a glimpse of a small village in garut

This might be the first time your heard about Samudrajaya, a village located alongside the Rancabuaya Beach. The village which is located in the South itself takes 4 hours roadtrip from Garut city.Samudrajaya was formed 3 years ago. They were part of Caringin Village, but due to imbalanced governance, Samudrajaya is finally given their own otonomy. As a student in University of Padjadjaran, I must finish my 30 days community service in this village. Our aim is to learn from the community and create social mapping. Here we go, 20 students from different faculties attempt to observe the problems in this small remoted area.I actually live in front of the beach.

This village is parted into 4 districts. I lived in District 1 which is located in the roadside. But District 2, 3, and 4 are located 45 minutes up to the hill. The terrain is steep and narrow. And worse, the road is rocky and dangerous. Somehow the government has not done anything about it yet. I actually heard rumors from the people of the village itself that the government has given fund to repair the road. But it got into the pocket of some irresponsible people. Can you imagine hundreds of people live without clear access to their area? Everyday, the men go downhill with motorcycle or truck. They are bringing overweight loads to be sold in the city which is so dangerous. Their job is mostly farmers and fisherman, the rest work in another city or even in other countries as TKI. Besides ricefields, they have this very rich resources of cornfield. The nature is honestly breathtaking as you can see hills, greenfields, beaches, and rivers altogether.    

The education in this area is really sad. They only have 3 elementary schools and 2 middle schools which have no easy access at all. I walk the rocky and bumpy road for almost 30 minutes to get there. Moreover, they dont have any high school nearly. This village does not really have much public transportation. Only 1 minibus once a day which goes right away to Garut. Otherwise, you can take Ojek with quite an expensive price due to the distance of each place. I went to 2 elementary schools. On the first one, the building has not finished yet. They do not have windows and door. So when the rain comes, the water will leak inside. The second school is decent but very dirty. Both have same problem: They are lack of teacher resources. Mostly the teacher comes late or does not come at all because they have another job to cover their living. The headmaster even ask us to teach because when we come the students were left with nothing to do. Due to the change in curriculum, the school needs to change the books. And they are still waiting for the fund from government. While waiting, all they can do is teach the basic lesson. Surely, they dont have english teacher. Why would they?

I will give my view as a English Major student. Initially, i was really excited to see how far the students here have known English. I have this expectation that they must have been hungry for english but have lack of resources. Since I was born, I have this mindset that English is really important if you want to be successful and considered. I am obsessed with English, I have native speaker teachers since elementary school. Unlike me, others student might have put English Major as their last option. Last year, I went to Poland for a 6 weeks voluntary program in a small village. I taught English to kindergarten children for the sake of my fondness of English. Back to the village, The kids does not aware at all of how importat english is. The elementary students barely know how to talk Indonesian. Sundanese is their first language. For the middle school, i dont see that much interest on study english. I mean, they dont even dare to dream of going to university due to distance and tuition problem. The teacher does give a few basic lesson of english but i dont think they take it seriously. I once asked the 7th grader,  “ How old are you?” And their answer was “ I’m fine, thank you. And you?”. I got really sad at that time and encourage them to learn English. They questioned to me of why they need english. Nevertheless, I also questioned that. Here in big cities, we have technology that require us to understand english. We have job opportunities that related with international world. We have movies, songs, and many other entertainment in english. And most importantly, we dare to dream of going outside this country. On the other side, these students dont need english to finish high school, to help their parents, or to get a job. Furthermore when almost all the important figures in the village speaks sundanese better than bahasa.

As much as i want this village to get all the facilities they deserve, i realize  not all of them ready to embrace it. For a few cases, i find that the people still reluctant with technology. My interview with the staff of the only Posyandu (health care) in the village tells me that the pregnant woman still prefer to do the labor with Mantri. Sadly, if they need to do caesar operation, these women must get in the truck and go through 45 minutes downhill followed with another 45 minutes to the nearest hospital. Eventho the posyandu provide anti-biotic, the people choose to buy illegal medicine from the weekly market when they are sick.Same problems happens with the farmers. There is an occasional education from the government. They are taught about farming system. I talk to one of the ricefielowner who successfully follows the system despite the fact she has to sacrifice a bit of her land.But her fellow farmer simply thinks it’s a waste of land For you info, the fields area in this village still has no legal certification for the farmer. It still belongs to the government which mean it can be taken from them anytime. 

This village can be said as a newborn baby. They are still trying to build a steady system and structure. Even the kantor kepala desa are still not finished yet. But my questions is how many of this kind of village in all over Indonesia? In java, who is known for it's advance infrastruture than any other island. This community service had me realized that things are still sad for Indonesia. And we who live in big cities can barely see a bit of it. Of the suffering and unfairness. I did help them with some charity, but i realize that i must write this down. Hoping that it would raise anyone's awareness and conscience about our country.