing with
excitement because a truck was
~ coming to take everyone to a vil-

lage where the fight could be seen |

with the aid of a borrowed televi-.
‘sion set and power generator,
Forest declined the offer to join

them. : oo - ee me

_Canada World Youth

In the village markets, vendors
-sold Rambo T-shirts, the wife of
the village mayor made most of
the decisions (this in a male-domi-
nated society), and black magic
and superstition were prevalent.

The villagers believed that if a
pregnant woman stood in a door-

way, she would have a hard time
giving birth. If she drank coconut
milk during her pregnancy, the
baby would be born with a hairlip.

There was also a clash between
modern and traditional medical
practitioners. The villagers had a
wealth of natural medicines pro-
vided by the nearby jungle. The
"dukun" or medicine man miracu-
lously treated burns and breaks,
Many of the villagers had had bad
experiences with doctors because
they often waited too long to visit
the medical centre.

Forest says "My village was
fairly well off." The villagers grew
pepper, cocoa, coffee, coconut,
peanuts, corn, rice and bananas.
Forest adds, "When I came back
here, I almost threw up when I ate
a banana." In his village, they
occasionally ate beef or ’ water
buffalo, but it was very tough and
greasy. There was a lot of very
good fish. "Thank God for
Swamps", says Forest. The villag-
ets raised fish in their swamps,
The most unusual thing Forest was
served, in a box lunch on a bus
tour, was a chicken’s foot coated
with a sauce, Neither he nor his
fellow Canadians tried this
Indonesian delicacy.

Forest Richard would "like to go
back this winter to cruise around
for awhile and see more of the
country".

Terrace Review — Wednesday, May 30, 1999 B7

FOREST RICHARD: Would like to go back and “cruise around f

a while",

or

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or if you have any
questions, call now:

1800 561-6990
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Or pick up a kit at your
nearest post office.
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_ device for the hearing
impaired: 1800 465-5770

Now is the
time to
get ready for
~ the proposed’

Prepare Early

Sales Tax.

@ You'll receive infor-
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Mi As well as getting infor-
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or by phone, you can

reach a GST question and
answer data base via PC,
‘Call: 1800 267-4500

Revenue Canada is
ready to help you under-
stand and prepare for the
proposed GST.

Canada’s GST. It’s good business to prepare now.

*

Canada

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