BINA CITA UTAMA STARTS RECORD YEAR - Subud World News

BINA CITA UTAMA STARTS
RECORD YEAR
Rashidah and Karim MacDonald write 07.09.09
We have had a busy start to the new school year
and there have been so many blessings that I
wanted to write and tell you some of the news.
Sometimes I watch quietly and I feel gratitude to
God and all those who organized the Kalimantan
Visioning last year. Without that, I wonder where
we would be now?
are because of the BCU school bus which was
donated by Japanese Subud members as a result
of the Kali Visioning in 2008. The bus acts as a
large moving advertisement which has made a
very positive impact on the perception of the
school in Palangka Raya. In the past we have had
to do marketing in order to get new students, but
this year there was no need to do any advertising!
As a result of the new enrollments we have had
to hire another bus to transport the new students
and teachers from Palangkaraya. Pak Duwell, the
Bupati (Regent) of Kasongan has said his
department would provide transport for the
Kasongan students who travel 90 km round trip
each day to school. The new kitchen added to the
side of the Siregar building was inaugurated in
July and each day 95 meals are prepared for
lunch times.
Assembly on the first day of school
We started the new school year on the 27th of
July and this year we had a record amount of
interest from parents. In the last week of the
holidays, there were many parents who showed
up at school, wanting to enroll their children, but
we had reached full capacity in most classes and
had to ask them to wait until we have more space.
Enrollments have reached 71 students and we
already have two more for January. (During the
Visioning one and a half years ago, we had just
37students; so the school numbers have almost
doubled since then). Bachrun's building team is
half way through the construction of the two new
classrooms donated by Hamid and Isti da Silva. It
will be a great to have them ready for the start of
the second semester in January 2010. The two
new classrooms donated by MSF earlier this year
are a real God send, as we couldn’t have taken
any new students this year without them. The
students are also very happy to be in classrooms
that have more space.
Many of us feel that the increased enrollments
Lunchtime at BCU. Tables donated by SD Germany
We are also thinking about building a small toilet
block for the increase in students and also to
build some simple playground equipment as we
don’t have any yet at the school.
The teacher preparation week before school
started, began with a meeting in which we went
over the mission and vision of the school as a
reminder as to why it exists and why we are all
here. Hugh Lynn’s presence with his warm
humour and wisdom was a wonderful addition to
the meeting. Karim did teacher training sessions
including classroom management and sessions
on the school culture that we aspire to nurture in
the students – among other things, building
harmony, respect for others, tolerance, and care
for each other.

thrilled to be introduced to her. We also had a
school "buka puasa bersama" ­ community breakfast
get together in Rungan Sari with the staff,
residents and the head of the education department.
Pak Guntur, from the Education Department in Jakarta
Throughout that week, as we were doing teacher
training, timetables and lesson preparations, new
parents were arriving to visit the school and to
have their children sit entrance tests. Into this
busy atmosphere, Pak Guntur, the head of one of
the sections of the Education Department in
Jakarta showed up unexpectedly with his
entourage. He was very interested in the school,
and in impeccable English, said to me: “You
know, good news travels fast... when I arrived in
Palangka Raya to visit the provincial education
department, they told me I must come and see
this school. They are very proud of BCU school.”
We showed him around, and he stayed a long
time and seemed to genuinely enjoy the
experience of being there and meeting with all
the staff.
During the first week of school, we had a visit
from two educational officers from the Denver
Zoo (friends of Isti da Silva), who we had been
corresponding with for the past year about
developing an orang­utan educational program.
They are very positive about this collaboration
with the school and I hope it will grow into
something unique and productive for both
parties.
Since February this year, 66 school teachers (and
school principals) from 15 local government
schools have completed the Barclay's Capital
Teacher Training Program and by November the
total trained will be over 80. Muhsin Maltezos,
the trainer from UK, has provided a very unique
and productive experience for the participants.
Many commented how different it was to any
other training they had received as it didn’t make
them feel sleepy! One Principal went back to his
school after one of the sessions and called a
meeting to tell his staff that they were no longer
allowed to hit the students and hurt their feelings
with insults.
Snippets of testaments from Participants:
Imam Sulqi, S.Pdi
‘The meeting every Saturday was filled with a lot
of interesting and effective activities.
Ibu's visit to the school. In photo: Emilie Pez (volunteer), Rashidah, Ibu
Rahayu and Ibu Yati, Karim, Muti, unknown, ????, Mustafa.
We also had a visit from Ibu Rahayu on the
second day of school, which was a lovely start to
the new academic year. Several Subud staff
members had never met her before and they were
The activities were very useful for us to improve
the learning process, and also as new
experiences that are applicable in our school. I
hope that this activity is sustainable, and this
training can be effective to improve the
education of the students, as the next generation
for the national developing process.
Finally we would like to thank all the facilitators
and the big family of Subud that contributes
good services for us; I hope that Almighty God
will reward you for the hard work.’

Yani
I hope that this training can be continued for
other teachers, and in every school, so that they
are able to gain the knowledge and information
from BCU. I hope that this knowledge will be
practised by the teachers in Primary schools in
the Bukit Batu region, therefore it will improve
the education.’
We are all quite stretched by the amount of work
there is to do in this remote part of the world, and
yet also feel extremely grateful for the many
blessings and grace that surrounds the school.
After thought, September 10, 2009
over 200 as unhealthy, and over 300 as extremely
unhealthy and hazardous. The levels have been
around 200­300 for the last few weeks, but this
week it has been over 500 for days. The hot dry
air also makes fasting more of a challenge. The
schools have closed down and also Palangka
Raya airport. Flights are being re­routed through
Banjarmasin, a five hour drive down to the south
coast.
I would have to add that at the moment the
smoke haze pollution from the jungle burning
has reached dangerous levels. It saddens me that
so many trees, animals and people are suffering.
The WHO air pollution scale classifies levels
Smoke pollution in Kalimantan