Music (Bimtek Part 1)

I haven’t been an active blogger last year due to my laziness (I'll admit it), but starting from April 2018 I suddenly had an aspiration to post weekly (I hope it will last!). I couldn't do it on April though, as I had to prepare for my national examinations which would take place on early May. I finally had more time to blog in June, during the holidays.There were many events that I hadn’t blogged about and so, for the next couple of blogs it will be a trip back to the past.

I participated in 3 big music events during November – December 2017. The first one was from October 30th to November the 1st. It was called "Bimbingan Teknis Akutalisasi Potensi Anak Melalui Media Musik Dan Dongeng" which is shortened to "Bimtek." The second event was my music school’s year-end performance and the third event was a music competition.

Bimtek was held by kemendikbud (Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan), Indonesia's ministry of education. They picked teenagers under the age of 18 from each province of Indonesia who have interest in music and storytelling to create positive music and stories for other kids and teenagers. This year, there were around 87 participants from 47 provinces. I was the representative from Banten for the music part.

It was supposed to be interesting meeting teenagers from almost all over Indonesia, but I found that it's not exactly easy to make new acquaintances. On my first day there in the morning, after registering myself, I was asked to wait with the others in the dining area. As I entered the area, I saw some of the other participants sitting in small groups. I didn't know which group to join as I don’t know anybody so I sat on an empty table.

I took out my math exercises to work on, hoping that no one will come up to me and talk; but at the same time I'd like to make friends with the others. Half an hour later 2 older girls came up to me and asked if the seat in front of me is empty. I said yes. After introducing ourselves, the two girls talked to each other while I continued with my maths. They went to the same college and chatted about people they know, their college, common interests, etc. I tried to join in the conversation, but I didn't find anything that I can relate to, so I just stayed quiet. Now that I think about it, I think I didn't put enough effort into trying to make a decent conversation.

Long before this event, one of the event organiser put the participants and mentors into a Whatsapp group. My mom informed that she was to be put into the group in my place because there's something wrong with my Whatsapp. Neither my Mom nor I checked the group frequently, so I thought that the other participants weren't talking much.

2 tables on my left one of the small groups became bigger as more participants arrived. At a glance, they were talking and laughing as if they already knew each other. I thought that the participants made another Whatsapp group without the adults, just for themselves. As my mom already informed the group the event organisers made that she was representing me, I thought that they didn't invite me into the group because of that. This made me think that the group 2 tables on my left already knew each other and were talking like close friends. This made me felt left out.

I paid more attention when more participants arrived to the 2 tables on my left. That table is the most crowded one now. They introduced themselves and get to know each other as if they never met before. This made me doubt my theory before about how they looked so friendly to each other.

I wanted to get to know them, but isn't it weird when the girl who's been sitting 2 tables away from you since before suddenly come up and introduce herself at that time? Why didn't she make friends since before. So I decided not to do it. 

As it got closer to lunch some of the people from other groups (including that group 2 tables away from me) came to my table to introduce themselves. It was nice meeting them.

After lunch the participants were asked to meet up in a ballroom. The MCs there asked where we came from. "Who's from Kalimantan? Who's from Sumatra?" When they asked which participant came from Jawa Barat and which came from Banten I was confused. So I just raised my hand when they asked the participants from Jawa Barat :p. I come from Banten anyway.

They then asked all of use to stand up and introduce ourselves to each other. I just stayed next to my seat while I introduce myself to any random person that would shake my hand. The Mcs encouraged us not to just introduce ourselves near our seats, but to move further into the crowd. I'm afraid I didn't get too far :p.

The MCs then called those who think they can remember at least 15 people to come up to the front and say their names. Well, I definitely didn't remember anyone that I met in that room. 4 people went up though. I recognized them from the place where we waited before and I guessed that they remember at least 14 because they already get to know at least 14 people there. There are more than 14 people in that 2 tables on my left.

When we were dismissed we were offered refreshments. We were asked to meet up again later in the evening. The music section were to meet up in that same ballroom, while the storytelling section are to meetup somewhere else. With that much amount of spare time, I decided to take my card to my room and take a rest there. 

I shared a room with 2 other girls. One of them is Kak Ulfi, the girl who shared the table with me before in the dining area, and another one is a year younger than me. They both said that it took a long time for them to get their cards, because the queue was crazy. That made me realise that I wasn't supposed to take the card before the mentors tell us too, but anyway....

