We can hardly believe it is already 2020 (and that we have lived in Indonesia for almost a full year!) but we are excited about what lies ahead for this year. This month of January has already been FULL of activity:
After celebrating Christmas with our families and embracing some much-needed time of rest, we rang in the New Year at the CO New Year's Conference after a fruitful week of recruiting college students for REI
Days after returning to Indonesia, we hopped back on a plane to Sulawesi (an island northeast of us) to meet with gov officials to discuss next steps for the new fruit production facility, and see the new building. The trip was a whirlwind of activity, and we were amazed by the favor shown to us!
Another highlight of this trip was that Jake started preliminary research for his thesis work on "pisang loka pere", a rare local banana variety.
Amber is hoping to start studying John with her Yemeni friends very soon. They are still excited about sharing in spiritual discussions!
As we look ahead to what this year holds, we are excited to fully step into our professional roles, with Jake continuing his graduate studies and Amber teaching English in a more consistent role.
Brawijaya University and Thesis Work
Next week Jake will begin his second semester at UB. He is looking forward to diving back into his studies and deepening friendships he has on the campus. The trip to Sulawesi got him even more excited about his thesis topic. The "Loka Pere" banana is a very unique type of banana, in both appearance and flavor, yet up until this point this banana variety has not been able to grow anywhere except one small region in West Sulawesi. No one knows why (yet), but the trees have not born fruit anywhere other than this region. Jake hopes to research more about the unique climate and soil properties that influence the growth of this banana variety, in order to support its sustainable intensification, thereby increasing the livelihood of farmers. The farmers and gov officials in this region welcomed Jake with open arms and are hoping to continue this partnership in the months to come.
Sulawesi Trip
Besides preliminary research, our first day was spent in meetings, slowly moving all the way up to the equivalent of the Mayor's office. Again, we were welcomed with open arms and told repeatedly that our work was welcomed and supported by the gov. We are not only increasing employment opportunities in the region, but also finding better, more sustainable markets to sell produce grown in the region.
Our team leader had the opportunity to share the Book of Proverbs with a high ranking gov official, explaining that he hoped it would help guide him in his leadership role. He received the book with sincere gratitude, and this exact moment was captured and appeared the next day in the local news!
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