We're excited to finally have an opportunity to give you all
a more thorough update. Hopefully you've had a chance to view some of the photos
from segments of the Borneo trip; there are certainly more to add to those in
the near future, and sorry some may seem to be out of order. But, first things
first: we made it to Bali! Although some airlines chose not to fly at times
over the past few days, the airport only officially closed for the day on July
10th. Air Asia flights have stayed on schedule throughout the week and today
all airlines resumed travel. We were ready with a Plan B but so thankful that
we can continue on as planned with the next leg of our trip.
As you can see from the pictures, much of our time in Borneo
was spent exploring the outdoors - from the rainforest to the rivers to the beaches.
On Saturday we drove an hour and a half inland from Kota Kinabalu
("KK") to the Kiulu River for a rafting adventure. The drive there
provided us with sweeping views of Mount Kinabalu. Although partially
cloud-covered at the time, it reaches almost as high as the Rocky Mountain
14ers and stands alone among its surrounding landscape, making it a spectacular
site. Half of the granite mountain was covered in debris from the recent
earthquake, in which the epicenter was directly below the mountain. Our rafting
trip lasted a couple of hours and brought us through class two rapids, with
still plenty of thrill. We were split between four boats, and students greatly
enjoyed having a few chances to jump out and float down the river (even unintentionally
in a couple of cases!)
On Sunday we caught an early 30-minute flight to Sandakan on
the northeast side of the island. Here we visited the Sepilok Orangutan
Sanctuary, which included a guided tour through the rainforest, and a viewing
of the orangutans during feeding time. As a rehabilitation center for orphaned
orangutans, Sepilok has saved thousands of animals and has successfully
returned 66% of the orangutans to the wild. As a group we decided to
"adopt" a five-year-old orangutan named Gileson, sponsoring his care
for the next year. We'll receive photos and videos of Gileson, as well as a
background story about his past. After our tour of Sepilok we visited a POW
memorial at the site of a former work camp that held Australians during WWII. A
small museum with pictures and video shared the history of the camp and told
stories of those killed after being forced to take the death march, as well as
the stories of the sole six survivors who escaped out of thousands. It was a
sobering experience but one that the students found very moving. We were
impressed and humbled by our their respect and ability to process these atrocities.
Lunch on Sunday was at an English teahouse with beautiful
views above the small coastal town of Sandakan, after which we explored the
markets in town and visited a water village. Our flight back to KK landed us in
time to order take-out pizza to the hotel and have a group values discussion
about our travel experiences thus far. We continue to be so proud of this group
and the way with which they have embraced this culture!
Perhaps the most memorable part of our time in Borneo was
Monday's community service project at the Seri Mengasih Centre, an program/school
for children and young adults with physical and intellectual disabilities. Upon
our arrival, we were greeted by the administration, the KK Rotary Club
president, journalists from several local newspapers, and a crew from the sponsoring
paint supply company; they were all so appreciative of our visit and graciously
welcomed us. Our students shared our donation of bags of school supplies that
we collected the day before - some of which they purchased with their own
spending money. We spent the morning painting the inside of the center's
multi-purpose facility, giving it a much-needed facelift, and were also given a
tour of campus to learn more about the programs offered that provide students
with training in vocational skills. A bakery, garden, car wash, craft shop, and
Laundromat are among the real-world opportunities in which students learn a
trade that can help them find work later on in life. We learned that food from
the bakery is sent to local schools, vegetables from the garden are sold to
grocery stores, and handmade crafts from the store are sold to visitors like
us. Although most of their students were in classes or workshops while we were
there, we had the opportunity to interact with a few, exchanging names and
teaching English words here and there. Overall it was an incredibly moving and
eye-opening experience for everyone involved. We've been promised a copy or two
of the newspapers once the story is published!
The day was rounded out with much awaited beach time in the
afternoon, followed by a cultural show with dancing and traditional seafood
dinner. Today (Tuesday) began with leisurely morning packing, and some last
minute shopping for Borneo souvenirs. We said a somewhat tearful goodbye to our
great tour guide Jean ("Jane") and gifted her with a Colorado t-shirt
as a memento. Tonight we arrived late in Denpasar, Bali and were immediately adorned
with fresh flower Balinese leis! We couldn't be more excited to see what's in
store.
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