When evening came, we met up in the ballroom as scheduled. Somehow, I felt that the atmosphere was tense. It could be because I feel pressured around new people. I sat next to Ike, one of my roomates, who's a year younger than me, and some friends that I made during dinnertime. I found out that Ike and me liked several similar things, and we had fun talking about them.

The mentors broke the ice by singing us a fun song. They then asked us to sing along. At first everyone's singing was rather quiet and shy, but then it got louder, and those with guitars played along (we were allowed to bring our portable instruments, and I brought my flute). The atmosphere became more fun and friendly. 

We were then put into groups, and were asked to make a yell-yell for our group. They asked us to agree on a time and place tomorrow to make the yell-yell. Tonight will be useless to make one, as everyone were definitely tired. After introducing ourselves to each other and asked for contacts, we decided on 7.30 a.m. at the canteen to make our yell-yell.

The next morning, I woke up the latest out of the three . My consequence was: everyone bathed before me. While waiting, I prepared all my things so that after I bath, all I have to do is pick them up and go. I wanted to be on time because I'm afraid that my teammates would find me irresponsible. As I bathed the last, I had less time than the others to bathe if I want to meet up on time. 

My bath was really rushed as my roomates bathed longer than I expected. I still reached the canteen on time though. However, I was disappointed when I reached the canteen. I tried to find my teammates who I thought were already sitting somewhere in a group, as it's 7:30 already. I was even about to skip my breakfast as my consequence for waking up late, but I couldn't find my group anywhere.

I then saw one of my teammates still eating and chatting with her friends. I was surprised, and rather hurt. Her actions showed that she was irresponsible; she didn't respect the other group members who might had met up and were waiting for her. I found out later though, that others did the same like her. I didn't dare speak to her because I didn't really know her. I thought I still had time while waiting for them to finish theirs, so I followed Ike to take my breakfast and sit with her and some friends. I didn't eat much as I was afraid that my teammates will soon call me to gather up; my table is next to one of them. I had a little chat with my table mates and one of them asked me the languages that I could speak. She then asked me to say some English words while she recorded me. What should I say? As I had no idea of what to say, I just answered some of their questions in English. I felt I had done a poor job in showing my English, but anyway. That was one of the most awkward breakfast time in my life.

After I finished breakfast, I tried to find another of my teammate, as my next table teammate seemed busy chatting. I tried to find the one whom I thought was pretty friendly. I did met her, and we found a table for our discussion later. Our other teammates came after a while, and so the meeting started.

In my opinion, the meeting didn't go well. First, we forgot that we had to make a yell-yell, and instead made a song that kind of introduces our group. Not all of us are active in making the song; most of us just looked confused but they tried to get involved.

As most of us were late when starting the meeting, when we reached the ballroom at a scheduled time our song wasn't finished. Luckily we got a fifteen or 20 minute extra to finish it.

To break the ice (again) among us, the mentors had organised a game. We were to stand in a circle, and a person in the middle of the circle was to say a particular thing that some of us had. Those who had it were to move to any space in front of that person. The last one who didn't get any space was to replace the person in the middle. It was fun.

After each group performed their song (unfortunately, the others also made my group's mistake) and the mentor pointing out our mistake, we were asked to sit in a circle. One of our mentors performed a song that she composed when she was younger. Our mentors also asked one of the participants to perform a song that he made in his native language. All the songs performed had meaningful meanings behind them. 

We were then regrouped and this was where the fun starts! We were going to make a song.

I'm going to continue next week as this took so long to write. 

Interview with Bu Ismawanty of Shelter Melati Part 3 (last part)

After learning the history of Shelter Melati from interviewing Ibu Isma on December 2017, I then asked about how she usually rescues dogs on the street. It's easy to differentiate between dogs that were abandoned and the ones that strayed from their homes; just look at their condition. An abandoned dog is usually in a sorry state, while dogs that strayed from their homes are usually in good conditions.

The first thing to be done after rescuing a dog is to bring it to a vet immediately. The vet will give it a full check-up, which includes a blood test, a distemper and parvo test (this is required, as distemper and parvo are deadly and they can spread easily to other dogs). Generally, the rescued dogs will need to stay in the vet clinic until it is completely healthy, vaccinated and spayed/neutered. It is unethicalto house a sick dog together with the other dogs in the shelter.

