Lombok day-by-day

From January 11th to 13th we were divided into three groups. During these days we spent most of the time groupwise, focusing on the different religions present on Lombok.

January 13th

Group 1
Focus on Christianity. After a morning session of inter-religious discussion,

 

we drove to Praya, two hours late for our meeting with one from the church community in Central Lombok. Then we rushed down south without really knowing why, passed a wedding ceremony but had no time to stop, and finally we reached Kuta. But we still don't not know why...

Group 2
Focus on Islam. Together with group one, we started the day with

an inter-religious discussion in Mataram, between two people representing two different religions; one representative from the Muslim community and another from the Hindu community. After observing how the Muslims ignored the Hindu representative and hours listening to a lecture about Sasak language, we continued our program heading for East Lombok.

Solveig with the local children

In east Lombok we were able to visit a Muslim boarding school and a hospital. At the school they had the day off, so we were not able to meet any of the students. We did, however, get a good interview with the Tuan Guru, the principal of the school. Even though he constantly avoided questions about corruption, he gave us lots of information. His sister was in charge of the hospital and gave us a tour around the area. The hospital was not exactly Norwegian standard. It had blood on the floor and dirty surgery equipment. After the visit, Tiri decided never to be a patient in an Indonesian hospital. (Guess who had to visit a hospital in Flores?)

Group 3
Focus on Buddhism. We were supposed to visit a village in North Lombok, but there were some misunderstandings, so we ended up all south in Kuta. It was a nice view, but since it was not what we had planned, we drove back.

After a traditional Indonesian lunch, padang, we stopped at a pesantren (boarding school) for girls in Narmada, and we had some ”lectures” in Norwegian for them. They were fast learners, we were almost embarrassed when we spoke English because they spoke so fluently.

Circumsition ceremony

Afterwards, it was time for the original programme with visits to Buddhist temple Vihara, Selagalas, and Hindu temple Meru, Mataram. Both interesting sights. After three days of group work with a lot of impressions and travelling, we were a tired, yet happy group.

Del/Tips: