School reignites Indonesian cultural experience, 22 years after Bali bombings put it on hold

After a 22-year “pause” on South Australian schools visiting Indonesia, 13 students from an Adelaide high school have returned from a cultural experience they will never forget.

The Le Fevre High School students spent 12 days on exchange with their sister school, Sekolah Pilar Indonesia — located on the outskirts of Jakarta — after hosting a similar number of Indonesian students in SA last year.

“It surprised me how easily they speak English, especially the little kids there,” Year 11 student Alyssa Van Staveren said.

“We visited some of the younger classes with little five-year-olds in there, and they speak almost fluently.

“And everyone’s nice to everyone, all the time.”

Year 10 student Aislin Weir said another “surprising” difference was how teachers would undertake a traditional greeting with each student as they entered the school gates in the morning.

The local students would shake their hands, or place the back of the teacher’s hands on their own foreheads, then touch their own hearts in a show of respect to their elders.

“The way we greet our teachers over here is completely different,” Aislin said, adding that she could never see the Indonesian approach happening in Australia.

Students participate in ‘massive’ concert

The students also undertook a two-night trip to Yogyakarta.

But for most, the biggest highlight was their active participation in a Sekolah Pilar concert named Raja Ampat to celebrate cultural awareness.

Le Fevre’s languages and intercultural relationships coordinator Pru Pole, who was this week handed a National Award for Intercultural Excellence by not-for-profit organisation Together for Humanity, said the biannual event was “bigger than Broadway”.

“It was massive,” she said.

“Our expectation was that we were participating in their cultural week and then we would be participating in their concert at the end of the week.

“We didn’t realise what scale it would be.”

In front of a surprising array of dignitaries, including international ambassadors and Australian embassy workers, two students sung a duet, another performed a beat box solo, and two other students — whose first languages are Afrikaans and French — spoke Indonesian lines for the concert.

First trip in 22 years

Sekolar Pilar Indonesia and Le Fevre High School participated in an exchange program regularly up until the Bali bombings of 2002.

Indonesian students have since been able to visit South Australia on exchange, but this was the first time the South Australian Department for Education had permitted a school to travel there.

“After a 22-year pause on South Australian schools visiting Indonesia, I carefully considered the application by Le Fevre High School for a 12-day cultural exchange to the site’s sister school,” department chief executive Professor Martin Westwell said.

“We considered a range of factors, including how extensively the school had prepared its students, and their families, in advance of this significant cultural opportunity.

“Ultimately, this was a well-planned cultural exchange supported by the students’ families, which gave these 13 young people an opportunity to embrace the diversity of our neighbouring nation’s culture.”

Billeted with students

Ms Pole said all the students were billeted out to homestay families, each with a host sibling who was a student at Sekolah Pilar.

At the school’s request, two First Nations students made presentations on Aboriginal art, others made a presentation about “Aussie slang”, and another group introduced the Indonesian students to Australian rules football, benefiting from balls donated by Port Adelaide Football Club.

“They [Indonesian students] picked it up very quickly,” Ms Pole said.

“They were doing some handballing, some kicking and got the hang of the rules, although it was probably more like the original [traditional Aboriginal game] Marngrook than AFL.”

School principal Kirri Minnican described it as an “amazing cultural experience” for the students.

“One of the lovely things about Indonesia … is its acceptance of any religion, any person into their country, and I think our young people absolutely took that onboard,” she said.

“The other thing I love is their celebration of learning and achievement, and the ability to step out of your comfort zone is so hugely celebrated in Indonesia.

“So when they were at an assembly, and they were up there talking, or they were learning something, there was celebration for them.”

The school hopes an exchange program for students to visit both countries can now continue into the future.