When a dog reaches the shelter, Bu Isma will first put it in a cage by itself. Then she will put the cage into a bigger house cage with a group of dogs so they can get to know each other safely. It's dangerous to put the newcomer with the other dogs immediately, for various reasons.

First of all, there’s a hierarchy in a pack of dogs. The lowest rank is omega and the highest rank is the alpha. Omegas are the most submissive dogs, while alphas are natural leaders. No two alphas can be put together, as they will fight for the leader position. If the newcomer is an alpha, there will most certainly be a fight between it with the existing alpha. Sometimes, the newcomer isn’t able to socialise with the group even though it's not an alpha because it had previously experienced a big trauma which made him insecure with other dogs.

Once the newcomer gets along with the pack, it will be released from its individual cage into the house cage. Someone will still watch over the dog's interactions with the others. If everything is alright, the dog will stay with that pack. There are some dogs that don't get along with all the other dogs and need to be caged individually. Most of these are alpha dogs. They take much longer to place than non-alpha dogs.

Bu Isma has 9 kennel boys to look after the dogs. A kennel boy is responsible for several cages of dogs. Their responsibilities are to feed the dogs, clean the cage, watch out for the dogs’ health and interactions. The dogs are fed dog food in the morning and cooked meals for dinner. Visiting hours are arranged according to a certain time, to avoid distraction for the dogs during feeding hours. The dogs are usually very excited when there are visitors and won’t focus on their food.

The kennel boys with Bu Isma.

A kennel boy cooking.

With the daily caring for the dogs taken care of by the kennel boys, Bu Isma focuses on rescuing dogs and taking care of the dogs’ other welfare, such as bringing the dogs that need special attention to the grooming centre or to the vet. She would also process dog adoption application. This includes conducting a survey of the people who wants to adopt dog and matching their personalities to the most suitable dogs. Many dogs that were rescued had bad experiences in the past, and they can be traumatic. Bu Isma wants the dogs to have a forever home, where they will be loved and cared for well. This not only means giving the dog healthy food, attention, and vet visits when they're sick; but also giving enough space depending on the dog's body size. The bigger the dog, the more space they need. To reduce the risk of repeating the dogs' sad past, Bu Isma has to check the capability and readiness of the adopter. One of the things she does when surveying an adopter is conducting an interview. She also surveys the house to check if it's safe for the dog and if the space qualifies the amount of space the dog takes. Once she finds a suitable adopter, she will send the dog there. The adopter has to report the dog's condition regularly to Bu Isma. 

Bu Isma shows her dogs only through facebook and instagram. She rarely joins dog events as her shelter is always busy. Joining events like those means she has to be there throughout the whole event, and she has no one to help her. If any of you can help Bu Isma promote her dogs so they can get adopted, or help her in any way, just send her a message through her instagram or facebook! She will be more than happy, as her shelter is overcrowded already.

You can help Bu Isma in a lot of ways, such as donating or adopting. If you like a particular dog in the shelter, but can't adopt it, you can be an OTA (Orang Tua Asuh). An OTA pays for a dog's expenses every month. The expense for every dog is the same, big or small. 

Bu Isma hopes that in the future, the ratio of rescued dogs versus adopted dogs will be more balanced. Currently, the number of dogs that she rescued is more than the number of dogs adopted out. Just for example, recently, 2 purebred dogs were adopted from her, while 11 mongrels arrived. Once a mongrel enters the shelter, it's hard for them to get adopted out, as people prefer purebred ones.

You can follow Bu Isma and her dogs through her instagram and facebook.

You can read Part 1 and 2 here. You can also read my writing of my visit to the shelter here.

Interview With Bu Ismawanty of Shelter Melati Part 2

Have you ever seen this video? That's a video of Hope, one of Bu Isma's rescued huskies. Hope was rescued on 13 July 2017, in a wretched condition. He was locked in a very small cage which was covered by a tarpaulin on the 4th floor of a rich person's mansion. When he was rescued, he was full of sickness and had malnutrition.

Hope was reported by his owner's relatives to Bu Isma on the fasting days of June 2017. His name wasn't Hope then, it was Demon. He was reported to be in a bad condition. In the photo that was sent to Bu Isma, Demon's case doesn't seem urgent. He was tied and his skin was full of skin disease, but he still could stand up. 

