Indonesia, Indonesia - "But you're so bule!"

Every day in Jakarta, I have the same conversation. With taxi drivers, waiters, cashregister personnel, NGO colleagues, they all use the same format. After the standard questions (which in the West would seem very nosy) about where I'm from, my purpose for being in Indonesia and my marital status (including "Why don't you have children yet?"), the rest of the conversation goes something like:

"For how long have you been here?"
"Six months now', I say.
"What? But your Indonesian is already fluent!" they exclaim in happy surprise.
I say:"Yeah, well, my mom is Sundanese".
"But, your so bule!"

That sentence always leaves me silent. What can I say to that? "Yes, I know"? Because I really do know.

So, I tried the strategy to just NOT mention my Indonesian roots and say I have studied Indonesia for a long time. Sometimes I even pretend I'm such a genius that I mastered the Indonesian language in a mere six months. That one isn't very nice, especially not when meeting very friendly people. My latest is to tell people I am from Cimahi, Bandung. That one works amazingly well. People laugh and think I'm just a bit crazy. Sometimes I'm really fed up by re-telling this story day in day out. On the other hand, it's great to be here, because I keep on reinventing myself!

*bule refers to white people



















With my mom and sister in the centre of the Old Jakarta

Weekday veg

This week was my third week as a weekday vegetarian. A what? Yes, that's the kind of vegetarian that thinks there's something seriously wrong with the way we have industrialized meat, but loves meat too much to stop eating it all together. I know, it's kind of hypocritical solution to the problems in the world, but well with practical idealism we may still contribute.

So far, it's been very good, even though in Indonesia it's not always easy to find vegetarian dishes. Watch the video above and also give it a try as well!



















Vegetarian food with on the lower shelf chicken feet, a delicatesse here

Leaving Microsoft to change the world - Book review

In this book, John Wood describes how he went from being a manager at Microsoft to the founder and director of Room to Read, a charity that builds libraries and schools in developing countries. It's an easy and fun to read book about how he sets out to improve literacy for ten million children by 2015. He seems very successful in his endeavors and has achieved to set up 1128 schools and 10.000 libraries, benefiting 4.1 million children thusfar.

Being advisor on Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, I read this book with scepticism. Who was this businessman coming into the world of development aid, claiming that he was the first to do something substantial against illiteracy? Weren't there not tens if not hundreds organizations already working on this? Yes, there are. But honestly speaking, not many have achieved to work in nine countries, providing access to millions of children to books and doing all of that with private funding.

So how about the results he mentions? For organizations that receive government funding or funding from international donors, it's usually not enough to merely state what the outputs or direct results of their activities are. So, they cannot just say that their 'impact' was 8944 scholarships for girls. The scholarships are just the outputs. They actually have to try to prove that the scholarships helped girls gain knowledge which they use when they grow up. Are these organizations going to far in trying to measure this impact? Should we just work it in a more businesslike way? Apparently, the information that Room to Read is providing is enough to generate more and more funding each year. That's the way the market works, right?

One thing that stood out for me was that he only sporadically mentioned a project that wasn't very successful. Does this mean there weren't many? Or does it just mean he doesn't want to (as we say in Dutch) hang out his dirty laundry? From what I can tell, many projects in development aid are not as successful as planned and hoped, because reality always seems to pose new problems. I would be interested to hear more about what happens in the kitchen of Room to Read. What's their secret recipe?

Despite my critical outlook (mostly about the idea that development aid is just a thing you do on your gut feeling), I feel that the development aid community can learn a lot from this businesslike way of doing things. One element is the personnel you hire: Yes, we all work towards a common goal, but that doesn't mean that anyone who just wants to do good can be on the team. In order for it to work, organizations need committed professional staff. Furthermore, ownership of the local communities needs to be ensured. So without a contribution from the schools, parents or village chief, there will be no Room to Read library or school.

To end off on a light note: There is a vacancy with Room to Read for which the requirements are listed below. First of all, I note that professional experience in development is required. This means that 'this businessman' does surround himself with knowledgeable people. Secondly, I find the last requirement hilarious! I suppose Microsoft sponsors the software they use. No Macs allowed.

Required
Master's degree in: Education, Social Science and/or another related discipline
A minimum of 8+ years of professional experience in development/academic organization
Experience in implementation of education programs on a large scale
Must have lived or worked in an Asian country for at least eight years
Ability and desire to travel within the region frequently (about 30-50% of the time)
Proven track record of achieving results
Ability to juggle multiple priorities simultaneously and take initiative
Proficiency is using Microsoft Office tools

With or without reading this book; please go out and change the world!

Indonesia, Indonesia - The power of ignoring

A funny thing happens when I move around in Indonesia with one or both of my sisters here. Both of them have an Indonesian father, mine is Dutch. Since my dad's genes were also significantly stronger than my mom's, I turned out several shades lighter than my siblings. This often leads to surprised looks or exclamations varying around:"Noooooo! Are you REALLY sisters?!".

