Going to Yogya
from a letter by Mark Carr
Wonosari, Gunung Kidul
Indonesia

Aside from work, life has also calmed down a bit. Children no longer shout at me in the street, cars no longer break to a halt at the site of this lone paleface wandering the streets of small-town Central Java. Only an ex-PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) can appreciate the cumulative annoyance of living in such an atmosphere.
    The fixity of an idea is a powerful thing. As I've probably mentioned before, I'm really the only westerner who lives in Wonosari — excepting an aged priest who rarely ventures out. To the people of Wonosari, white people just don't stay here, except when passing through to Yogyakarta, which is something of a mecca for tourists. Every time I leave my house, one (or more) of the neighbors asks me where I'm going. A typical conversation:
    A: "You're going to Yogya, right?"
    B: "No, I'm going to buy some bread."
    A: "Oh, you're going to Yogya to buy bread."
    B: "No, I'm going to the corner store."
    A: "Oh — and then you'll take the bread to Yogya?"
    B: "No. I'm your neighbor. I've been living here for three months. I'm taking the bread to my house."
    A: "Oh — to your house in Yogya!"
    You get the idea. Foreigners are either on their way to, or just arriving from Yogya. There are no exceptions.

Mark Carr is the Regional Coordinator for Global Education Partnership, a small non-profit whose mission is provide youth with access to the educational resources they need to be self-sufficient. GEP offers entrepreneurship training to high school students, as well as matching funds for educational resource projects in local schools. The Wonosari branch is GEP's newest (8 mos.) and the first in Asia. Website: www.globaledpartnership.org.

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fait comme moi © 1999 Erika Kachama-Nkoy. All rights reserved.

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