Bu Isma said that Demon's condition wasn't too bad, so she didn't rescue him. In addition to that, she was busy. Even if she rescued him from that place, there wouldn’t be a clinic available for him to undergo the medical evaluation and treatment that all rescued dogs must undergo before they are brought to the shelter;  as Demon was reported on the days leading up to the Idul Fitri holidays. Most of the vet clinics would be fully occupied with healthy pets, as their families were away on vacation.

Bu Isma told the informer to ask Demon's owners to bring him to the vet, as he only had skin disease. But the informer told her that Demon's owners didn't want to bring him to the vet because they're really stingy. They also complained that they bought Demon for a really expensive price, so why did he get sick? Well!

After the fasting month, close to the Idul Fitri holidays, Demon's informer pleaded with Bu Isma to rescue Demon as he couldn't stand anymore. He also kept on vomiting green stuff. The informer also reported that the owners rarely fed him because they were lazy to climb to the 4th floor, even though they had servants who could've fed him.

After the Idul Fitri holidays, Bu Isma contacted Dr. Magda Rumawas, a vet who often helps her with her rescued dogs. She asked Dr. Magda if she should rescue Demon, as all vet clinics were full. Dr. Mag said that she will provide space.

So off went Bu Isma to Demon's house. Demon's owners are a couple who had servants, and the house was big and grand. The whole house wasn't used though; the upper floors were only for the clothesline. When Bu Isma arrived at the 4th floor, she was confused as she couldn't see Demon. "Where's Demon?" she asked. The owner then opened a tarpaulin which revealed a really sorrowful sight:

There wasn't food at all. Even the water was outside of the locked cage. He was really scrawny, his skin full with wounds and holes, and had dirt in his eyes. He was even chained to the cage, even though he's already inside it. Demon couldn't stand at all because he was in the cage for too long. The small cage prevented him from standing correctly; he had to bend his body and legs. A lack of exercise made the muscles in his legs weak, causing his legs to have no power to support his body and stand straight.

Bu Isma was infuriated. When she was about to lift Demon up, the owners asked for a compensation from her, as they bought Demon expensively. Bu Isma raged at them saying that theywere outrageous. They had broken a lot of rules about animal rights and they could be sent to jail. "Okay, how much do you want? I have brought my lawyer. If you want to ask for your compensation, you can negotiate it with my lawyer! But afterwards, you are going to jail!"

Demon's owners became frightened. Bu Isma immediately wrapped him in a sack that she found there and tried to carry him. Even though Demon was very light, Bu Isma wasn't strong enough to carry him as she was shaking so much from anger. She immediately brought Demon to Dr. Mag's clinic where he was infused and treated. His name was changed to Hope.

The next day when Bu Isma visited Hope he was doing well. He had found his appetite. But after that she became really busy so she didn't visit him for a long time. One day Dr. Mag messaged Bu Isma, telling her not to hope too much for Hope, because his condition was really unstable. His infuse couldn't get in and he didn't want to eat. He was moody all the time, as if he felt he wasn't loved at all. 

Bu Isma's friend asked someone who could do AnimalTalk (or BodyTalk) with dogs to communicate with Hope. AnimalTalk is a method to communicate with animals telepathically. Telepathy deals with speaking directly to the mind without using external communication such as body language and words.We can convey and receive feelings, images, intentions, etcetera directly mind to mind.

That person said that Hope conveyed that he didn't want to get well, he didn’t want to live anymore. He felt grateful that Bu Isma rescued him, but after he was rescued he was just left here. He saw no difference between here and back home. He felt abandoned in both places.

According to what they’ve learnt from his replies, Dr. Mag asked Bu Isma to visit Hope with praises and a happy face. Although Bu Isma felt sad every time she visited Hope, seeing his poor condition, she put on a happy face for him and often praised him."Wow, you're so handsome Hope, you're so cool! Please get well soon, so that I can bring you home!"

These seemingly small and insignificant gestures and words really made a great difference. The infuse then could get in well and Hope started to eat. With numerous visits and help from Bu Isma and donators, Hope fully recovered. He is a really handsome dog now!

Hope is just one example of the many dogs who had similar fates like him. You can help fund the other dogs' lives in Bu Isma's shelter, like how Hope's donators helped fund Hope's life.

You can follow the dogs in Shelter Melati through their instagram and facebook.

Part 3 will be the last part! Wait for it next week!

You can read Part 1 here and my visit to the shelter here.

Sorry for late post *facepalm* I broke my promise.