But mostly it leads to nothing. Absolutely nothing. Last week, on the bus we start talking to a woman. My sister tells her I'm her adik (little sister) and the woman asks me if I'm studying Indonesian somewhere. I'm wondering if she even heard what my sister just said. She just completely ignored the 'sister' part. And she's not the only one. Most people just did not hear that. This white girl is her sister?! No, that's beyond comprehension. So what better way to deal with it than to ignore it? Problem solved.

Something's fishy here

We all know by now that there's something fishy about fish. A few years a go the documentary Darwin's Nightmare opened our eyes to the ecologically unsustainable and socially unjust way fish was farmed at the Victoria Lake. We hear that while fishing tuna, dolphins get caught in the nets. We hear about the bluefin tuna becoming extinct if we keep on fishing it the way we do. But sometimes, we also hear some good news. On TED, my dealer of good news, there's this video to watch:



Dan Barber explains how he, as a chef, tries to cook with sustainable products. When asked to present at a conference about his favorite fish, he decided to ask the supplier for more details about this environmentally friendly fish. As it so appears, the fish were fed 'sustainable protein', which in other words meant chicken bones and feathers. Nice, especially for vegetarians. He does however find a fish that seems to be farmed in a more sustainable and healthy way. Watch this video and let Dan take you on his journey. The other talk he gave on TED, about Fois Gras, is also definitely worth watching!

A preaching hypocrite with turquoise shoes

Sometimes, I'm a bit of a preacher. I tell people which books to read (Stephen Covey), what websites to visit (TED.com), which fish not to eat (tuna), which jeans to wear (Kuyichi) and what music to listen to (Mayra Andrade). Sometimes I'm just enthusiastic and that's nice (many of my friends actually watch TED now and we share great stories). But sometimes I'm mainly being annoying.

Why is that? My vegetarian friends (and I have many) never try to convince me not to eat meat. I, on the other hand. preach about tuna. My life turned tuna free after I read an article in TIME magazine that hit a nerve with me. Several years a go after watching 'Darwin's nightmare' I didn't eat Nile Perch fillet anymore. But somehow my awareness of the terrible conditions under which the fish from the Victoria lake is caught and made into fillets, faded away.

I try to do the right things and to buy the right goods. But everything we do in this regard raises many questions, such as: how do we actually know the information we are getting (about tuna or about the good working condition of Kuyichi staff in Peru) is true? Once we start buying one pair of 'conscious' jeans should we ensure all our clothes are made by employees that get social benefits? And if so, how do we check that? Should we both look at the social AND the environmental aspects? And if we have to choose, which aspect is more important to us?

Recently, I ask myself these questions and people around me do the same. After buying a beautiful pair of green (turquoise according to the brand's website) heels, a friend asked me if I was sure they weren't made by Brazilian children. It was only then I realized, I hadn't looked into that at all. While buying the shoes, I just thought about the beauty and the quality (yes, I refuse to buy crappy shoes anymore). If we want to contribute to making the world better and to ensure that our footprint is as small as possible, how should we go about it? Should we check the whether all products we buy are biological and fair trade? Should I just stop flying airplanes? Traveling is probably my biggest contribution to an unsustainable world. Can I quit? Would it make a difference if everyone is else is still doing it?

As you can see, I have many questions about this subject. This blogpost starts my exploration of this topic and posts to come will try to answer the questions. And let me come out for it, just for the record: My name is Amis Boersma and I am a hypocrite.

Ain't nothing wrong with loving coffee

At the start of this year, I mapped out my wishes for 2010 and started my personal year plan (see here). Inspired by what I had read on a lifestyle design blog, I asked my significant other what according to him was something that makes me tick, one thing that I cannot stop talking about. "Coffee" he said. "Coffee?!" I yelled, "What kind of a do-gooder am I, if I talk more about coffee than about anything else?". Well, that got me thinking. About many things, but mostly about how coffee really deserves a blogpost, or maybe even more. Because it IS true, I really do LOVE coffee.

With or without my fabulous Gaggia machine around (which is still in Amsterdam), I see it as a challenge to make a great caffe latte. I get excited when at bars they have the milk and coffee layered or (even better) when the have done some kind of foam art. I like places where they serve good cookies with your cup of koffie verkeerd ('wrong' coffee in Dutch, referring to the fact that there is more milk than coffee in the cup). A nice biscotti or thin sweet biscuit does it for me. I like it when it is clear that the person who made the coffee loves it as much as I do.

And yes, of course there are people insanely crazy about coffee. They even make Latte Art videos and post them online. Here are two great examples:

There is of course a lot more to say about coffee. And I will do just that, soon.